*Of COURSE I'll Cry at Wishes!*-Oct 09 PTR

[areno79]

Hello!

This is my first Pre-Trip Report...figured I should start one since we leave in 23 days. Hey, better late than never, right?

My title comes from something I said to my DH last night. We were talking about touring plans and our upcoming trip (well, actually *I* was talking...he was blankly staring out into space! ), and I mentioned which night we were going to see Wishes. After reminding him that Wishes is the MK fireworks show, he says "Oh no, you're not going to cry at Wishes again, are you?" (Last time I was a blubbering mess) I replied with..."Of COURSE I'm going to cry at Wishes!". Because, really, doesn't everybody?
Anyway, I'll get to it. Here's the nitty-gritty:

Cast:
Me: Amanda, 30- Disney Addict and overall Vacation Commando
DH: Ray, 33- Just along for the ride
Cousin: Davina, 6- Never been to WDW, but LOVES all things Disney

About us and our upcoming trip:
We've been to the World twice. Once by ourselves in 2003, and in 2005 we took my cousins, who were 9 and 11 at the time. I've been itching to go back (I think every other year is reasonable), but in the 4 years since we've gone we've taken lots of other trips and bought a house.

Of course we've been seeing the Free Dining commercials for months now, and my pleading for a Disney trip has gotten more and more annoying. DH finally agreed in August that we could go in November, the week after Thanksgiving. Fast forward to the beginning of September, and I'm starting to freak out because his boss still hasn't approved his vacation time, and the trip is not booked. I pretty much convinced myself it wasn't going to happen this year, and consoled myself with perusing the Disboards reading about other peoples upcoming trips. (Yes, I'm an emotional cutter.)
Two weeks ago (the Thursday after Labor Day), DH calls me at work and asks if I can get a week in October off instead. After some quick checking, we determined that the week of October 17 worked best for us. Now the trip is back on!
For the next 24 hours I feverishly got quotes from every source imaginable. In the midst of all of this, DH has the idea to bring my cousin Davina, who's 6 and has never been to Disney. After some hemming and hawing, I called her mother, who said that she could definitely go. Yay! So that Friday night, I called and booked the trip. (Thank you, Disney Visa! )

The Trip Details:

-October 17-24, staying at Port Orleans French Quarter (Our first time in a Moderate!)
-We've got the 7day Park Hopper tickets, with Free Dining
-Flying down nonstop from BOS on Jetblue
-Attending MNSSHP on October 20 (also a first!)

Welcome!

 

[areno79]

Dining Reservations:
ADR's have been the bane of my existence for the past two weeks. I booked the trip 5 weeks out, so of course all the prime places have been taken. After spending copious amounts of time online and on the phone with my good friends at the Disney Dining Line, here's what I've got at this point in time:

Saturday, 10/17 (Epcot-PM)
5:10pm, Akershus Princess Dinner

Sunday, 10/18 (MK day)
5:15pm, Whispering Canyon Cafe

Monday, 10/19 (DHS and Fantasmic)
12:45, Sci-Fi Dine In
5:35, Hollywood & Vine (considering canceling)

Tuesday, 10/20 (MNSSHP)
4:15pm, Crystal Palace

Wednesday, 10/21 (AM-Open, PM-MK for Wishes & Spectro)
5:10pm, Kona Cafe

Thursday, 10/22 (AK)
6:35pm, Chef Mickey's (DH's favorite restaurant)

Friday, 10/23 (Open)
5:00pm, Hoop De Doo Revue

Originally I had the 8pm Spirit of Aloha dinner booked on the 23rd, but after going back and forth, found an opening at HDDR, so I booked that instead. I figured it's better timewise since we'll be leaving early the next morning.
We're also excited to be trying some new restaurants this trip. The only restaurants we've been to on our list are Chef Mickey's, Sci-Fi, and H&V. I'm still undecided about H&V, but it's one of my favorites.

 

[mchelle77]

Emotional cutter

And yes, Disney Visa is AWESOME. I just bought my new bed on it, so I have more money to spend at the F&WF!

I knew you went in 2005 (a cheer competition?) but I didn't know you guys went the year Russ and I got married? When were you there? (And why don't I remember this?!)

I know I'm totally going to cry several times this trip .. any time Talia sees something, I'll cry. Castle? Cry. Cinderella? Cry. Tinkerbell? Cry. Mickey? Yep.

 

[areno79]

We went in February 2003, when we were engaged. It was a really last minute thing. We were both laid off, hating the winter, and had just gotten our tax returns. I looked online, found a cheap Downtown Disney hotel (I remember it was $59 a night!), and we drove down the next day. It was the first time either of us had ever been, and we had a blast.

We went in 2005 for our 1 year anniversary, since we didn't take a "real" honeymoon. That's when we took my cousins Valerie and Kayla, who had never been. THAT trip was even better than the last. And yup, the first time they saw the castle I started to cry. They were so embarassed

In 2007 we went down for 4 days for a cheer competition at Universal, and stayed at a condo offsite. We spent most of the time at Universal, but did manage to hit Planet Hollywood at DTD.

I find every 2 years really helps satisfy the Disney addict in me. Although I'm hoping to get a bounceback offer this time and come back next year.

 

[mchelle77]

I'd LOVE to be able to go every year or two years, but Russ made a good point - there are other places we want to go that we haven't been to yet and we should try to go to some of those places before going back. We've been trying to go to Niagara for YEARS and it's so much closer .. yet we haven't, but have been to Disney twice since talking about Niagara

 

[ammeador2]

Hello! My husband has told me no more Disney until the kids are old enough to pay for it themselves! haha..this will be our second year in a row...

 

[areno79]

ammeador!

I think 2 vacations a year would be optimal...Caribbean in the spring, Disney in the fall. Would that be too much to ask for *every* year?

 

[areno79]

I started working on my packing list today. I'm going to try *REALLY* hard not to overpack...although it's always a challenge for me. Of course, it would probably be easier to keep from overpacking if I stopped shopping!

I ordered mine and DH's MNSSHP t-shirts today through Zazzle. Tried to order our personalized Pirate shirts, but it was denied due to copyright. Now I have to try to figure out how to get an iron on transfer printed without a printer since ours is broken.

 

[mchelle77]

You're late on your packing list .. I'm going two weeks after you and I started mine 3 weeks ago

 

[areno79]

Yeah, I know, I'm slacking. But in my defense, I only booked the trip 2 weeks ago!

Oh, and I forgot to mention...I scored at Walgreen's last weekend. Got some Halloween Mickey clings, and Mickey light up pumpkins to decorate our window at POFQ. Now I just need to swing by Home Depot and "borrow" some Mickey Heads, and I'll be good to go!

 

[mchelle77]

Have you perused the F&WF menus yet????

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/enterta...index=orl-epcot-food-and-wine-festival-menu-3

I'm drooling. I'm doing the math on which I should use with snack credits, and which I should pay OOP. For everything *I* want to try would be $65 OOP

 

[areno79]

Ooh, thanks for the link! I'm already drooling

I was at CVS at the mall today (Michelle, did you know they closed the DQ there?), and they had a Disney Princess belt bag set on clearance. It comes with fake lipstick, "fake" sunglasses (whatever those are), and a fanny pack-type bag. I really bought it for the bag, and the whole thing was only $2. I figure it'll be good for Davina to carry her autograph book in.

 

[mchelle77]

Michelle, did you know they closed the DQ there?

Noooooooooooooo! THAT sucks.

On the other hand, I should head to CVS to grab one of those for Talia. Would be nice if I'm not the only one carrying everything this trip. Bad enough when it was just me and Russ, but with a kid, the crap you need just seems to multiply.

 

[areno79]

I find that on the first day, we always start out with a pretty full backpack, but by the end of the trip we're down to carrying almost nothing Ray actually likes carrying the backpack, so who am I to stop him?

I've decided to place a Garden Grocer order to be delivered to our resort. Last time (when we drove), bringing a case of water was a godsend, and HUGE moneysaver. It's going to be hard to pack a case of water since we're flying this time, and GG has gotten good reviews here on the DIS. I'm also going to order some quick snacks/breakfast type items to have. Might as well put that fridge in the room to good use.

Speaking of resorts, I called CRO today to make a room request. I requested first floor, close to the bus stops. I'm sure the last thing I'll want to do when we get home from the parks is climb some stairs!

 

[DisneyObsessive]

Love the report so far! Going down 15th-19th so we'll be there a couple of days you are!!! And hey, watching wishes on Youtube makes me cry. in person? forget about it!

 

[areno79]

I see you're staying at POP...we stayed there on our last trip and absolutely loved it.

 

[mchelle77]

Amanda, let me know when you get your Mickey Mail I'm wondering when ours will arrive (first time staying onsite and booking a package, so I've never received it before. It's the stupid little things that get me excited right now )

 

[areno79]

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention...I already got my Mickey Mail! Oops! I got the Magical Express luggage tags first (about a week after I booked), then a couple of days later got my mailed confirmation and Disney luggage tags.

My new bedroom furniture is being delivered today. Can't wait! Once that's done, I can start putting aside my summer clothes for packing, and bringing out the fall/winter clothes and put them in my new dressers.

 

[redsunfish]

Hey there!

Came across your trip report today. My husband and I are also staying at POFQ at a similar time (15th-21st). I was looking into doing into grocery delivery but I'm not sure we really need $40 worth of groceries since we're on the dining plan....it's a tough decision because it would be so convinient!

Anyway, I'll be enjoying your trip report! Have a great trip!

 

[areno79]

I see you're from Western Mass...I'm from Southern NH, so we're practically neighbors.

It's difficult to justify spending the money on a grocery delivery, but for us I think it'll work out good because we're not "breakfast" people. I'm fine having a banana on the way to the parks, ya know? I can sort of justify it because of the bottled water. I know we'll drink tons of it, and I wouldn't want to waste snack credits on bottled water. Although, this is our first time on the DDP, so we'll see how it goes.