crostorfer
Gryffindor Gal
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 3,885
We've been here before, folks. This is a re-run of the same song and dance I've preformed before. I've got on my top hat, and I'm fumbling on stage with my cane and tap shoes. It's time for the 2nd encore.
This time, I'm serious. No, really, look at this face, this is my serious face.
I don't want to go back to Disney World. I really don't. I'm over it. I want to go back to Disneyland, where the paper fast passes flow like wine, and the FP+ haters instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano.
Much to my chagrin, I have been over-ruled. I'm not happy about this. Therefore, I'm writing this PTR because I have a lot say, and no one really understands what I'm talking about like you all will. This is for my sanity.
My husband, who I affectionately refer to as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, (due to a previous trip report which chronicled my struggle of carting a non-Disney loving newbie around the World, where the highlight was when we almost got divorced after we caused a scene in the middle of dinner at Via Napoli), isn't much or a park person. Or a walker. Or a morning person, nor really a late night park person either. My husband is kind of the guy who sits around asking, "what are we going to do", then you tell him what we are going to do and he looks at you like this
, and says, "do you really want to do that?" In fact, I think the last trip that my husband accompanied my daughter and I on, last March, he may have spent a total of 3 hours of time in the parks over a 5 day span, and he complained the grand majority of that time. Most of his time was spent in our room at the Wilderness Lodge, alone. He isn't a theme park guy. He isn't a crowd guy. He isn't a heat guy. Yet, despite all of this, he insists on going with us, and swears he loves Disney World and wants to go back.
Are you confused at this point? Mozy on up to the bar and pour yourself a tall one. Welcome to my life.
Now, I can read your minds. I'm psychic in that way. How can anyone NOT want to go back to WDW? My response to that is that I HATE FP+. I really, really do. I hate it in a way that both last March, and in October, I felt powerless against it. I felt a kind of hopelessness that one can only feel by staring at the wait times for their favorite rides and realizing that no other member of your party is going to wait 60 minutes in a queue to ride anything, so you are sunk. In October we didn't step foot into DHS, there was no point. We couldn't get FP reservations for either the ToT or RNRR, and the waits 30 minutes after opening were absolutely atrocious. There was no reason to go there. That makes me very sad. Both in March and October I really felt like there was nothing to do but sit around and people watch. I can people watch at the mall, where I don't have to pay $100 a day admission.
Why are we going back to Orlando if I'm not jazzed about the idea, and it sounds like this whole thing may blow up in my face, you may ask? It's all about the dollars and sense. The three of us, my daughter included, do not do well in a hotel room together. At Disneyland, my only choice to keep the peace is the Grand Californian, (to cut down on walking in order to keep Jekyll, well, Jekyll rather than Hyde). I can spend an entire week at WDW for what I can spend 3 nights at the Grand Cali. Couple that with the fact that the kiddo and I still have two days and 4 water park admissions left on our tickets from October, I have an annual pass to Universal, and we can get into Sea World for free with a military promotion, Orlando just makes more sense for the dollars.
So, back we go. Again. Yay.
But this time, its different. This time, I have a plan that is so radically different than any other trip plan I've devised it's almost diabolical in it's relative insanity. We're going to Orlando, we're staying on Disney property....but we aren't going to the Disney parks.
OH, THE HUMANITY! *dramatically falls on the floor with my hand across my forehead*
Ok, so that isn't entirely true. We will go to the WS at EPCOT to shop and eat and enjoy Flower and Garden one day. And one night we may head to the MK around Wishes time, as we had great luck walking on everything in the last hour the park was open last March. That's it though. We're using our two days left on our tickets, that's it. I'm not spending another dime on WDW park tickets.
What we ARE doing, however, is camping. Not roughing it, of course, because we are staying at a Ft. Wilderness cabin, but camping nonetheless. We all love camping, and if we're being honest, there are few places in the northern hemisphere where camping in March won't leave you snowed in your cabin or a soggy, cold mess. 75 and sunny in Florida in March is a nice change from 45 degrees and rain. Florida is an obvious Spring Break choice, and although Disney is more expensive than other camp grounds we could visit in Florida, the recreation options, family friendly environment, and provided transportation make it a more attractive choice than others. We will have a separate bedroom so that I can not disturb the family with my early riser tendencies, we can make our own meals in the kitchen and on the grill, we'll have a full size fridge to accommodate Dr. Jekyll's "Jekyll-ade" without paying $6-7.50 per bottle in a gift shop, and we can spend quality family time biking around the fort, swimming, fishing, boating, and horseback riding.
We will head to DTD and go bowling and enjoy a meal at Splitsville, (the highlight of last March's trip.) We'll head over to Universal, to spend a day with Harry and grab a Fizzy Orange Drink and some Butterbeer ice cream, (the highlight of our October trip.)
We will NOT be fighting the crowds, accessorizing our magic bands, or whining about how we can't ride as many rides as we used to. Our preferred way of touring is dead, and it isn't coming back. We have to adapt, and this is how we are choosing to do it. We're rebelling against the planning, and I think we're going to have a great time doing so!
To anyone that has made it through this dramatic tale so far, I salute you. Thanks for reading, and I'll keep the updates coming as my sanity wanes.
This time, I'm serious. No, really, look at this face, this is my serious face.
I don't want to go back to Disney World. I really don't. I'm over it. I want to go back to Disneyland, where the paper fast passes flow like wine, and the FP+ haters instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano.
Much to my chagrin, I have been over-ruled. I'm not happy about this. Therefore, I'm writing this PTR because I have a lot say, and no one really understands what I'm talking about like you all will. This is for my sanity.
My husband, who I affectionately refer to as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, (due to a previous trip report which chronicled my struggle of carting a non-Disney loving newbie around the World, where the highlight was when we almost got divorced after we caused a scene in the middle of dinner at Via Napoli), isn't much or a park person. Or a walker. Or a morning person, nor really a late night park person either. My husband is kind of the guy who sits around asking, "what are we going to do", then you tell him what we are going to do and he looks at you like this
, and says, "do you really want to do that?" In fact, I think the last trip that my husband accompanied my daughter and I on, last March, he may have spent a total of 3 hours of time in the parks over a 5 day span, and he complained the grand majority of that time. Most of his time was spent in our room at the Wilderness Lodge, alone. He isn't a theme park guy. He isn't a crowd guy. He isn't a heat guy. Yet, despite all of this, he insists on going with us, and swears he loves Disney World and wants to go back. Are you confused at this point? Mozy on up to the bar and pour yourself a tall one. Welcome to my life.
Now, I can read your minds. I'm psychic in that way. How can anyone NOT want to go back to WDW? My response to that is that I HATE FP+. I really, really do. I hate it in a way that both last March, and in October, I felt powerless against it. I felt a kind of hopelessness that one can only feel by staring at the wait times for their favorite rides and realizing that no other member of your party is going to wait 60 minutes in a queue to ride anything, so you are sunk. In October we didn't step foot into DHS, there was no point. We couldn't get FP reservations for either the ToT or RNRR, and the waits 30 minutes after opening were absolutely atrocious. There was no reason to go there. That makes me very sad. Both in March and October I really felt like there was nothing to do but sit around and people watch. I can people watch at the mall, where I don't have to pay $100 a day admission.
Why are we going back to Orlando if I'm not jazzed about the idea, and it sounds like this whole thing may blow up in my face, you may ask? It's all about the dollars and sense. The three of us, my daughter included, do not do well in a hotel room together. At Disneyland, my only choice to keep the peace is the Grand Californian, (to cut down on walking in order to keep Jekyll, well, Jekyll rather than Hyde). I can spend an entire week at WDW for what I can spend 3 nights at the Grand Cali. Couple that with the fact that the kiddo and I still have two days and 4 water park admissions left on our tickets from October, I have an annual pass to Universal, and we can get into Sea World for free with a military promotion, Orlando just makes more sense for the dollars.
So, back we go. Again. Yay.
But this time, its different. This time, I have a plan that is so radically different than any other trip plan I've devised it's almost diabolical in it's relative insanity. We're going to Orlando, we're staying on Disney property....but we aren't going to the Disney parks.
OH, THE HUMANITY! *dramatically falls on the floor with my hand across my forehead*
Ok, so that isn't entirely true. We will go to the WS at EPCOT to shop and eat and enjoy Flower and Garden one day. And one night we may head to the MK around Wishes time, as we had great luck walking on everything in the last hour the park was open last March. That's it though. We're using our two days left on our tickets, that's it. I'm not spending another dime on WDW park tickets.
What we ARE doing, however, is camping. Not roughing it, of course, because we are staying at a Ft. Wilderness cabin, but camping nonetheless. We all love camping, and if we're being honest, there are few places in the northern hemisphere where camping in March won't leave you snowed in your cabin or a soggy, cold mess. 75 and sunny in Florida in March is a nice change from 45 degrees and rain. Florida is an obvious Spring Break choice, and although Disney is more expensive than other camp grounds we could visit in Florida, the recreation options, family friendly environment, and provided transportation make it a more attractive choice than others. We will have a separate bedroom so that I can not disturb the family with my early riser tendencies, we can make our own meals in the kitchen and on the grill, we'll have a full size fridge to accommodate Dr. Jekyll's "Jekyll-ade" without paying $6-7.50 per bottle in a gift shop, and we can spend quality family time biking around the fort, swimming, fishing, boating, and horseback riding.
We will head to DTD and go bowling and enjoy a meal at Splitsville, (the highlight of last March's trip.) We'll head over to Universal, to spend a day with Harry and grab a Fizzy Orange Drink and some Butterbeer ice cream, (the highlight of our October trip.)
We will NOT be fighting the crowds, accessorizing our magic bands, or whining about how we can't ride as many rides as we used to. Our preferred way of touring is dead, and it isn't coming back. We have to adapt, and this is how we are choosing to do it. We're rebelling against the planning, and I think we're going to have a great time doing so!
To anyone that has made it through this dramatic tale so far, I salute you. Thanks for reading, and I'll keep the updates coming as my sanity wanes.
