My vacation from Kuwait!

[Dsnygrl1205]

So I have a bad habit of starting these PTRs and TRs and not finishing them but this one will be different! I am committing myself to seeing this one through to the end!
Things will be different this time since I am writing it from a deployment in Kuwait and though I am in war zone (It's actually pretty safe here) I find that i have less distractions then I do at home. Here I have one job to do and not a lot of options besides going to the gym or the PX (like a Walmart on an Army post) I spend more time on the DIS Boards than I do at home. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing!
It's been almost 4 months since I left home and the time is going by pretty quickly especially since I started making plans for a Disney trip while on my R&R leave in March.
March 3rd to the 9th to be exact and at the Boardwalk! A first for us and I'm very excited about it! The room only deal for the military is great again this year so that made staying there possible.
Here's the cast of characters for this trip:

That's me on the far right next to me is my DS, Aidan who just turned 12, next to him is my DNephew, Caleb who is 10, and last but not least my DM whose age I will not mention.
This photo was taken last April which was my DNs first ever trip to Disney! He was so thrilled to be there and has really caught the Disney Bug! He's definitely an addict in the making He doesn't know he's coming with us yet. I'm going to surprise him the night before we leave and I can't wait to see the look on his face! I'll make sure to capture the moment to share with everyone here.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm here!!

When were you there last April? We usually go every April school vacation but switched it to Feb school vacation this year due to Easter. We were there the last week of April. I'm guessing you might have the same school vacations as us.

Can't wait to hear about your plans and if they overlap with ours!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I'm here!!

When were you there last April? We usually go every April school vacation but switched it to Feb school vacation this year due to Easter. We were there the last week of April. I'm guessing you might have the same school vacations as us.

Can't wait to hear about your plans and if they overlap with ours!

How funny that we were there the same time last year too! Our dates were April 18th to the 25th and we stayed at AKL thanks to a 40% off deluxe pin code! The weather was perfect that time of year and the crowds were not nearly as bad as I thought they would be.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

So ADRs have been done for a while and we have some good ones that I was lucky to get since I started planning this trip with only four months to go! Here they are...
Day 1 (March 3rd)- Via Napoli 6:20 pm
Day 2 (4th)- Liberty Tree Tavern 12:45 pm
Day 3 (5th)-O'Hana 8:40 pm (should be able to catch the fireworks if we have a window seat)
Day 4 (6th)-Kouzzina 7:45am. I can't wait for this Breakfast after seeing Queenofallthings pictures of the waffles!
Also on Day 4 we have a dinner ADR at T-Rex which I was initially excited about but since it's not on the DDP I may be dropping it for something else but as for now it stands that we will have dinner here at 8pm that evening.
Day 5 (7th)- No ADR just counter service I suppose and that's fine because there are a few CS places we love.
Day 6 (8th)- Coral Reef 12:50 pm
Day 7 (9th)- Crystal Palace 9:05 am. Now CP is not my favorite but I love getting into the park before the crowds for those shots on an Empty Main Street. That alone is worth eating there. But also my DN has never been and I think he'll love it!
So there it is but I'm sure things will change before too long.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I'm here!!! I'm here!!! Of course I'll follow you....now I have to go back and read.....WOO HOO

 

[Queenofallthings]

Your plans sound great! You have some really good ADR's....I think you're gonna love Via Napoli and let me tell you, those waffles at Kouzzina's are pure

Happy New Year my friend....keep safe!!!

 

[Pakey]

I will follow along. I've done 21 WDW vacations since becoming an adult; our next visit is in October. It's always fun to read how others enjoy the world.

Happy New Year and thank you so much for serving.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Your plans sound great! You have some really good ADR's....I think you're gonna love Via Napoli and let me tell you, those waffles at Kouzzina's are pure

Happy New Year my friend....keep safe!!!

Happy New Year to you too! Had a small celebration with a few of my girlfriends here last night. Couldn't make it to midnight (Kuwait time) because I have to up by 5am for work but did catch the countdown and ball drop from NYC this morning here at 8 this morning!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I will follow along. I've done 21 WDW vacations since becoming an adult; our next visit is in October. It's always fun to read how others enjoy the world.

Happy New Year and thank you so much for serving.

Happy New Year as well! Thanks a bunch for following along! I was planning a trip for September of this new year but I'm not quite sure when we'll be back in the states so I'm thinking about pushing it back to October. If not then most likely late November. I'll keep you updated and maybe we can do a meet!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

So it's another lovely day here in Kuwait! It's so windy and there's so much dust in the air! It's pretty miserable to be outside in this weather. Just walking from my barrack to my office is a chore!
But on to a better topic... My upcoming trip! I just registered for the Champion 5K run through Hollywood Studios! I am so excited to be doing a race at Disney I could scream! No one I work with quite gets it so I'll let it all out here! wooooohoooooo! I am beyond jealous of those of you that are doing the half marathon this month! I'd really like to do the Princess Half next year. Hopefully!
I have finally started planning out my days. Haven't committed anything to an excel spreadsheet yet but that's the next step!
We will be arriving at MCO at around 1:00 in the afternoon and are using ME so I'm guesstimating arrival to the Boardwalk at about 2:30. We'll settle in to the room then head over to Epcot and spend some time in WS while waiting for our dinner at Via Napoli. Then a DIS meet with DisMomAmy and after that Illuminations... My favorite show at WDW. I just love the music for this show. I actually have on my Ipod and run to it pretty frequently. Weird running music, I know.
Walk back to the resort and hit the sack early. This is the only day set in stone right now because we always do dinner and Illuminations at Epcot on our first night. So the following days are tentative plans because I haven't checked on EMHs or parades and fireworks schedules yet. I'm way behind the curve here.
So I'm thinking MK the next morning for rope drop if it's not am EMHs because we have a lunch ADR at LTT. Otherwise we'd hit Epcot again and just hop over to MK for lunch.
If all works out for MK on Friday we'll go back to Epcot on Saturday (after my 5K at HS).
Sunday we'll be up early for our Kouzzina ADR and then walk over to HS for the morning if it doesn't get too busy we'll stay most of the day. And we're probably not doing Fantasmic at all this trip because I hate having to line up so early and wait so long for it to start, especially if it's cold out.
Monday will be the AK day. Not too much to do here. EE, Dinosaur, Safari and Festival of the Lion King are my faves. I like Kali but again if it's cold no way am I getting on that ride. My DN hated Dinosaur so we'll probably skip that anyway. So probably back to Epcot or MK after a rest at the resort. We don't have any ADRs this day either so we'll be going at a fairly relaxed pace.
Tuesday will bring us back to HS most likely because I have a feeling Sunday there will be crowded plus we all love ToT so we'll get a few more rides in before we leave.
And this brings us to our last day. MK for breakfast at CP then hitting our favorite attractions and saying gooodbye to the castle, I'm actually the only one who does this but we'll all be a little sad to be leaving. ME should be picking us up at 5:00 pm for our 8pm flight back to reality.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Your plans sound good... you have some great ADRs.

You are going to love being so close to Epcot!! BWI is the only deluxe I've ever stayed at, but it was an amazing resort & so easy to get to Epcot and DHS!!

Yay for the 5K! Is that part of ESPN weekend? We noticed that it's schedule the last weekend of our trip & are curious what that will do to the crowd levels... We have our primary DHS day scheduled earlier in the week (Wednesday) but are planning to be back there on Friday night for dinner and a couple rides. I guess we shouldn't plan to get too much done that night...

Happy New Year!!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Your plans sound good... you have some great ADRs.

You are going to love being so close to Epcot!! BWI is the only deluxe I've ever stayed at, but it was an amazing resort & so easy to get to Epcot and DHS!!

Yay for the 5K! Is that part of ESPN weekend? We noticed that it's schedule the last weekend of our trip & are curious what that will do to the crowd levels... We have our primary DHS day scheduled earlier in the week (Wednesday) but are planning to be back there on Friday night for dinner and a couple rides. I guess we shouldn't plan to get too much done that night...

Happy New Year!!

I've never been to Disney during ESPN weekend and it's not really much of a draw for us other than the race. I'm guessing the park most affected will be HS but I think I read somewhere on the boards that it doesn't really impact wait times for attractions. Maybe I'll swap my HS and AK days around though.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Those plans sound terrific Just reading them put a huge smile on my face....we can all say we're going to Disney this YEAR!!!! Woo Hoo.

Jasmine leaves on her cruise next month...where is the time going? I love the way you described your first day....sounds heavenly! I too love Illuminations .... I could listen to it over and over again!!

Because we always have a later arrival time we have never gone to a park we always go to WPE and do a little shopping at DTD....

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Those plans sound terrific Just reading them put a huge smile on my face....we can all say we're going to Disney this YEAR!!!! Woo Hoo.

Jasmine leaves on her cruise next month...where is the time going? I love the way you described your first day....sounds heavenly! I too love Illuminations .... I could listen to it over and over again!!

Because we always have a later arrival time we have never gone to a park we always go to WPE and do a little shopping at DTD....

I love having that first night at Disney tradition! It's definitely something that we all have and I think it creates great memories for our families. I'd like to think that someday my DS will be doing the same thing with his children someday.
Jasmine must be psyched that the cruise is so soon! She's going to have a blast, it's a great time of year for cruises.

 

[DrMomof3]

Happy New Year!!!
I had no idea you're in Kuwait. Thank you for all you do!!!
That's awesome that you're getting to run a 5K on your trip. Too cool!!! Can't wait to hear more.

Amanda

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Happy New Year!!!
I had no idea you're in Kuwait. Thank you for all you do!!!
That's awesome that you're getting to run a 5K on your trip. Too cool!!! Can't wait to hear more.

Amanda

Happy new year to you as well! I am so excited that the Champion 5K happened to be the weekend I'll be there on leave. I have never run a race at Disney and this one should be a lot of fun. I think most of the course is in the actual park! I'm planning on setting a PR I just want to take in the fun atmosphere and get lots of pictures!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

It's chilly here in Kuwait today but the winds have died down a bit so at least I'm not eating sand anymore! The dust storm we just had lasted almost 3 days.
Still having a hard time getting my thoughts organized regarding this trip but I did decide to drop my ADR at T-Rex and picked up Yak & Yeti table service instead. That still leaves me paying OOP for one meal which is fine.
On a personal note, I just found out I have something called posterior tibial tendinitis which means no running until it's all healed. I made the mistake of continuing a few 6 mile runs even though it hurt a little and now I'm paying the price. Just hoping it gets better soon! I'll keep you all posted.

 

[DrMomof3]

Hope your leg feels better!

Amanda

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Hope your leg feels better!

Amanda

Thanks! I could actually walk without too much pain today so the stretching, ice and Motrin have been helping a bit. Going to give it another week before I run on it again, though. You must be so excited about you trip! I am so excited to hear about how the race goes! Hopefully I'll be there for it next year!

 

[DisMomAmy]

It's chilly here in Kuwait today but the winds have died down a bit so at least I'm not eating sand anymore! The dust storm we just had lasted almost 3 days.
Still having a hard time getting my thoughts organized regarding this trip but I did decide to drop my ADR at T-Rex and picked up Yak & Yeti table service instead. That still leaves me paying OOP for one meal which is fine.
On a personal note, I just found out I have something called posterior tibial tendinitis which means no running until it's all healed. I made the mistake of continuing a few 6 mile runs even though it hurt a little and now I'm paying the price. Just hoping it gets better soon! I'll keep you all posted.

Ouch! Hope you feel better & can get back to running soon!