KatGarcia
Just Keep Swimming.
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2006
- Messages
- 5,479
OK so the anticipation of waiting around for my Disney trip has caused me to almost go nuts so I figured- write a trip report! This is my first one so be gentle! I'm longwinded by nature so I'll try and keep it brief-ish. Hopefully its as entertaining as the other ones I so love to read and hopefully I get lots of spiffy comments from you DISers!
Some background on us
Me:
30, Disney FANATIC, OCD planner, on the DISboards daily, Tinkerbell Lover
DH:
21 (yep hes much younger than me and it keeps me younger! *Pats self on back*) He loves Disney too just not as outwardly as me, he lets me plan everything and just comes along for the ride, teases me about being on the DISboards all the time but secretly knows its a good thing for our vacation, Loves Tigger & Stitch
We went to Disney on our honeymoon 2 years ago.
POFQ Fountain
It was a spur of the moment thing. We got married in Feb (planned it in like 2 months) and at Christmas my mom and step dad decided to tell us they would pay for a honeymoon! YAY Them! So I had no real clues about ADRs and where to go when and all the good stuff I now know. My aunt & uncle had brought my younger cousins and started telling us we need to go here.. and here blah blah blah. Im a researcher by nature but had NO time. I ended up making ressies at Crystal Palace for breakfast and that was it! The only real reason I did that was my uncle assured me we would never get in without it and how can I deny my DH Tigger!?!? We spent a lot of time on the trip waiting to get into restaurants and not enough time really doing what we wanted. That being said I have UBER planned our trip this time! More on that down the line... We stayed at POFQ for 7 days and 7 nights. Loved the resort esp. the boat to DTD. Anyways
We are going on this trip for several reasons. First and foremost since the day we left on our Honeymoon we wanted to go back! It was the best time ever! It was also our first real vacation together. I had been to Disney but not since I was about 8 years old. It was so much better as an adult! My hubby had never been, so seeing it through his eyes really made it awesome too. Another reason is we had a really bad year this year. In April my mom suddenly passed away.
Mom & I at my wedding
No one saw it coming and it hit the family very hard, me more than most esp. because Im an only child. She was only 50 years old. Things with my family got worse as well, as my mom was always the median between family issues and I pretty much cut most ties to all family shortly after the funeral. I had all kinds of problems trying to settle her estate and what not because of my step fathers family too. It was just really bad all around. Then 4 months later (to the date actually) my step father passed away. He had had a stroke and wasnt well for years but the loss of my mom really made it bad for him. My husband also started school about 8 months ago. That means hes out of the house for about 16 hours a day (8 hour work day, school plus travel time) which is hard on us both. I am a former pro wrestler and have had serious back problems for a while and havent been able to work. This year I finally found a doctor to tell me whats wrong (after seeing a lousy dr. for about a year) I have a herniated disk and a problem with my sciatic nerve (think I can get preferred accommodations in Disney? lol). All that made us decide WE NEED A VACATION! And where else do we wanna go but WDW! So we have decided that we are going to start off the New Year some place happy. To me there isnt a better place to be than Disney and how can the holidays be bad there? I really just dont want to celebrate the holidays this year so looking forward to my trip has been sustaining me.
OK Enough fo the depressing stuff Just wanted to give any readers some background.
So we pick dates according to DHs school schedule and bring them to his job for vacation approval. This is where it gets ugly again He applied for the vacation in July and was told Ill have to get back to you... This went on and on and on. He kept asking and got put off. I decided that I would take care of the Disney 45 day refund rule and made ressies and started reading up on dining on the good ole DIS. The only thing I wasnt able to do was get our plane tickets because those arent refundable weeks go by and finally this past week he got approval!!! So I jumped on the flight I had been watching and we are finally really going!!!! I get to have my happy year ending!!!!
We originally planned a 9 day stay with a late arrival the first day so we could get a good nights sleep and be ready for the full day of magic. Pop Century was our choice esp. since we decided to do the DDP. It was recommended to me by a friend as well. So once we got the approval we decided to change things up and try a split stay. This is the coolest idea to me!! We get 2 vacations and get to see lots more of Disney?!?! HECK YEA! So we split between Pop & Coranado Springs. I asked my DH to look through pictures of CSR, CBR & POR and he was sold on the CSR Hammocks! Hes always asking if we can have a hammock in the house hes defiantly a unique guy. We even added an extra day at the end of our stay because who can resist MORE Disney!
I made SEVERAL calls to Disney to book this trip and made several changes. The only odd occurrence I had was that the first time I called to change our Pop stay into a split stay with CSR the CM told me there was no available extra day so we stuck with our original plan. Then I called back a few days later, to make a payment, and decided to ask again anyway and low & behold there was availability for the extra day! I jumped on it of course because both of us just want to go so bad that the thought of an extra day away is heavenly! Hes already missing some school so OH WELL well be in Disney, we wont care!
I had done tons of searching for cheap flights. I had found one I wanted and kept a watch on it to make sure it didnt change in price. We decided to arrive late the first evening so we can enjoy the resort and not stress getting to the parks or an ADR BUT when I went to book the flights something came over me...lol I realized Magic Kingdom is open till midnight the day of our arrival so we now arrive at about 5pm with hopes of getting to the Poly at around 8:30pm for our ressies at Ohana!! This is the one place where I really wanted to try dinner and breakfast. We are doing the breakfast later in the week so DH can see Stitch, so instead of making myself crazy and trying to pick out ANOTHER TS spot I opted for Ohana. Im very excited about it, well Im very excited about all the ADRs but thats beside the point!
So final plans are as follows: (I swear they are final because they are now paid in full)
Pop Century 12/27 1/1 and Coranado Springs 1/1-1/5
And after much debate and reading of menus and a few changes here and there I have made and confirmed all our dining ressies. I even have then putting us down for our 2nd anniversary so maybe well get a little pixie dust from some places.
Heres where we will be dining:
Ohana (Dinner)
Biergarten (we have been here before)
Chef Mickeys (Breakfast)
Boma (Dinner)
Wolfgang Puck Café
Ohana (Breakfast)
Marrakesh
Raglan Road
Maya Grill (Breakfast)
LeCellier
Coral Reef
1900 Park Fare(a last minute change but I'm excited!)
I have hopes of visiting several different CS spots too
Tangerine Café
Columbia Harbor House
Tusker House
WHEW! Did I utilize those dining credits or what?? LOL. We plan to share CS for lunches and will probably pay out of pocket for one meal in the first few days of our stay due to my add on of Ohana for the night we arrive.
We are definite sit down restaurant people and enjoy good food. Im so looking forward to trying all the different foods in Disney. My DH gets mad when I ask him to look at menus because it makes him hungry! LOL! And god knows I went over and over those menus before making a decision.
So the countdown continues and Im currently making my hubby crazy by bringing up every few days exactly how many days it is until we leave!
I realize its about 2 months till we leave but I figure I can add little things here and there about packing and such periodically so I can keep some sanity in the time I have to wait to get to the greatest place on earth!! YAY! I did it! Any comments would be awesome! Thanks for taking the time to read this!!!
Some background on us
Me:
30, Disney FANATIC, OCD planner, on the DISboards daily, Tinkerbell LoverDH:
21 (yep hes much younger than me and it keeps me younger! *Pats self on back*) He loves Disney too just not as outwardly as me, he lets me plan everything and just comes along for the ride, teases me about being on the DISboards all the time but secretly knows its a good thing for our vacation, Loves Tigger & StitchWe went to Disney on our honeymoon 2 years ago.
POFQ Fountain
It was a spur of the moment thing. We got married in Feb (planned it in like 2 months) and at Christmas my mom and step dad decided to tell us they would pay for a honeymoon! YAY Them! So I had no real clues about ADRs and where to go when and all the good stuff I now know. My aunt & uncle had brought my younger cousins and started telling us we need to go here.. and here blah blah blah. Im a researcher by nature but had NO time. I ended up making ressies at Crystal Palace for breakfast and that was it! The only real reason I did that was my uncle assured me we would never get in without it and how can I deny my DH Tigger!?!? We spent a lot of time on the trip waiting to get into restaurants and not enough time really doing what we wanted. That being said I have UBER planned our trip this time! More on that down the line... We stayed at POFQ for 7 days and 7 nights. Loved the resort esp. the boat to DTD. Anyways
We are going on this trip for several reasons. First and foremost since the day we left on our Honeymoon we wanted to go back! It was the best time ever! It was also our first real vacation together. I had been to Disney but not since I was about 8 years old. It was so much better as an adult! My hubby had never been, so seeing it through his eyes really made it awesome too. Another reason is we had a really bad year this year. In April my mom suddenly passed away.
Mom & I at my wedding
No one saw it coming and it hit the family very hard, me more than most esp. because Im an only child. She was only 50 years old. Things with my family got worse as well, as my mom was always the median between family issues and I pretty much cut most ties to all family shortly after the funeral. I had all kinds of problems trying to settle her estate and what not because of my step fathers family too. It was just really bad all around. Then 4 months later (to the date actually) my step father passed away. He had had a stroke and wasnt well for years but the loss of my mom really made it bad for him. My husband also started school about 8 months ago. That means hes out of the house for about 16 hours a day (8 hour work day, school plus travel time) which is hard on us both. I am a former pro wrestler and have had serious back problems for a while and havent been able to work. This year I finally found a doctor to tell me whats wrong (after seeing a lousy dr. for about a year) I have a herniated disk and a problem with my sciatic nerve (think I can get preferred accommodations in Disney? lol). All that made us decide WE NEED A VACATION! And where else do we wanna go but WDW! So we have decided that we are going to start off the New Year some place happy. To me there isnt a better place to be than Disney and how can the holidays be bad there? I really just dont want to celebrate the holidays this year so looking forward to my trip has been sustaining me.
OK Enough fo the depressing stuff Just wanted to give any readers some background.
So we pick dates according to DHs school schedule and bring them to his job for vacation approval. This is where it gets ugly again He applied for the vacation in July and was told Ill have to get back to you... This went on and on and on. He kept asking and got put off. I decided that I would take care of the Disney 45 day refund rule and made ressies and started reading up on dining on the good ole DIS. The only thing I wasnt able to do was get our plane tickets because those arent refundable weeks go by and finally this past week he got approval!!! So I jumped on the flight I had been watching and we are finally really going!!!! I get to have my happy year ending!!!!
We originally planned a 9 day stay with a late arrival the first day so we could get a good nights sleep and be ready for the full day of magic. Pop Century was our choice esp. since we decided to do the DDP. It was recommended to me by a friend as well. So once we got the approval we decided to change things up and try a split stay. This is the coolest idea to me!! We get 2 vacations and get to see lots more of Disney?!?! HECK YEA! So we split between Pop & Coranado Springs. I asked my DH to look through pictures of CSR, CBR & POR and he was sold on the CSR Hammocks! Hes always asking if we can have a hammock in the house hes defiantly a unique guy. We even added an extra day at the end of our stay because who can resist MORE Disney!
I made SEVERAL calls to Disney to book this trip and made several changes. The only odd occurrence I had was that the first time I called to change our Pop stay into a split stay with CSR the CM told me there was no available extra day so we stuck with our original plan. Then I called back a few days later, to make a payment, and decided to ask again anyway and low & behold there was availability for the extra day! I jumped on it of course because both of us just want to go so bad that the thought of an extra day away is heavenly! Hes already missing some school so OH WELL well be in Disney, we wont care!
I had done tons of searching for cheap flights. I had found one I wanted and kept a watch on it to make sure it didnt change in price. We decided to arrive late the first evening so we can enjoy the resort and not stress getting to the parks or an ADR BUT when I went to book the flights something came over me...lol I realized Magic Kingdom is open till midnight the day of our arrival so we now arrive at about 5pm with hopes of getting to the Poly at around 8:30pm for our ressies at Ohana!! This is the one place where I really wanted to try dinner and breakfast. We are doing the breakfast later in the week so DH can see Stitch, so instead of making myself crazy and trying to pick out ANOTHER TS spot I opted for Ohana. Im very excited about it, well Im very excited about all the ADRs but thats beside the point!
So final plans are as follows: (I swear they are final because they are now paid in full)
Pop Century 12/27 1/1 and Coranado Springs 1/1-1/5
And after much debate and reading of menus and a few changes here and there I have made and confirmed all our dining ressies. I even have then putting us down for our 2nd anniversary so maybe well get a little pixie dust from some places.
Heres where we will be dining:
Ohana (Dinner)
Biergarten (we have been here before)
Chef Mickeys (Breakfast)
Boma (Dinner)
Wolfgang Puck Café
Ohana (Breakfast)
Marrakesh
Raglan Road
Maya Grill (Breakfast)
LeCellier
Coral Reef
1900 Park Fare(a last minute change but I'm excited!)
I have hopes of visiting several different CS spots too
Tangerine Café
Columbia Harbor House
Tusker House
WHEW! Did I utilize those dining credits or what?? LOL. We plan to share CS for lunches and will probably pay out of pocket for one meal in the first few days of our stay due to my add on of Ohana for the night we arrive.
We are definite sit down restaurant people and enjoy good food. Im so looking forward to trying all the different foods in Disney. My DH gets mad when I ask him to look at menus because it makes him hungry! LOL! And god knows I went over and over those menus before making a decision.
So the countdown continues and Im currently making my hubby crazy by bringing up every few days exactly how many days it is until we leave!
I realize its about 2 months till we leave but I figure I can add little things here and there about packing and such periodically so I can keep some sanity in the time I have to wait to get to the greatest place on earth!! YAY! I did it! Any comments would be awesome! Thanks for taking the time to read this!!!
for your tough year. I really want to hear how your TR went, especially the resturants you've chosen. I'll be going in april and picked out almost the same ones. Have a great trip.
