IvyandLace
Certified pixie dust user
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2000
- Messages
- 758
Trip dates: October 29th-November 5th, 2002
Our most successful planning tools:
1. DIS board (of course!)-my #1 planning resource; it kept me up-to-the-minute on all changes at WDW and also allowed me to post any insignificant questions that came up in the planning period.
2. Passporter 2002-this was a surprisingly invaluable tool that I have continued to use in future trip planning; the most comprehensive current guide book out there relating to WDW trips and planning. I especially loved the maps, on-site room layouts and the Passpockets in the back of the book; it was convenient to have everything in one place instead of hundreds of pieces of papers scattered here and there! (Weve all done it.) I would highly recommend it to first-timers and repeat visitors alike.
3. Dreams Unlimited-it would be difficult to be a regular on the DIS board and NOT hear about the success of DU, but we were a little nervous about leaving our PSs and room rates in the hand of a stranger! Needless to say, our agent, Carole Annette Fila, planned both parts of our trip and was priceless! She was particularly patient with my many Where to Stay questions and helped us tremendously in getting the best rates possible. It was not unusual for us to have daily email chats concerning some sort of aspect of our trip. Not only did she help out with our rates but she was also on the ball when it came to making our PS reservations. Most importantly, she came through with a Cinderellas Royal Table Princess Breakfast PS on the morning of Princess Ms 12th birthday for our girls only breakfast. We were ecstatic!!
Our Pre-Trip Trips:
1. October 25th-October 29th-Uncle T and I headed south first to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary with a stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. DU snagged an AP Rate for a king room for $99/night + tax wonderful!! We took time to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival, walked the Seeds Tour in the Land, rode the boat between PO and Downtown Disney, strolled leisurely through animal exhibits at the Animal Kingdom, soaked in the quiet hot tub at French Quarter and ate wonderful meals at Citricos and Jiko.
2. October 27th-October 29th-The kids came in late from Dayton, Ohio to GMs house, thinking they were flying to WDW on October 29th. Not to be! GM and Ariel woke them up with Were going to Disney World TODAY! They all flew from Rochester, New York to Orlando and headed to All-Star Music to find a complimentary upgrade to Calypso! They spent their time taking JP on his first monorail adventures, eating at Konas and Hollywood and Vine and visiting the Animal Kingdom and MGM. They planned to meet us at Blizzard Beach on October 29th to start our family trip.
Firsts planned for our family trip:
1. Matching T-shirts for all to wear on park days
2. MNSSHP on Halloween night
3. Extra Magic Hour (would this be the same as Early Entry?)
4. DisneyQuest
5. Kitchen Sink at Beaches-n-Cream
6. IllumiNations Cruise
7. CRT breakfast for girls; Restaurantosaurus breakfast for boys
8. Surrey rides around Boardwalk
Miscellaneous information:
1. Tiffany Towncar-Both parties used Tiffany Towncar for the first time which we found to be punctual, polite and extremely convenient especially with our larger group. GM, Ariel, JP, Jack, Princess M and Harry took a passenger van which proved much less expensive than taking a shuttle or taxi for that number of people. They even stopped for groceries, and their driver insisted on carrying GMs milk around the store for her! (well, she is a queen!)
2. Ticketmania.com-GM bought 6 Day Park Hopper Plus park tickets for the kids and JP through this site and not only received a significant discount but also a free breakfast voucher that was used for the boys Restaurantosaurus breakfast. Both Ariel and I used ticketmania without hitch with free shipping to obtain our DisneyQuest tickets before we left (I got them for $21.00/each!) We would definitely use this site again! No problems. (GM, Ariel, Uncle T and I used Annual Passes obtained at the Disney Store prior to the most recent rate increase.)
3. Snacks-GM and Ariel were in charge of snacks and after polling everyone for their ideas and favorites, we filled a cooler with snack packs of chips and pretzels, licorice, Starbursts, Poptarts, cereal, raisins, nuts, animal crackers, peanut butter crackers, goldfish, granola bars, and gum. We unloaded our snacks into a drawer to distribute daily and used the cooler to store our milk and juice for daily breakfasts in the room. This really saves time and money and lets you have room for souvenirs at the end of your trip.
4. Expenses-When you tour with kids, you have to know what youre willing to pay for and what youre not. GM paid for our rooms and Halloween tickets as well as the kids meals/flights/tickets for the trip. Ariel paid for DisneyQuest tickets for everyone but Uncle T and I. I paid for the IllumiNations cruise. The kids brought their own money for souvenirs and extra film. They also brought their own cameras/film and autograph books. Make sure you know who is paying for what in advance. This helps everyone to enjoy and afford the trip.
Are you, royal subjects, ready to embark on our magical adventure? If so proceed on to Once Upon a Birthday-October 29, 2002, Day One: "From Snow in New York to snow in Florida??"
Our most successful planning tools:
1. DIS board (of course!)-my #1 planning resource; it kept me up-to-the-minute on all changes at WDW and also allowed me to post any insignificant questions that came up in the planning period.
2. Passporter 2002-this was a surprisingly invaluable tool that I have continued to use in future trip planning; the most comprehensive current guide book out there relating to WDW trips and planning. I especially loved the maps, on-site room layouts and the Passpockets in the back of the book; it was convenient to have everything in one place instead of hundreds of pieces of papers scattered here and there! (Weve all done it.) I would highly recommend it to first-timers and repeat visitors alike.
3. Dreams Unlimited-it would be difficult to be a regular on the DIS board and NOT hear about the success of DU, but we were a little nervous about leaving our PSs and room rates in the hand of a stranger! Needless to say, our agent, Carole Annette Fila, planned both parts of our trip and was priceless! She was particularly patient with my many Where to Stay questions and helped us tremendously in getting the best rates possible. It was not unusual for us to have daily email chats concerning some sort of aspect of our trip. Not only did she help out with our rates but she was also on the ball when it came to making our PS reservations. Most importantly, she came through with a Cinderellas Royal Table Princess Breakfast PS on the morning of Princess Ms 12th birthday for our girls only breakfast. We were ecstatic!!
Our Pre-Trip Trips:
1. October 25th-October 29th-Uncle T and I headed south first to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary with a stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. DU snagged an AP Rate for a king room for $99/night + tax wonderful!! We took time to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival, walked the Seeds Tour in the Land, rode the boat between PO and Downtown Disney, strolled leisurely through animal exhibits at the Animal Kingdom, soaked in the quiet hot tub at French Quarter and ate wonderful meals at Citricos and Jiko.
2. October 27th-October 29th-The kids came in late from Dayton, Ohio to GMs house, thinking they were flying to WDW on October 29th. Not to be! GM and Ariel woke them up with Were going to Disney World TODAY! They all flew from Rochester, New York to Orlando and headed to All-Star Music to find a complimentary upgrade to Calypso! They spent their time taking JP on his first monorail adventures, eating at Konas and Hollywood and Vine and visiting the Animal Kingdom and MGM. They planned to meet us at Blizzard Beach on October 29th to start our family trip.
Firsts planned for our family trip:
1. Matching T-shirts for all to wear on park days
2. MNSSHP on Halloween night
3. Extra Magic Hour (would this be the same as Early Entry?)
4. DisneyQuest
5. Kitchen Sink at Beaches-n-Cream
6. IllumiNations Cruise
7. CRT breakfast for girls; Restaurantosaurus breakfast for boys
8. Surrey rides around Boardwalk
Miscellaneous information:
1. Tiffany Towncar-Both parties used Tiffany Towncar for the first time which we found to be punctual, polite and extremely convenient especially with our larger group. GM, Ariel, JP, Jack, Princess M and Harry took a passenger van which proved much less expensive than taking a shuttle or taxi for that number of people. They even stopped for groceries, and their driver insisted on carrying GMs milk around the store for her! (well, she is a queen!)
2. Ticketmania.com-GM bought 6 Day Park Hopper Plus park tickets for the kids and JP through this site and not only received a significant discount but also a free breakfast voucher that was used for the boys Restaurantosaurus breakfast. Both Ariel and I used ticketmania without hitch with free shipping to obtain our DisneyQuest tickets before we left (I got them for $21.00/each!) We would definitely use this site again! No problems. (GM, Ariel, Uncle T and I used Annual Passes obtained at the Disney Store prior to the most recent rate increase.)
3. Snacks-GM and Ariel were in charge of snacks and after polling everyone for their ideas and favorites, we filled a cooler with snack packs of chips and pretzels, licorice, Starbursts, Poptarts, cereal, raisins, nuts, animal crackers, peanut butter crackers, goldfish, granola bars, and gum. We unloaded our snacks into a drawer to distribute daily and used the cooler to store our milk and juice for daily breakfasts in the room. This really saves time and money and lets you have room for souvenirs at the end of your trip.
4. Expenses-When you tour with kids, you have to know what youre willing to pay for and what youre not. GM paid for our rooms and Halloween tickets as well as the kids meals/flights/tickets for the trip. Ariel paid for DisneyQuest tickets for everyone but Uncle T and I. I paid for the IllumiNations cruise. The kids brought their own money for souvenirs and extra film. They also brought their own cameras/film and autograph books. Make sure you know who is paying for what in advance. This helps everyone to enjoy and afford the trip.
Are you, royal subjects, ready to embark on our magical adventure? If so proceed on to Once Upon a Birthday-October 29, 2002, Day One: "From Snow in New York to snow in Florida??"
