My first pre-trip report- December 2011

[lizzi6692]

I have been reading pre-trip reports for the past few days and I've been thinking that maybe it's time that I write one of my own.

Introductions:
My name is Emily. I have loved Disney ever since I saw my first Disney movie in theaters which was the Lion King and it made me cry then and it still does today. However, because my parents aren't big travelers I was never able to go to Disney World until I was 18 and my boyfriend(now husband) took me. This upcoming trip will be my 3rd trip.
Favorite Disney Movie: The Lion King
Favorite Disney Characters: Nala, Stitch, Eeyore(I'll stop there because I could keep going for days)
Favorite Princesses: Belle and Aurora
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: tie between Space Mountain and Tower of Terror

My husband's name is Daniel and he is just as much of a Disney freak as I am. He's been at least once more than I have because he went as a child.
Favorite Disney Movie: Lilo and Stitch
Favorite Disney Characters: Stitch and Tigger
Favorite Princess: Ariel(he thinks she's pretty lol)
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: tie between Space Mountain and Tower of Terror

We are both huge Disney fanatics and after our first trip together Disney will always hold a special place in our hearts, because Daniel proposed to me while we were having dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.

 

[lizzi6692]

We are going to be staying at the Pop Century resort. We will be at Disney World from December 17th-December 22nd(if anyone else will be there at the same time it might be fun to meet up). We'll be in the parks for 3 days. Our park schedule is as follows:
Sunday December 18th: Epcot

Monday December 19th: Magic Kingdom

Tuesday December 20th: Hollywood Studios

We were able to get free dining for our trip(I had to move our trip back a day to make that possible) and in my next post I will list our ADRs.

 

[lizzi6692]

My husband and I love food and having our food(with the exception of tip and alcoholic beverages) paid for in advance really takes a weight off our shoulders. And we both eat enough that the dining plan works for us. Although it might not be the most cost effective option, it works for us.

Day 1: Arrival
I have no ADRs for this day because we haven't booked our flights yet, so I'm not entirely sure what time we'll get there(although I hope it will be early afternoon sometime). Most likely any meals we eat this day will be at the QS place at our resort or possibly in DTD. We won't be using many quick service meals during our actual park days, so we need to use those up on arrival and departure days.

Day 2: Epcot
Since we are flying in and most likely the day before will be a fairly long day we are not going to attempt rope drop, instead we will sleep in a little bit and then take a cab to our first ADR at Ohana with Lilo and Stitch at 10:55am. This is probably the meal I am most looking forward to. First of all, because I love breakfast and this will be my first sit down breakfast at Disney World. Secondly, because Stitch is one of our favorite characters.

After breakfast we will take the monorail(our first time riding it, I'm so excited ) to the TTC and then from there we'll take the monorail to EPCOT(my first time there as well). We plan to use the majority of our snack credits here because we're probably going to spend most of the day in the World Showcase. My husband asked me if alcoholic beverages count as snack credits , I told him probably not, but I'm honestly not sure.

That night for dinner we will be eating at the Garden Grill with Chip and Dale at 8:05pm!! I am so excited for this because during my first trip I stood in line to meet Chip and Dale, but after about 10 minutes they had to go inside and because I only had one day I didn't want to waste too much time waiting in line for characters, so I'm excited to finally be able to meet them.

I'm also excited because I've heard that when a couple is celebrating an anniversary and you put that on your reservation(which me and hubby are and did) they do a mock wedding ceremony and you get a special certificate. I hope they still do that because that would be cool.

Day 3: Magic Kingdom
On Monday we will be headed for our favorite park, Magic Kingdom. We plan to make rope drop for the first time ever, because we have a 10:15am reservation at Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends.

I have eaten at CP for lunch and dinner previously, so after this trip I will have eaten there for every meal. We're hoping to get into the park as soon as it opens and ride at least one ride and grab fast passes for another before checking in at CP.

That evening we have 8:10pm reservations at the Castle to have dinner with the princesses.

As I mentioned in a previous post, CRT holds a special place in my heart because that's where my husband proposed to me.

I'm not entirely sure what time the fireworks our that night, but I hope we get a table by the window and can watch them from the restaurant, that would be amazing.

Day 4: Hollywood Studios
We're planning on trying to make rope drop at HS, because we would like to ride TSM, but that's not critical because we don't have an ADR for this day. We're planning on doing a quick service for a late breakfast/early lunch.

That evening we will leave the park around 7:30 so that hopefully we will miss the mass exodus at closing at 8:00. We will then get on a bus to Saratoga Springs Resort to head to our 8:40 reservation at the Turf Club Lounge. My husband and I are looking forward to this a lot, because as mentioned we love food and I have heard a lot of great things about this place.

After dinner we will probably take the ferry boat to DTD and explore before heading back to our resort for our last night.

Day 5: Departure
This is the only day I'm not looking forward to . We will probably have 1 or 2 QS meals left each depending on how many we use on arrival day so we will use the remainder of those before flying home some time in the early evening most likely.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Caught up!

about you and your hubby! From the pics looks like you caught one that truly loves you! Prince charmings are the best

Y'all aren't AK fans?

 

[lizzi6692]

Caught up!

about you and your hubby! From the pics looks like you caught one that truly loves you! Prince charmings are the best

Y'all aren't AK fans?

We love AK, but we can only do three days and we don't have park hoppers and this time he specifically requested EPCOT(the past two times we went we didn't go). And we both love MK and HS, so we couldn't skip either of those. I hate that we're going to miss it, but it gives us a reason to come back .

 

[momabaarjo]

Joining in...what a fairy tale at CRT! Kuddos to DH!

 

[lizzi6692]

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been super busy(just started college). I'm really excited because a few weeks ago we paid off the balance on our vacation and purchased our airplane tickets so I've been able to make a more concrete schedule.

Arrival Day - December 17, 2011:
We'll leave Albany Airport at 7:20 am and arrive at MCO at 10:35 am. I'm hoping to be at Pop Century before 1 o'clock. We don't have park tickets this day so we're planning on heading to Downtown Disney to do some shopping(all of our other trips we never had time to do this so I'm looking forward to it). We'll probably eat at the Wolfgang Puck Express.
Must Dos:
See the World of Disney store in DTD
Relax(because this will be my last chance to do so for a few days lol)

Day 2 - December 18, 2011:
This is our Epcot day. Before heading to the park we will take a taxi to the Polynesian so we can have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at Ohana! I'm really excited for this because Stitch is one of our favorite characters and we have yet to find him in the parks. After our late(10:55am) breakfast we'll take the monorail(my first time) to the TTC and then the monorail to Epcot. Since we only have one day(and it's starting later) we plan to just focus on the World Showcase. Except for dinner at the Garden Grill at 8:05pm in the Land Pavilion.
Must Dos:
Gran Fiesta Tour
Maelstrom
Kim Possible
Karamel Kuche
Find Marie from the Aristocats

Day 3 - December 19, 2011:
Magic Kingdom! On this day we are going to try to make rope drop. We're not normally morning people but we want to do it at least once(and hey, maybe it will change our minds). The park opens at nine and we are hoping to get into the park and run to Peter Pan(which we've never ridden) and ride it on the standby line and then run to Tomorrowland to get fastpasses for Space Mountain before heading to the Crystal Palace for our 10:15am reservations. We've eaten at CP twice but never at breakfast, which we have heard is there best meal of the day. After breakfast we will probably head towards Adventureland and make our way clockwise around the park. This day also has nighttime EMH so we are planning to take advantage of that. For dinner, we have reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table!
Must Dos:
Space Mountain
Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
Stitch's Great Escape(this is one of our favorites, I don't understand why people hate it)
Jungle Cruise
Peter Pan's Flight
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh(another ride we've never been on)

Day 4 - December 20, 2011:
This is our Hollywood Studios day. We will most likely be up late the night before, so we will sleep in a little this day and probably head to the park around 9:30 or so. Our plans for today are to explore the left side of the park. Last trip we headed towards the right to ride Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster and never made it to the other side lol. We'll probably use a quick service(where depends on where in the park we are when we get hungry, but I'm hoping for Pizza Planet, I love Disney World pizza) for lunch. We'll leave the park shortly before it closes at 8(hopefully missing the mass exodus) and catch a bus to Saratoga Springs for our dinner at 8:40 at the Turf Club Bar and Grill. Afterwards we will either walk or take the boat to Downtown Disney, explore anything we didn't see on arrival day and then take a bus back to Pop Century.
Must Dos:
ToT
RnRC
The Great Movie Ride
The new Star Tours(we missed it by like two weeks the last time we went, Daniel was very upset)
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage

Departure Day - December 21, 2011:
We don't have park tickets for this day either and our flight doesn't leave until 6:55pm, so we will have the morning and afternoon to just explore the resort. We plan on waking up so we have just enough to time to get showered(I hope to get us packed up the night before) so that we can get checked out by 11am. We will leave our luggage with the front desk(they do that, correct?) so that we don't have to carry it around with us. And then we'll just hang out until the Magical Express comes to get us.
Must Dos:
Go home(unfortunately )

 

[lizzi6692]

We are officially 10 days out and I just did the online check-in. I'm so excited!!!!!!!! Now we just have to wait for our yellow ME tags to get here and in a couple days I'll start packing(If I do it over the course of several days I'm a lot less likely to forget something lol).