My 'uh oh, she's givin it a go' Pre Trip Report!

[wen-tom]

Hello :wave
I am not a frequent poster here but I am an avid reader and I have just spent 4 days reading everyone's trip reports. PHEW!

I thought it was only right that I 'try' to write my own. I say 'try' as I seem to be notoriously good at making very exciting things sound extremely dull and so I am worried that most of my readers wouldn't get past the 1st post before they dozed off

Anyway, if you are still awake right now I will introduce my trip and can you believe it I have already passed my DDD

This will be our 4th...ooh errr.. maybe 5th trip to WDW. I can't believe I have lost count

So, on this trip there will be:
Me: Wendy. Total disney nut. I do all the planning and I work for the Mouse
My DH: Steve, enjoys WDW but is not really 'into' it shall we say He's an IT manager.
My Sister: Sophie (16) this will be her first trip! My mum was hoping to take her this year to celebrate her finishing school but my dad lost his job and so they asked if we would take her with us Sophie has just finished her GCSE's and will go to College when we return to study Animal Care

I am not sure what Sophie will make of WDW. I don't know that it will be what she expects...

Here are Me and steve in 2005 at AKL. Looking much younger and wow... much thinner

This year we are heading to WDW on September 3rd. We are flying with Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick at 1pm although we will leave our home on September 2nd (1 day after my birthday!!) as we are actually in Yorkshire and going to stay overnight with steves mum who lives near to Gatwick
This will be the latest we have ever flown as we usually get a flight at around 9am so it will be quite nice not to rush around panicking that I wont wake up in time!

When we arrive, we will head to Beach Club Resort and stay there until we venture onto a 3 night Cruise on the Disney Dream to the Bahamas on 6th September.

After the cruise, we will head to AKV where we will stay until we leave on 17th September (but we won't talk about leaving just yet )

ARE YOU STILL AWAKE??

Did I mention that I tend to ramble on...

If you are still awake, pop back later to hear about the plans I have made so far including the surprise I have planned for my sister

 

[wilma-bride]

Wendy, we will be just back when you go. Liking the sound of your plans so far. And, since I'm still awake, you may as well tell us some more

 

[Debbyt28]

I fly on 3rd sept too albeit with US airways and staying at POP sooo excited

 

[Fantasia Sam]

I'm still awake and looking forward to hearing more of your plans - that's nice that you're taking your Sister

 

[princess_ariel_85]

You'll be there a similar time to us!

Thats so nice of you to take your sister along with you, I'm sure she'll love it.

Looking forward to hearing more xx

 

[wen-tom]

Wendy, we will be just back when you go. Liking the sound of your plans so far. And, since I'm still awake, you may as well tell us some more

Haha, oh ok then!

I fly on 3rd sept too albeit with US airways and staying at POP sooo excited

Yay I hope you have a fab time too! Are you excited yet?

I'm still awake and looking forward to hearing more of your plans - that's nice that you're taking your Sister

You'll be there a similar time to us!

Thats so nice of you to take your sister along with you, I'm sure she'll love it.

Looking forward to hearing more xx

Seems a lot of us here are there around the same time this year We always try to go in late august/early september because it's not so busy.

I hope she enjoys it as I think that it is likely to be her only trip unless she wants to take herself when she has the money/a job etc..

 

[queendisney]

This year we are heading to WDW on September 3rd. We are flying with Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick at 1pm

We are on the same flight
We will be the two fatties in the two seats right at the back of the plane!

Well done so far and I am def still awake and looking forward to more.

 

[wen-tom]

So, whenever me & steve go to WDW we like to have the dining plan... that was until they changed it, removed the starter etc etc

We know it's probably sometimes not the best value for money but I like the convenience of it and knowing that I don't have to budget for food.

So this time, we spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do

We have decided against the DDP. I don't know whether we are right or wrong in our decision but we've made it and it's staying

While we are fairly adventurous eaters, Sophie is not and to top it off she is a Vegetarian who doesn't particularly like very much We figured with this in mind that the DDP is probably going to be wasted on her and so that was part of it. Right now we are worrying that she is going to be sitting in the restaurants with us eating dry pasta

We usually like to try a lot of different restaurants but this time we have had to play it safe a little.

Here is what we have so far:

Planet Hollywood (dinner) More for the atmosphere than the food. I like eating here but i'm never overly impressed with the food. I find it just 'ok' but they have a lot of veggie choices with simple pasta/pizza.

Via Napoli (dinner) A new one for us and chosen for the same foody reasons as PH.

Rainforest Cafe (dinner) we have eaten here several times and enjoyed the food but again it's more for the experience for Sophie

Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic Package Another new one and one that I am a little worried about as I have read some terrible reviews but it's the only Fantasmic package I could get. I think I will be keeping an eye out to change this one if I can though.

Boma @ AKL (dinner) I love the buffet here and as we will be staying there it's a nice easy one for us. There are a lot of veggie choices here and I hope that I can persuade Sophie to at least try some of them!

Yak & Yeti (lunch) we fell in love with this place 2 years ago when I had the most amazing chicken and the most amazing Mango cheesecake ahhhhh Honestly, Sophie can sit there with an empty place as this one is all for me

There doesn't seem to be many ADR's but we are on the cruise for 3 nights and we didn't want to be too structured. you know.. just in case.

So.. with no DDP, we are considering the tables in wonderland card. Thats something totally new for me. I am also a Disney Store CM so I MAY get some discounts but this isn't definite and so I want a back up!

Has anyone used TIW card? How did you find it? The good thing about this is the Alcohol is included and although we don't drink a huge amount Steve will have a some with meals..

Oh, i am out of my comfort zone here

 

[wen-tom]

We are on the same flight
We will be the two fatties in the two seats right at the back of the plane!

Well done so far and I am def still awake and looking forward to more.

Yay! I can't believe it!

We're seats 26 H/J/K i think...

 

[queendisney]

we're 61 h/k
see you on board!

 

[wen-tom]

we're 61 h/k
see you on board!

Where are you staying Vanda?

 

[wen-tom]

I don't know why but I always get nervous about buying my tickets

I have never had a bad experience (touches wood right now) but for some reason I feel really nervous and keep putting it off

I have decided to buy all our tickets before we go and so I am on the lookout for the following:

WDW Ticket (although I only need 9 days, I imagine the 14 day ultimate will be cheaper)

Universal Studio's (2 park, 1 day). Although we like universal studios, we do not hire a car and so have never spent more than 1 day here.

Seaworld (1 day) - We usually do Busch too but we have not got enough time this year with the cruise taking a big chunk of our days.

MNSSHP - YAY we are there for a Halloween party. We went to one a few years ago and it was fab so i'm happy to be going again. In 2010 we just missed the start of the parties. The first one was on the day we left and I was sooo upset

Wish me luck on my search...

ooh I keep forgetting to tell you about Sophies surprise.. more tomorrow

 

[queendisney]

Where are you staying Vanda?

We are at our most fav place..POR for three weeks..can't wait.

 

[Shazzie B]

Liking the sound of your plans; we love Yak & Yeti too, but we couldn't really fit it in this year - not really doing many Disney restaurants due to expence as 12 of us travelling. Your photo comment made me laugh, oh and you're a lovely Sister

 

[wen-tom]

We are at our most fav place..POR for three weeks..can't wait.

sounds fab 3 weeks! you lucky thing!

Liking the sound of your plans; we love Yak & Yeti too, but we couldn't really fit it in this year - not really doing many Disney restaurants due to expence as 12 of us travelling. Your photo comment made me laugh, oh and you're a lovely Sister

I'll have a bite at yak & yeti for you

we were intending on doing mostly counter service but our lists seem to have grown somehow

 

[wen-tom]

Yesterday while we were walking the dogs, Steve asked me if I had ordered any tickets yet? I told him no and he said 'why not'???

I said I was going to do it tomorrow which is now today and so I have been true to my word and just hit the buy now button for our 14 day ultimate WDW tickets while I watched the rain pouring down outside!

Why does it always feel more real when you have bought your tickets? It's like for some reason you think you are not going until you have spent a silly amount of money on a few bits of card

Never mind the flights booked and the hotels reserved.. you just arent going 'officially' until you have tickets

So, now all I have is the nervous wait until the tickets actually land on the door mat! The worst part!

So, now all I have to do is buy Universal and Seaworld tickets & MNSSHP and we are good to go!