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

[UGAFan0829]

Just for fun I thought I would post some pics of some of my favorite moments from our last trip back in 2007. We were there around the same time of year and had a BLAST. We stayed from Saturday-Saturday at CBR and LOVED every minute of our trip. From the time we got home, we've said that it was the best trip of our lives...I can only hope for the same for this year!

We drove down that Saturday, but didn't get to Disney until early afternoon. We got settled into our room at CBR, then headed over to Hollywood Studios for dinner at 50's Prime Time. This was definitely one of the best meals of the trip:

After dinner, we headed back to the resort and got ready for our Portrait Session over at the Grand Floridian:

The next morning was one of the highlights of our trip. We went on a Guided Fishing Excursion over at the Wilderness Lodge. It was my anniversary gift to Mike, and he loved it. I have to admit that I had an awesome time as well, and it was WELL worth the money!

After fishing, we headed over to Epcot and made our way around Future World. We rode all the rides that we wanted and had a great day there. We finished up the evening with dinner at Chef Mickey's!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Since the day before was spent in Future World, this day was dedicated to World Showcase. Splitting the park up into 2 days really worked out well for us. Since WS doesn't open until 11, we were able to sleep a little late which made it really nice. We had lunch at the Mexican counter service, which was really good. We loved the churros, and the view across the Lagoon.

We had dinner at Le Cellier that evening, then waited to watch Illuminations. It stormed a little, but we still had a great time, and the fireworks were the perfect ending to an awesome day!

 

[UGAFan0829]

The next day was probably one of the most magical ones. It was our anniversary, and we were spending the day in my favorite park-Magic Kingdom!
We started off the day with breakfast at my favorite restaurant, with my favorite characters-Crystal Palace with Pooh and the gang! When we arrived at our table, we had some pixie dust waiting for us:

At the end of the meal, we were presented with a Magical Moments certificate signed by the whole gang. It was sooo special to me, and I will always treasure it!!!

After breakfast, we made our way around the park, and met some characters that we've never met before...

We left shortly after the 3:00 parade to get get ready for our anniversary dinner at California Grill.
We requested a window seat when we checked in, and our wish was granted. It was a wonderful meal, and the timing was just perfect-we were able to catch Wishes!

Our anniversary turned out to be very special...I was so glad that we decided to visit MK on this day! Eating breakfast with Pooh started the day off right, and watching Wishes from atop the Contemporary was the perfect ending to a magical day!

 

[UGAFan0829]

We spent our 5th day in Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately, even though this was a really nice, enjoyable day, there really isn't a lot to talk about, so I'll just cover most of it in pictures.
We started out having some Photopass pics made...

We caught the Beauty and the Beast stage show. It was really cute, so I was glad that we took the time to check it out.

After Beauty and the Beast, we did the Backlot Tour which was neat to see. And after that Mike was dying to see Lights, Motors, Action. It was cool, but it was sooo hot outside, and we got stuck in one of the sections that wasn't covered from the sun. I was glad that we saw it though, because Mike really enjoyed it!

We caught the afternoon parade and really enjoyed it as well.
After the parade, we made our way over to Animation Academy. I had read so much about it in lots of other trip reports, so I was really excited to to try it out. I'm not artist by any means-I can't even draw a straight stick figure, but the class was a lot of fun. We drew Minnie...
Mine...

And Mike's...

We ended the day with the Rataouille guys. We had just seen the movie before our trip, and we LOVED it, so we were so excited to meet them!

We had actually done the Fantasmic package that day, so we planned on doing Fantasmic that evening. We got our seats and waited and waited and waited while it rained off and on. Finally after what seemed like forever, they cancelled the show due to the weather. We were sad, but there's nothing you can do about the weather. So we headed out and went back to the resort for the night.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Our next to the last day in Disney was one of the funnest! We had been waiting for a while to experience one of the Disney waterparks, and this was the day that it was going to happen!! It had been a really, really long time since Mike or I either one had been to a water park, so I really didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, we weren't let down in the least!
We started off the day by going to Typhoon Lagoon, and really that was the only park that we planned on visiting that day.

I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures of the slides or anything else in the park, so you'll just have to take my word on how much fun we had! We were there at park opening, and were able to ride everything that we wanted at least twice-including Crush N' Gusher which I think we did about 3 times!
We were done by lunch time, and since we had the Water Park and More option on our tickets, we decided to head on over to Blizzard Beach!

We had an awesome time there as well! We thought about braving Summit Plummit, but I just couldn't do it. We did do the smaller one beside it, and even that one was kinda scary! I'm somewhat afraid of heights, and I didn't want to get all the way to the top of Summit Plummit and then chicken out, cause there was only one way down. And if I was nervous just looking at it, I could only imagine how scared I would have been once I actually got up there and saw how high it was!!
We really, really enjoyed the day in the water parks. It's definitely something that we want to do again, but unfortunately, I don't think we'll have enough time this year. Not to mention, that we aren't budgeting to add the Water Park and more option this time either. But once again, it just gives us something to look forward to on the next trip!

 

[UGAFan0829]

As I've mentioned earlier, one of the things left on my to-do list is to order my Pirate costume. I had found one a while back that I really liked, and had planned on ordering. Which was this one:

At the time, it was the only one that I could find that had a longer skirt, and I thought that I would be somewhat comfortable in a longer skirt. However-a couple of days ago, I came across another costume that I thought I might like (minus the beer mug and cap-thingy)....

I know it's pretty plain compared to the first one, but it's not too bad in my opinion. What I like is that the skirt looks to be a little longer, so I may be able to get away with wearing a pair of flip flops instead of the boots that I had planned on wearing with the first one.
I really can't decide which one to pick. I like the first one because it's "prettier" to me. I like the shash that ties across the skirt. But it would be really nice to not have to worry about packing the boots that I planned to wear with it. Or do you think that I could get away with wearing flip flops with it as well? I never really thought of even wearing flip flops until I was checking out some of the pics of the pirate costumes on the main cruise board, and a few of the ladies there mentioned that they wore flip flops. I also think that the first one might match Mike's cotume a little better, but I guess either of them would be okay. Here's another picture of his just to give you an idea:

So, what I really need is everyone's opinion please...I really don't know which to chose! I know this probably isn't a big deal, but it's just another one of those details that I obsess over! I really would like to be able to get one soon, but of course I can't order anything until I decide which one I really want! Hellllp!

 

[UGAFan0829]

It's time to finish up with my "review" from last year. I think it actually turned into more of a mini-report than a review, so I hope y'all don't mind...(The whole 2 of you who are reading!)

Anyway...
So our very last day in Disney was spent in a park that we'd never been to before...Animal Kingdom!
We arrived at the park a few minutes after opening, and had some quick pics made at the entrance. These would have been some of my favorites from the whole trip, but with the sun being in our eyes, they didn't turn out so great. They were still okay considering though...

There was SO much of this park that we didn't see, but we were still able to see a lot. We ended up riding Everest 3 times in a row. We LOVED it, and it's now one of my favorite rides at Disney!
We did the Trails and the Safari ride. I won't bore you with a bunch of pics of all the animals, but this one is my favorite from the day...

WE had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ which was REALLY good. We'll definitely be eating there again this year!
Sadly, the only character that we met in AK was Flik...

We totally missed the character trails, so I hope to catch them this time around.
It seemed like it was 1,000 degrees that day, so after we saw Nemo, we decided to skip the afternoon parade and head out for the evening. We ended the night by heading over to DTD to finish up our shopping and had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. We were up early the next morning to head home....and that's it...Our 2007 trip in review!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sooooo, there's been a little change in plans with our resort for the WDW portion of our trip.
As of this past Friday, the DH and I are now members of...

DISNEY VACATION CLUB!!!!
I am soooooo super excited! We've been wanting to join for a while now, and even took a tour of SSR back in 2006. And as bad as we wanted to join back then, the time just wasn't right for us financially! I really didn't expect it to happen this soon, but I guess you can say it was our anniversary present to one another! It still feels so surreal to know that we are actually members!
So, as part of the deal for buying in, our sales guide, who has been phenomenal, was able to get us last year's points. And, instead of staying in Pop as we had planned, we will now be spending our 5 nights in Disney in a preferred view 1BR room villa at the Boardwalk! ( I CANNOT wait to do down the Keister Coaster!!) I can't believe that we are actually getting to stay in a DELUXE resort! I know that joining DVC is the only way this would have ever happened for us...there's no way we could have ever afforded to stay deluxe any other way! Yea, we are losing out on free dining, but the good part is that even with paying for our own dining, we'll still actually end up saving $125! Can't beat that especially considering where we're staying! Our home resort is actually SSR, and I'm hoping that we get to make our first trip "home" in March for the Princess 1/2!

Since I've been focusing so much on DVC, I haven't really been able to accomplish anything else. Time is steadily ticking away though, so I hope to be able to get several things done in the next couple of weeks. The big thing on my list right now is settling on a pirate costume for me and finally getting it ordered!

 

[UGAFan0829]

WOW...I can hardly believe that a mere 50 days from today, we will be in Florida! Hopefully by this time, we'll be getting ready to check-in to the Country Inn at the port! Woohooo!
Honestly, I don't think a vacation has ever "snuck" up on me so quickly. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that this will be the longest vacation that we've taken so far...which has required a lot of planning! And from that planning have come lists...lots of lists...Lists of things to buy, things to do, things to pack, etc, etc....The list goes on and on!!
So, in keeping with lists theme, I thought I would post my final to-do list here, so that you can see how much I still have to do, or buy, I should say...
*Cheap ponchos from Wal-Mart- for use in the parks.
*Case of water- also for use in the parks.
*Dramamine/Bonine-Obviously for the cruise. Thankfully we didn't end up needing this on our other cruises, but since this one will be a little longer, you never know. I would rather have it and not need it, than to be the other way around.
*Hand sanitizer-I like to keep a bottle of this to use in the parks.
*Laundry detergent/stain stick- I'm sure that we'll end up doing at least one load of clothes on the ship. And instead of worrying about buying it on the ship, I figured it would be easier to just bring our own. I'd thought about trying those new Purex sheets, but I've read some reviews stating that they leave spots...I sure don't want to have to worry about that on vacation!
*Pop-up laundry hamper- I've seen lots of people mention using these, and after I thought about it, it probably would make things a little easier. Normally, I would just fold our dirty clothes up and put them back into the suitcase, but since we'll be wearing some of the same ones in WDW, I'll obviously need to wash them first. I thought a hamper would make it a little easier.
*Ties-Since Mike and I rarely dress up, he only has one or two ties. I would like to find some that match my dresses, so we need to go look for those pretty soon.
*Waterproof camera-Normally, I just buy the disposable kind. But, the other day when we were in Wal-Mart, I saw a waterproof digital camera. It was on clearance for $69.00, which is still somewhat expensive. I don't know how good the quality would be, but being able to use it over and over might make it worth the price. I'm not sure if we'll go for it, but I'm putting it on the list, just in case.
*Pirate costume- Of course this has already been talked about several times. I've just gotta get in gear and get it ordered already!
*Pillow cases and markers for character autographs- On one of our other cruises I took two pillow cases along with different colored Sharpies to Guest Services and asked to have them signed. Those were for my niece and nephew, but now that I have a great niece, I want to get one signed for her, as well as one for myself! I actually don't have anything with character signatures for myself, so I thought a pillowcase would be something fun to have!
*Memory card for my camera-I do have one aleady, but I'm afraid that it won't hold all the pictures from both the cruise and WDW, so I need to pick up another one before we leave. I am sure that I will take TONS of pictures this time, so I want to make certain that I have enough room!!
*Snack/breakfast food- This is for the WDW part of the trip...Since we're trying to save $, I thought it would be smart for us to pick up a few breakfast items that we could eat in the room. Not only would it save us a few dollars here and there, but it would also save us some time in the mornings. As far as snacks, I wanted to try and get some stuff that we could put in our park bag to take with us into the parks just to have something to snack on here and there if we need it. Since we'll have a refrigerator room, I'm thinking cereal for breakfast, or something quick and easy like that. As far as snack ideas, I'm stumped. We'd need something that wouldn't melt in our bag, but I can't think of anything!! Any idea/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
And the last thing on my to-do list is to pre-order our Photopass CD, and book a portrait session at the Poly! I had actually talked to the DH about maybe not doing the portrait session this time to try and save even more money, but he wants to do it. I'm hoping that they have a time open for one of the days that I'm wanting. I can't book until 30 days out though, so I will keep you posted on that once time rolls around.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Wow...I can't believe that it's been so long since I last updated this thing! To those of you who are/were reading, I apologize. This trip has definitely snuck up on me a lot faster that I was expecting. The fact that this trip is so close is hard for me to believe!!

There hasn't been a whole heck of a lot going on in the way of updates lately, but I will let ya know what has happened...

First of all, I ended up buying another dress for formal night. I really liked the one I had, but I just didn't think I would be very comfortable in it. So, we went to JC Penney a couple weeks ago and found a pretty good deal on this dress:

I really like it as well, and I think I'll be a lot more comfy in it! Thankfully the shoes I already have will match it as well!

We've also started buying the little things that we need--travel size stuff, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, etc. Most of this stuff is for the WDW part of the trip.

And the most recent thing that we got was a new suit for Mike. He pulled his old one out of the closet a couple of weeks ago just to try it on, and I am so glad that he did. The last time that he wore it was to a wedding well over a year ago. He's lost so much weight since then that it looked terrible on him!! We tried to take it to be altered last weekend, but the lady told us that by the time we paid to have it all altered so that it looked decent, we could just go by a new one. So that's what we did. I had a 15% off coupon for JC Penney for a survey that I did when I had bought a few things for my niece and nephew a couple of weeks ago, so I figured that we could at least save a little. Thankfully, they were having a pretty good sale, and we ended up getting him the jacket, pants, 2 dress shirts and a tie for under $200. I hated that we had to spend the money since it came out of our savings for the trip, but he had to have it. He was pretty bummed about it at first, but after he saw how much we saved, I think he felt pretty good. I was excited about being able to buy something new for him.

Now the last "big" thing left on my list is my pirate costume. I STILL haven't ordered it, but I'm determined to get it before this weekend is over!! I feel a lot better now that he has a new suit and we've started getting most of the little things taken care of. I still need to put my binder together with all our info in it, and print our door signs. Of course I still need to pack, but I think I'm okay on that.

A couple members from our cruise group have started getting their docs, so hopefully ours will be here soon. I think that will definitely make it seem more real! I'll try and start taking pictures of everything once we start getting it a little more together! I can't believe that in 21 days we will be in Florida getting ready to set sail on the Magic!! I think I'm actually starting to feel a little excited instead of panic! Woo hoo!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

It's official...I'm doing the doc dance!!:banana: We finally received our docs in the mail last Friday!

Thankfully some smart DIS'er in our cruise group let us know that you can actually track your docs through UPS using your reservation #! How cool is that!!! I was lucky enough that the first time I checked on ours the status was "on truck for delivery!" It doesn't get much better than that!! I'm terrible about tracking things once I've been notified that something's been shipped. I go online a zillion times a day until it's been delivered!

It seems as though the arrival of our docs was the beginning of a very productive weekend. Though I didn't get my pirate costume yet (plan on working on that tonight), I did manage to get a lot of my to-do list marked off in the way of purchases.
Thanks to the advice of Jennifer, I went ahead and ordered the over the door shoe holder from Wal-Mart. It should be here shortly, as I received a shipment confirmation just this morning!
Along with the shoe holder, I also managed to pick up the following from Wal-Mart, as well:

I'm sure it doesn't look like a lot, but it sure did take care of a lot of things that were on my list..pop up hamper, pillow cases (I'm going to try to get these signed-one for my great niece, and one for me), markers for the pillow cases, Tide, stain stick, ponchos, Wet Ones, hand sanitizer, toothpaste and mouthwash.

I've also been working on a binder that I created to help keep things organized for the trip...

I used dividers to make 3 sections...One for Port Canaveral, one for DCL, and the other for WDW. In each section, I'm printing out the directions to each place (home to hotel, hotel to port, port to WDW, etc.) I've also got our cruise confirmation, shore excursion confirmation, ADR confirmations, etc, etc, etc. I used page protectors to try and keep the pages from tearing.

I figured this would be a great way to keep all the important info handy. I still have several things to add, but it's getting there.

I can't believe that the countdown is now in the teens...That's just shocking to me. Well, that's all the updates that I have for now. Keep your fingers crossed that I'm successful on my shopping trip tonight. Headed to JC Penney to exhange something that I ordered that's the wrong size, then headed to Party City to see what they have in the way of pirate costumes. If I can't find anything there, then it looks like I'll be ordering one off e-Bay. After Party City, I hope to make it to TJ Maxx...I'm still trying to find one more outfit for one of the Cruise Casual nights, and I really want a causal dress to wear. I'll make sure and post my results in the next few days!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I've been up to a little "surprise" planning this morning, and I wanted to let you all in on it!
Some of you may remember my recalling of our last trip to Disney, earlier in this report. It was there that I mentioned the fishing trip that I gave Mike for our anniversary. Ever since then he has talked about how great of a time we had, and how he would love to do it again. Now, we both agreed that because of the amount of money we've already spent between the cruise and joining DVC, that we wouldn't buy each other anything for our anniversary. Well, I've felt a little sad about this, and even though it's techincally not an anniversary gift, I decided to call to try and book another fishing excursion for him!!
I was a little unsure of which day I wanted to book, and had initially thought that the morning we check out might work. But then I remembered that we had Chef Mickey's booked for that morning, and I didn't want to miss it. Since we're staying at BWV, it happens that they actually have excursions that leave from right there at the resort. I thought this would work out well for two reasons...the first being that it would save us a lot of travel time since we'd already be there, and two-because our last fishing trip was at the Wilderness Lodge, I thought it would be neat for Mike to experience fishing from a different place.
Sooooo, I looked over our iteniary to see which day would be the best, and I decided that since Hollywood Studios is going to be open til 9, and I don't mind missing the park opening, that we would do it on the morning of our Hollywood Studios day. We may get to the park a little late, but I think we'll be fine! I decided to call Disney Recreation in hopes that something would be available since it's so close, and guess what...it was! I booked us for the 7 a.m. excursion from right there at BW! I am so excited. I am dying to tell Mike, but I really want to keep it a secret. I'm terrible with surprises though, so I'm hoping that I can hold it in until then. It's probably a good thing that I waited so late to book it, that way I don't have to hold in as long!
So that's what I've been up to this morning! Just keep your fingers crossed for me that I can actually keep my mouth shut!

 

[UGAFan0829]

10 days to go!!!
I know I say it every time I post, but I still can't believe just how fast time has flown by for this trip. I remember when the days were still in the hundreds, and starting tomorrow we'll be in SINGLE DIGITS! Mentally, I am SO ready to go, but physically we still have a lot to do! We did manage to accomplish a little over the weekend, but not as much as I would have liked. Still no success with finding a Pirate costume. After looking and coming up enmpty handed, Gayle and Brandi have decided that they aren't dressing up. I had thought about doing the same, myself, but I really do want to do it. Mike already has his costume, and if we don't dress up, then we'll have to find something to wear for one more night. I've found the costume that I want on e-Bay, but I'm just waiting to get it. I had actually sold some stuff on there last week, and the people still haven't paid...if they would just send their money, then I could go ahead and get the costume. It's so late in the game now though, that I guess I'm going to have to try and find something in a store...I'm just afraid that if I order one it won't be here in time. Hopefully I'll have found something by the end of the week, but who knows!

As far as packing, we did manage to get all of our luggage out. My spare bedroom is such a mess right now, with suitcases sitting open everywhere and clothes all over the bed. It makes me a little stressed to even look at it all. It will all come together soon though. I'm just a little worried about having enough room. We actually have 4 regular suitcases, 2 carry-ons and a garment bag. I'm still not sure if we'll actually use the garment bag or not. The sad thing is that one of the suitcases will probably end up being nothing but shoes!Between all of mine and Mike's, I'm betting that we'll fill a whole one! The other thing that I'm worried about is all the clothes that we need to pack for WDW. I told Mike last night that we may have to take those clothes that we won't need on the cruise and just leave them in the car, then we can just switch them out on the way to Disney.

Some other plans that we made/changed is that instead of driving directly to the port and paying for parking, we're going to take the shuttle from the hotel. I'm hoping that this works out okay for us. It scares me a little to have to depend on someone else for transportation, as we've parked at the port both other times that we've cruised. The first shuttle from the hotel doesn't acutally leave until 10:30, so I'm thinking of having Mike drop me and the luggage off, and then he can come back on the shuttle. I really want to be there early so that I can try and get on the boat as soon as possible so that I can head to the Salon to try and get an appointment for formal night. We'll see how that all works out though. The good part is that we'll be saving $105 by parking at the hotel instead of the port!Whoohooo...that's just more money for Disney stuff!

Lastly, I wasn't able to keep the fishing trip a secret for very long. Mike ended up finding out on Saturday! Told you I can't keep a surprise!!! I didn't actually come out and tell him...he was looking at our planning folder and saw the confirmation. Of course when he asked me what it was for I didn't do to well. What can I say, I'm not a very good fibber!!

I'll try and post some pics of the packing process soon...right now it's too big of a mess to even photograph!!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I just wanted to post a really quick update while I have a minute...
While I'm very sad that our cruise is over, I'm really excited about our 5 days here in Disney. The cruise was wonderful--everything that I could have expected and more. We had a wonderful time with Gayle and Brandi, and I hope that they will be joining us on another Disney Cruise in the future. One of the highlights of the cruise was the DIS meet last Saturday. It was so wonderful to finally meet everyone in person! Honestly, I was overwhelmed at the number of people who showed up at the meet. Everyone was wonderful, and I know that I've made some lasting friendships and made memories that we'll carry with us forever!
I know this is short, but we plan on making the most of our days here in Disney. I'll try to get started on my report as soon as I get home and get settled back in!!! Thank you to everyone who has stuck around!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Well, we're finally home! I can't believe that our big vacation has come and gone. It was definitely the trip of our dreams! I have so much to get done this weekend, but I plan on getting started on my report soon. I'm working on getting some pics put on to CD's for Brandi and Gayle now, then have to upload all the ones for the report, so it may take me a little while. I also need to order my Photopass CD for the WDW portion, but I'm sure that it will arrive before I get to that part of my report. I can wait to relive all our memories with y'all!

 

[UGAFan0829]

My TR has officially been started-You can check it out here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=33674067#post33674067