Mike & Missy's Grand Adventure! A DCL & WDW Pre-TR w/ pics! Updated-09/18

[UGAFan0829]

I can't believe how fast the days are ticking down! I'm starting to get nervous now! I feel like I still have a lot to do, but most of it is the WDW portion of the trip that I still have to plan for.
I was reminded of just how close it actually is when this came in the mail earlier this week:

It's a cool little booklet with lots of info about the cruise. Included was a letter that also contains our important dates. We can make our reservations for shore excursions and Palo starting on June 7th! That's not too far away! And our final payment is due by June 27th, which seems REALLY close!
I think we've gotten this same mailing before our other cruises, but I think I must have been a lot more prepared then!!
I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope everyone is still hanging in here with me despite my lack of updates. I really planned on having more when I started this thing, but things just haven't happened as fast as I'd planned!

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

I am sure getting these documents in the mail has really made it more of a reality and it is really getting closer and closer!!!! We need to get together and sit down so you can fill me in on all the details. I am so excited for ya'll!!!!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I found Mike the cutest pair of swim trunks on e-Bay the other day, so I had to order them for him. He's been wearing the same couple pair for the past few years, so I thought he deserved a new pair. Not to mention they're Mickey, so we couldn't go wrong, right! When I showed them to him, he loved them!!! I can't wait for him to wear them...

The Mickey's everywhere are just too darn cute. Check out the detail...

And that wasn't all that I got in the mail! When I checked our box today, there was some sort of magazine in there, but I couldn't tell what it was. But guess what...it was the first issue of my subscription to "Celebrations"! I had actually forgot about even subscribing, so it's a good thing that it actually came, or I may have never noticed!
I haven't got a chance to read it yet, but you can bet that's what I'll be doing shortly! Here's the cover...

And they even included a lithograph of It's a Small World as a welcome gift, which I thought was pretty cool too...

Yeaaa for Disney mail!!!

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

I LOVE the swim trunks. Now you need a Minnie swim suit! The Celebrations magazine looks like it is going to be interesting. I saw where it has something about Port Orleans in it. I loved it when we stayed there!!!! I am getting so excited for ya'll!!!!!

 

[Granny Hawkins]

Costumes are too C-U-T-E!

We are in GA also and will be sailing on the Magic on July.

 

[Granny Hawkins]

I am so excited to have the chance to read all about your pre-planning! You are right - we are dirt-trackin', Disney lovin, Georgia Girls!!!!!!!! This is going to be a magical trip for ya'll. I am getting excited just hearing about it! I love the picture of ya'll too!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like me!

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

Sounds like me!

Do you like dirt track racing? UGAFan0829 and I were both raised on dirt tracks and my hubby and son races!

 

[Granny Hawkins]

Do you like dirt track racing? UGAFan0829 and I were both raised on dirt tracks and my hubby and son races!

LOVE dirt tracks. Have not been in quite a while though. Mainly to Dixie(If that is still the name). My early years(back in the dark ages....LOL) were spent at the track in Douglasville.

Also a NASCAR fan and most of the family are big UGA fans. Except DH who graduated from "that" college next to the Varsity that I refuse to speak of and DGS who likes Auburn.

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

LOVE dirt tracks. Have not been in quite a while though. Mainly to Dixie(If that is still the name). My early years(back in the dark ages....LOL) were spent at the track in Douglasville.

Also a NASCAR fan and most of the family are big UGA fans. Except DH who graduated from "that" college next to the Varsity that I refuse to speak of and DGS who likes Auburn.

Ok - we will hijack UGAFan0829's Disney forum with some dirt track talking - she will not mind!!! The track is still called Dixie. We live about 2 1/2 hours from there but have been there too! I remember the track in Douglasville too. Small world and yes - Go Dawgs! We will have to overlook those non-UGA folks. My uncle graduated from Univ of Tennessee, but we still claim him! LOL

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hi Granny Hawkins!
Thanks so much for joining in!
Of course I don't mind a little Georgia dirt-track talk on my report...that kind of talk is always welcome where ever I am!! It's too neat that you're from GA and also a racing fan! This may be way off, but wasn't the track in Douglasville called 5 Flags, or something like that?
I'm sorry about your husband and "that" alma mater of his. He married a smart woman, didn't he!!! All of my in-laws are from TN, and of course are Vols fans. I think my husband is the only one in his family (aside from the nieces and nephews) who was born in Georgia!
How exciting that you'll be cruising in July...that's so close!!

 

[Granny Hawkins]

Hi Granny Hawkins!
Thanks so much for joining in!
Of course I don't mind a little Georgia dirt-track talk on my report...that kind of talk is always welcome where ever I am!! It's too neat that you're from GA and also a racing fan! This may be way off, but wasn't the track in Douglasville called 5 Flags, or something like that?
I'm sorry about your husband and "that" alma mater of his. He married a smart woman, didn't he!!! All of my in-laws are from TN, and of course are Vols fans. I think my husband is the only one in his family (aside from the nieces and nephews) who was born in Georgia!
How exciting that you'll be cruising in July...that's so close!!

I think it was called 5 Flags or something like that when it re-opened after being closed once.

LOL....I do good to remember what I had for supper last night.

I actually ran my car('69 Chevelle 396) in the audience Participation Race once. DH at the time was NOT happy when I got home. Someone had already called and told him....LOL....so much for "life in a small town".

I flew with 2 of my grandkids to WDW one Thanksgiving and this family walked up and sit down next to us at the gate.

My granddaughter(then 7) FLEW out of her seat and said....

"I am not sitting next to him". "LOOK! at his shirt"!

He had on a FL Gator shirt....LOL

I almost died.

 

[Jennifer48]

Love the swim trunks and yay for Disney mail!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Well, with very little cruise planning left to do, I guess it's time to start with the WDW plans!! This is the exciting part for me because there seems to be so much more to plan for! Now my OCD side really will start to kick in!

So for anyone who cares to check them out-here’s a rough draft of our plans for the trip:

Friday 9/4-We'll be leaving for Florida in the A.M. I'm not sure yet just how early it will be though. But-as of now, our plan is to check into the hotel (Country Inn at the Port) and then head over to Cocoa Beach. I know that Brandi wants to check out Ron Jon's, so I'm sure we'll do that, and hopefully check out the beach as well. I was also thinking that it might be fun to find a place to eat close to or on the beach, if anyplace exists. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? If not, I'm sure we'll find something.

Saturday 9/5- Of course my plans for this day include being up very early! Its cruise day and we plan to be at port as early as possible. I know that this gets debated over on the main boards, but we really like getting there early. Not to mention it will give us a chance to check out the terminal a little more-especially since this is Brandi and Gayle’s 1st time. And of course there are a couple of fellow cruisers who I hope to be able to meet before we board the ship! I’m so excited about meeting them in person as we’ve all talked for months about each other’s plans and such!

Saturday 9/12- This is going to be a sad, but exciting day! Even though the cruise we’ll be ending, we’ll be heading to WDW! I can’t think of a better way to end a cruise! As of now, Brandi and Gayle will be heading back home after we disembark the ship. But, we have asked them if they would like to join us in one of the parks that day. Gayle has been to Disney before, but Brandi hasn’t, so we thought it would be a cool way to end the trip with them. At first we had planned to try to do a character breakfast with them, but after we thought about it, we decided it was probably a bad idea. For one, we’ll have breakfast on the ship. Secondly-once we actually get off the ship, then drive to Disney, we will probably have already wasted too much park time. Hopefully they will decide to join us, but if not, we plan to head over to Pop to check-in and grab our park tickets then head straight for a park!

Of course, I can't really plan any of the rest of the days in Disney until the park hours are released. I'm a big fan of Tour Guide Mike, and love his crowd’s calendar, but he can't publish those until Disney puts out the park hours. I'm hoping that it won't be too much longer, but I'm guessing that it will probably be around the first of June. Once those are out, then I can plan the rest of my days and figure out our ADR’s. I do know where we want to eat-it's just a matter of figuring out when. I plan our ADR’s along with the park that we’ll be in that day.

So here's what I have for our list of ADR's:

Chef Mickey's for breakfast-We've had dinner here on both our trips, so now we want to try breakfast. I've read some really good reviews and seen some really yummy pics, so I'm excited about it! Here’s a picture from our last trip:

'Ohana for breakfast-We've never been to 'Ohana at all! I really like Lilo and Stitch, and the food looks so yummy! I can't wait to try some of the potatoes there!!

Crystal Palace for dinner-This one is just the opposite of Chef Mickey's-We've had breakfast here on both our trips, but never dinner...so we're going to give it a shot this year. I'm not real sure about the menus that I've seen, but with Pooh there, who really cares about the food! And another pic from our last trip:

Sci-Fi for either lunch or dinner-Mike has wanted to try Sci-Fi out for some time now, so we are actually going to give it a go this time. I have read some good reviews on this one as well. I’m thinking that we will more than likely end up here for lunch so that we can grab something quick for dinner in order to see Fantasmic.

‘Ohana for dinner-Of course everyone knows how popular this place is for dinner. Everything I’ve ever read or seen on this place has been great. Actually, I didn’t think we were going to make it here to begin with, as we had planned to eat at Coral Reef on our Epcot day. Unfortunately, some of the reviews that I read wasn’t so good, so we decided against it for this trip. I’m a little disappointed though, because staying the park to eat would save a lot of time. I’m wondering how long it will take us to get from Epcot to the Poly and back, or if maybe we should try and find some place else in the park. We had Le Cellier last trip, and really enjoyed it, but there’s no where else that I’ve really thought of trying. If anyone has any recommendations, I’m definitely open!!

Since character breakfasts seem to take a little longer, I’m thinking about saving one of those for the day we leave. Our dining credits will still be good until midnight, so I think we’re going to try and get a late character breakfast. That way we won’t be so rushed to get out of the resort and can take our time. After our breakfast, wherever it may be, we plan to head over to Downtown Disney for the rest of the morning and afternoon. I’ve always wanted to check out Disney Quest, so I’m hoping that we’ll get to do that this time, too.

So that’s what we have planned so far. Of course it could all change at any time, and especially after the park hours are released. And I’m sure that our dining choices may change as well, especially if anyone has any good suggestions that we might like to try! And if time allows, we may even check out some of the resorts that we’d like to stay in on future visits.

In other news, I was very excited to get a DisneyShopping.com from my boss last week for Administrative Professional’s Day! He knows me pretty well, I guess! So I used it to order a shirt for Mike and myself that we’d been eyeing for a while. I’d planned on ordering them when we had a little extra $, so the gift card came in quite handy for that! I’ll try and post pics of them later!

Hope everyone is doing well, and thanks again for reading!

 

[Jennifer48]

I highly recommend Sci-Fi and Ohana. Both are awesome! I've had breakfast and dinner at Ohana and the food is delicious!

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

We had dinner at Sci-Fi and it was very good. I loved the cars you sit in (see photo of us in my post). I had ribs and they were very good and of course, my guys loved the shows! Sounds like great plans and I got so excited reading them!!!!!!! Great gift from your boss!!!!

Oh know my picture is gone???????

 

[Mickey moos]

Well I guess I'll introduce myself to the Sept. 5 cruisers as well. My wife and I will be joining this cruise. We too will be celebrating our anniversary onboard. We will be the old people as this will be our 24th. We got to celebrate our 20th on the DVC Members only cruise in 2005.This will be our fifth cruise ,but our first 7-day.

By the way I'll be the one in orange as we are a Clemson family. I had a dear friend that was a UGA graduate and we had many a good time going at each other during football season. Of course that was the good old Danny Ford-Vince Dooley days. Those games usually came down to who had the better field goal kicker.

I'll keep up with everybody's plans.I think your idea about doing Key West on your own is good. But do remember that it will be extremely hot in early Sept. When we did KW in 2005 we walked to the Southernmost Point and back and were wringing wet. Also I would recommend Hog's Breath. When I took my DW there she thought, what a dump with plastic lawn chairs and wobbly tables but said that the hamburger was the best she has ever had.(So you know where we will be eating lunch that Sunday).

 

[UGAFan0829]

I highly recommend Sci-Fi and Ohana. Both are awesome! I've had breakfast and dinner at Ohana and the food is delicious!

I'm glad to know that you liked the food at 'Ohana! The pics I've seen of both breakfast and dinner both look so yummy. I can't wait to try it, but especially to see Lilo and Stitch! I just hope I'm able to score an ADR for both meals!

We had dinner at Sci-Fi and it was very good. I loved the cars you sit in (see photo of us in my post). I had ribs and they were very good and of course, my guys loved the shows! Sounds like great plans and I got so excited reading them!!!!!!! Great gift from your boss!!!!

Oh know my picture is gone???????

I think the idea of sitting in cars is what got Mike interested in Sci-Fi to begine with. It does look really cool! I do remember the pic you had of y'all in your siggie...What happened to it?

Well I guess I'll introduce myself to the Sept. 5 cruisers as well. My wife and I will be joining this cruise. We too will be celebrating our anniversary onboard. We will be the old people as this will be our 24th. We got to celebrate our 20th on the DVC Members only cruise in 2005.This will be our fifth cruise ,but our first 7-day.

By the way I'll be the one in orange as we are a Clemson family. I had a dear friend that was a UGA graduate and we had many a good time going at each other during football season. Of course that was the good old Danny Ford-Vince Dooley days. Those games usually came down to who had the better field goal kicker.

I'll keep up with everybody's plans.I think your idea about doing Key West on your own is good. But do remember that it will be extremely hot in early Sept. When we did KW in 2005 we walked to the Southernmost Point and back and were wringing wet. Also I would recommend Hog's Breath. When I took my DW there she thought, what a dump with plastic lawn chairs and wobbly tables but said that the hamburger was the best she has ever had.(So you know where we will be eating lunch that Sunday).

Hi there, Mickey moos! Thanks for joining my TR! And CONGRATS on celebrating 24 years! That's awesome!

I don't mind the color orange so much as long as it isn't for that other tream that's south of us! Actually, my friend Kim (Mickey's Goofy Gal) works for UGA! The Vince Dooley days were definitely some of the best days of GA football! It's cool how Disney can bring people together regardless of their choice in teams.

Make sure you stop by over at our cruise meet thread and say hello to everyone there. We've got a very friendly group over there! Here's the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1654223
We're having an awful lot of celebrations on board, so make sure to stop by and add yours to the list! I think it's going to be a wonderful cruise!

Thanks for the tip on Key West. I was thinking it would be pretty hot, which is why we're just going to take our time and see things at a leisurely pace. I've seen lots of shirts from Hog's Breath, but I've never really heard that much about it. I will definitely keep their burgers in mind and let the rest of my group know about them!

I hope to see you over on our cruise meet thread soon!

 

[UGAFan0829]

It looks like I won't have to go out and buy new shoes for semi and formal nights after all!! A few days ago, I was working in my closets putting away some of our winter clothes when I remembered that I actually have some dress shoes that could work for what I needed. So I pulled out the boxes, one of them I've never worn. I tried both pairs on with each of my dresses, and guess what-they work! I really kinda wanted to find one pair that would go with both dresses for the sake of saving room in our suitcases. But, if taking two pairs instead of one means that I won't have to go spend money on a new pair, then so be it!
Here's the pair that I've never worn that go best with my semi-formal dress:

It's kinda hard to tell from the picture, but the straps are actually black satin. They're very cute, but I'm just a little nervous about walking in them with nothing around my heel. I hope that the seas aren't too rough on semi-formal night...If anyone hears a loud thump on the ship-then you know who it was and what happened!
And here's the pair that I will be wearing with my formal dress. I actually wore these to a wedding last year, and they weren't bad at all. I like the sequins across the one strap since it adds a little pizzaz to them:

What's even better about these shoes is that they are the perfect height for my dress. I thought I was going to have to have it hemmed, but when I wear the shoes with it, it's the perfect length!

So, that's one more thing off my list! Now, I need to work on getting my pirate costume ordered!

 

[UGAFan0829]

So this morning, I was playing around with our "budget" a little to see how much we were going to need for expenses for the trip (parking, hotel for the night before, souvies, etc.), and I came up a little short. So, in trying to cut some of the stuff, I was trying to figure out an alternative for the gifts that we had planned to get for the DSIL and DN.
This is what we actually had planned to get them...
For the DSIL:

And for the DN:

I love both of them, but the problem is that they are $75.00 each, plus tax and delivery!! I really want to get them both something since the DSIL will be celebrating her b-day on board. And since this will be the DN's 1st cruise, we wanted to do something special for her as well. I love the fact that they both come with something that they can keep forever. But since the budget is kinda outta whack I was trying to think of something else that we could do for them that might be a little cheaper, but that would mean just as much. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[ibela]

OK, I think I'm all caught up. The pirate costumes are super cute and I *love* those swim trunks you picked up!

It's a cool little booklet with lots of info about the cruise. Included was a letter that also contains our important dates. We can make our reservations for shore excursions and Palo starting on June 7th! That's not too far away! And our final payment is due by June 27th, which seems REALLY close!
I think we've gotten this same mailing before our other cruises, but I think I must have been a lot more prepared then!!
I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope everyone is still hanging in here with me despite my lack of updates. I really planned on having more when I started this thing, but things just haven't happened as fast as I'd planned!

You may want to double check but I think you can't make the online reservations until after you're paid in full so if you plan on paying 6/27, I think you can't book excursions and Palo until 6/27. . .

So this morning, I was playing around with our "budget" a little to see how much we were going to need for expenses for the trip (parking, hotel for the night before, souvies, etc.), and I came up a little short. So, in trying to cut some of the stuff, I was trying to figure out an alternative for the gifts that we had planned to get for the DSIL and DN.
This is what we actually had planned to get them...
For the DSIL:

And for the DN:

I love both of them, but the problem is that they are $75.00 each, plus tax and delivery!! I really want to get them both something since the DSIL will be celebrating her b-day on board. And since this will be the DN's 1st cruise, we wanted to do something special for her as well. I love the fact that they both come with something that they can keep forever. But since the budget is kinda outta whack I was trying to think of something else that we could do for them that might be a little cheaper, but that would mean just as much. Does anyone have any ideas?

OK, those are cute but I think $150+ is a lot for those 2 gifts. Especially b/c I think the delivery charge will probably be about $20 each! Why not make your own gift baskets? You're going to be in WDW beforehand so you can easily pick the ears up there. Sorry, I don't remember how you're getting to the port, are you renting a car? If so, there's a Walmart very close by (about 5 minute drive) and they sell a LOT of Disney stuff, like a whole section of basically everything you can buy in the parks (ex. the misters were $15 or $20 in the park but $5 at Walmart and it had a different Disney image on it but was still Disney). I'd go there and get whatever you want/need. Not sure exactly where you can get flowers but I'm sure there are places around, and just bring it with you. Or maybe instead of flowers (if you can't find or if it's too messy to carry) a bottle of wine? Alternatively, how about calling a local florist and asking how much it'd be? I'm sure it'd be cheaper than going through Disney direct.