Operation Persuasion Vacation - Planning Already in Progress Trip 9/6-9/13!

[DexLabDeeDee]

Okay – this is a little different because I don’t have internet at home so I wrote up these posts in Word at work over the summer and now I am posting them into a pre-trip report. (again, at work) It took me so long to get it all done that I had never posted as I was going along. I hope you can follow along!


All right. Here we go. First Pre-Trip Report ever! Yay!

Not my first trip to the World, however, this is my first trip without my family.

Every year for the past 5 years, my family (parents, two sisters) has gone to WDW in March (Spring Break!) and we have always stayed off-site. My DH went to Disney as a kid but he hasn’t been back since. He needs to enjoy the Disney magic as an adult. It’s different. I went twice in elementary school and then I went in college. WOW! Best trip ever. I definitely did not appreciate Disney as a kid. I think I laughed the whole week when I went the first time as an adult. My family and I were hooked. Now they try and go every year and I try to go with them as much as possible. Yay!

But this trip is going to be about me bringing my DH home to the World. <sigh>

First, a little back story. DH and I are high school sweethearts. We have been married for almost two years (November) and for our honeymoon we went on a Disney Cruise. My choice. DH indulges me quite a bit. Yay! Here we are on semi-formal night on the Magic:

Unfortunately, we were completely exhausted the week following our wedding that we - GASP! - slept most of the time. (Not the fun kind of sleeping, if you know what I mean) So, although we had a good time, we didn’t get all the enjoyment out of it that we could have. DH, understandably, was disappointed. NOT the impression that I want him to have of Disney. I had to explain that we didn’t do everything we could have, that it could have been better if WE would have made it better. So I decided to take him to the World and completely knock his socks off. I asked him nicely and he agreed BUT he said that this will be our only trip to the World for awhile. Boo! Well, never underestimate the combined powers of me and some pixie dust. He’ll never see it coming….

Okay, okay, now to us:

Me – Jenna – Age 27. Type A planner. Not just in Disney, in everything. Probably slightly OCD. I am a big believer in logic supplemented by gut feeling. Lover of maps. Don’t you dare fold the map incorrectly!!! This is A Very Firm Rule. DH gets his own map to desecrate at his leisure. (Ugh, Plebian ) I love thrill rides and non-thrill rides. I love to read. Everything. I’m a realist on the outside but a romantic at heart. I think that’s why I love Disney! Oh, something else that is important – I am a picky eater. (Though I prefer selective eater, myself) It’s hard to describe what I do and do not like because it all depends on how it tastes – not what is in it. If I like how it tastes I usually don’t care what it is. However, there is a huge exception. I do not eat anything that has its habitat in water. So it will make eating interesting…

DH – Blair – Age 28. Mr. Take His Time. Nature-lover. Always late. He helps me stop and smell the roses and I help him cram life full of the good stuff. We’re a team! Also loves to read. Yay! Will ride thrill rides though he isn’t a fan of jerky rollercoasters. I think all the coasters at Disney will be fine for him. Very world-aware. Loves other cultures. (Can’t wait to take him to Epcot!) Loves good food, especially other countries’ food. Loves gourmet beer. Loves to walk. (Boy, is he really going to love Epcot) Has a slightly whacked sense of humor. Very easy going – however – does not like rude people one bit! This is going to make everything interesting…

Part Two - What's in a Plan?
Part Three - We Kow We Are Going To Be Staying Off-Site But Where?
Part Four - What If We Wanted To Stay On-Site?
Part Five - What's This? Free Dining, You Say?
Part Six - Uh oh. Don't I Have To Make ADRs now?
Part Seven - Now. How Can I Make This Special?
Part Eight - A Party? Where?
Part Nine - We Are Getting Close!
Last Part - UPDATE! We are back

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I guess I'll just keep posting...


I’ve decided to call our vacation Operation Vacation Persuasion because I need to get him to Disney, tantalize him with all the good stuff and convince him that he wants to come back next year. All while not looking like I am doing anything.

I am up to the challenge.

Actually, the case could be made that I am doing this FOR him. I am planning everything so he has a good time. I think about him before every planning decision I make. Aren’t I a good wife? He should be so lucky that someone is willing to go the extra mile for his comfort and happiness. :rofl2:

Okay, so DH agreed to go but I had yet to pick a time of year. Well, I’ve always gone during Spring Break and it is CROWDED! Something that DH would NOT appreciate. So my criteria were:

1. Pick a time that is not too crowded
2. Make sure it is not too far off – I couldn’t wait too long (this part of the planning started in October 2007)
3. Had to be during a value season in order to save money.

All of this led me to September 2008! I know that no time in Disney is completely empty but I am hoping that the first full week after Labor Day won’t be too busy because people won’t be pulling their kids out of school so early. I know that some school districts go year round and some people will pull their kids out anyway but I hope it would still be minimal.

One issue – the heat. I really can’t find a way to get around it because October is no longer value season and we have a family wedding at the end of September so we will just have to deal with the heat.

Great! Decision made! We are going to Disney Sept 6th through Sept 13th. Excited!

Now, where should we stay…

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I'm having too much fun to stop!

Normally my family stays at the Country Inn and Suites in Calypso Cay. Not that far from Disney property. We fly down, rent a car and are very happy. Last time we went we think it might have changed managerial hands or something because it wasn’t as clean and nice as years past. So, I happily started researching places to stay. Wow. There were a lot.

The Unofficial Guide (love it!) recommends mousesavers.com and so I spent a lot of time on the website trying to find the most reasonable hotel close to the parks. Not always an easy task. I eventually decided upon Radisson Resort – Celebration. It is actually closer to the parks than the Country Inn and Suites and it was a little cheaper too. Though we like to stay in a nice place it isn’t necessary for it to be four stars. As long as the rooms are clean and the beds are comfortable and there is a TV, we are good to go. And for $730 for the week it’s looking pretty good.

Around this time I started to put together a trip budget and started looking at air fares. We were going to stay off-site so we needed to rent a car, budget for Disney parking and food and a couple of fun extras. In January I looked at airfare and found a flight that will take us out on the morning of the 6th then leave Florida in the afternoon on the 13th. And no layovers! Perfect! I hate layovers. I don’t travel well. So I need to get to my destination pronto! I start to go mad staying in an uncomfortable chair for more than three or four hours. I think my height is part of the problem (5’4”) – I feel too short for the chairs. Besides which, we’ve had a lot of problems with layovers. For me it is worth it to spend the extra money for a direct flight.

I decided to wait a little with booking the flight because I wanted to be sure with work and life that we would be able to go to Disney in September. I thought to wait to book until March or April. However, in February I looked at the flight and prices again and it had gone up $20/person. I will admit that I panicked a little bit (read: a lot) and booked the flight right there all said and done for $650. (I am a very decisive person. Once I know what I want I like to take care of it right away. It was killing me to wait until March to book!) Looking back, I realize how fortunate we were to book earlier because airline prices are getting to be so high! Last I checked our flight would have cost us an extra $200!

We are locked in!

And since we are locked in, we might as well get our car. I think that we have tried every car rental place in OIA and we have found Budget to be pretty good. We booked an economy car for $220.

Added to our budget is:

5-Day passes for 2 - $430
5-Day parking - $55
Food - $80/day - $560/week
Money for tolls - $10

If you are adding this up you will get $2655. Okaaay. Wow. That added up fast and we don’t even have any kids! Nor have we bought any extras!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Have to go back to work! More later!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

(Bear with me, this is important later)

So I love to plan. All the time. I often look up pretend trips and see how much it would cost and what we could do, etc. Not only for Disney but also for places around the world. I am ready to leave at a moments notice for Scotland, the Caribbean and France. Not that it would ever happen so spontaneously but I like to be prepared.

Naturally, I applied this to my Disney trip. What if we stayed on-site? How much would that cost? Where would we stay? What would that be like? All excellent questions. I went for the gold right away and looked up deluxe resorts. Yeah, not gonna happen. I would love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge but I about passed out when I saw the price. Someday. I’ve actually been in most of the deluxe resorts at Disney. My parents like to dream too! We always go to a few of them each trip.

I haven’t been to any of the moderates so how was I to know what was is good and what is not? I think I spent hours on the Disney website and online looking at all the resorts and weighing pros/cons. I finally decided on Coronado Springs because DH has a Spanish minor and he spent a semester in Mexico City. He really enjoyed it! I thought that this would be a good place for him but our dates were already booked! Must be a convention in town. So I just decided to go with POFQ because I thought that we would really like the atmosphere. Yikes! It was expensive. Even for a value season and a moderate resort it was a lot. And it didn’t include airfare and food! I put the idea aside as a someday thing.

Well, little did I know…

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Originally, we were only going to eat CS in the park and have one TS dinner for the week. I had never eaten at a Disney TS restaurant before so I handed the decision over to my DH. I really wanted him to feel like he was a part of the trip and I wanted him to like where we ate so I asked him to pick the restaurant. He eventually chose Ragland Road. No surprises there. He loves everything Irish, especially the music. So I must confess that even before I asked him to decide I knew that he would probably pick Ragland Road - which is where I also wanted to go. See how well I know him? I was looking up information about Ragland Road on the internet and I stumbled across their website. It was really nice because I was able to get information about what days and what time the band played. Also you could make reservations online. Perfect. I love to do things online. I believe that everything should be available online to book/order/look up/plan. On a side note, I also love self-checkout. If I could go through life doing most things for myself I would be a happy camper. My DH is the opposite: he would rather talk to a person and get help and then amble out the door. I can see where he is coming from but I get impatient with people when I know what I want and can do it WAY faster than they can. I am really about speed. Get in, get out. Then I have more time to do what I would really like to be doing. Anyway, so I make a reservation for Wednesday Sept 9th for 9:30pm at Ragland Road through Opentable.com which was linked to the Ragland Road website. I wanted it to be that late so that we could be there for the music. They mentioned on the website that they get going more and more as the night goes on. I can definitely see us having fun there.

Contentedly happy with my choices, I spent the next part of March and April casually cruising the DISboards. A lot of times I heard people mention “Free Dining” with reverence and awe. They also seemed to be on pins and needles waiting until April 1st to find out whether or not Disney would offer “Free Dining”. I did eventually figure out that “Free Dining” was in fact, free dining. Sort of. You got a snack, CS and TS credit for every night that you stayed. You could use these in any order throughout your stay. Interesting. It sounded like a deal but we were staying off-site so there was no need to worry about free dining.

As April 1st approached, everyone online started to get really really excited about Free Dining. It really made me start to think. Could we make it work? I always dismissed the thought because it is way too expensive to stay on-site. Especially when there are nice, affordable hotels so close. Well, I was talking it over with my mom and she told me that if I stayed on-site I wouldn’t have to rent a car, pay for parking and pay for gas and now pay for food. She had a point - however, I was really reluctant because I like to have my own transportation and not have to rely on buses. We had done the Disney bus system hopping from park to park before and I didn’t like how long we had to wait for a bus and how long the trip seemed to take. (Probably in my imagination though) See how much I like to do things myself? Control freak!

Well, April 1st came and went and I kept thinking about free dining. After a week and a half, I caved and looked again at the pricing for a moderate and how much it would compare if I took out the car and food. I was shocked. It was less now. Not a lot less but still less. Still I hesitated. Why would I hesitate? If it was less, it would make more sense to stay on-site right? Especially since I had never stayed on-site before. Ah. There is the problem. My other quirk. Change. I don’t do change well. Even if it is a positive change I have a few issues. (Cancel my subscription – I don’t want your issues. :rofl: Isn’t that a great saying?) I was also worried that we would get sick of Disney. scared1: I know! Is that even possible?) That it would be too much. But how can you not take the opportunity? I could hear all the people on the DISboards fainting in shock. Not stay onsite? Who would do such a thing? Well, apparently not me because I got over my silly fears and called up Disney and booked POR.

Wait.

POR? Didn’t I previously price POFQ? Yes but I did that thing that men say women do best. I changed my mind. I was listening to the DISUnplugged and Corey and Julie sold me on POR. Alligator bayou sounded perfect for my quiet, outdoor-loving DH. Especially since there are a lot of trees. I was also thrilled with the boat service to DTD (I know that it is also offered at POFQ). I love love love DTD and DH loves to take the scenic route so this is perfect as well. The more I thought about it, the more I was getting excited to stay on-site. Except for those buses…

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Last one before I leave work for the day...

I realized after booking POR that I really need to figure out what restaurants we should try. I was quite a few days into the 180 day mark and with free dining to boot I knew that I had to act fast. Luckily I knew what parks I wanted to hit on what days. The schedule that I came up with is as follows:

Sat – Check-in/DTD
Sun – AK
Mon – Epcot
Tuesday – MK
Wednesday – HS or Free Day?
Thursday – HS or Free Day?
Friday – Epcot
Sunday – Check-out

I quickly looked up restaurants on the dining plan, reviews, dining reports; I consulted the UG and I went with gut feeling. I called Disney Dining on two separate occasions because the first CM I spoke to was crabby and not helpful. This is what I ended up with:

Sat – Check-in/DTD – CS at Wolfgang Puck Express (love their pizzas!)

Sun – AK – Boma 6:15pm

Mon – Epcot – Coral Reef 8:30pm (yikes! late!)

Tuesday – MK – 1900 Park Fare (first character meal ever! ) 5:50pm

Wednesday – HS/Free day – Ragland Road 9:30pm (our original reservation)

Thursday – HS/Free day – Les Chef de France 6:30pm

Friday – Epcot – Tokyo Dining 7:00pm

Saturday – Yacht Club Captain’s Grille Breakfast 8:10am

I know what some of you who are paying attention might be thinking: Really? Coral Reef? Doesn’t she hate anything that has its habitat in water? You would be correct, however, remember that I have to think of my DH when I am making decisions. He really likes seafood, unfortunately he never gets to eat it much because I really hate it. I even don’t care for the smell. But I will do this for him in order to add to his overall experience and make him want to come again. See how much I sacrifice? I’m also a little hesitant because I have heard some bad reviews but I thought we would just give it a try. What the heck! Let ‘er rip.

 

[raider97]

I'm in!! Can't wait to hear all about your ADR's!!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Hi raider! Thanks for joining!

I'm back in to work. DH and I are working on getting the internet. It will be so nice. I hate having to sneak messages between projects at work.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

In order to create a positive experience for DH, I decided that it was necessary to do something that was a little out of the ordinary. (For us, at least) Something extra that you wouldn’t necessarily do on a regular visit to WDW. I thought of doing a really special meal at a nice restaurant but I thought we should probably do something non-food related. (We are going to be rolling out of the parks as it is) I thought of doing stuff on Bay Lake but we live in Minnesota with tons of lakes so it didn’t seem different enough.

Then I remembered on one of our trips to Epcot a CM on a Segway drove circles around us, joking and laughing. He said that you could ride on one in tour if you wanted. I went to Epcot’s website and saw that they had an Around the World Segway tour in Epcot. I thought this would be perfect because of two things: first, he is going to love Epcot and second, way back in October we were watching How It’s Made (Segways) and he mentioned how he wanted to try one. It was still a lot of money ($95/person for two hours – hour one is training and hour two you go around the world) but this was going to be our splurge and so worth it. I thought that it would be a great introduction to Epcot so I made a reservation for Monday, our first day at Epcot.

April was gone and May was in full swing when I realized that I didn’t have a gift for Blair’s birthday at the end of May. I must say that this is highly irregular. I usually have the gift ready at least a month before any birthday and holiday. (Yes, I am one of those annoying people that have their Christmas shopping done in November ) I thought that it might be nice to get him thinking about our Disney trip and give him something fun related to Disney. He already had a couple of Disney gift cards from his parents and sister from Christmas. (Anticipating our trip, I asked for gift cards as gifts for Christmas and my birthday in February. I ended up with a lot of money to spend! ) I didn’t want to do the gift cards again because I wanted something more special. I quickly looked through merchandise and books and I never really found anything that would suit him.

Then it struck me – I had already gotten him a birthday gift a month in advance! The Segway tour! (Wow. My subconscious amazes me.) I hadn’t told him yet because I wanted I to be a surprise. Since we were spending a lot of money for the trip already and I had already booked the Segway tour, why not make it a birthday gift? So I made him a card and on the inside it said that he was going to receive a Disney birthday surprise. I deliberately made it really vague to see him squirm a bit. When he opened it I told him excitedly that he was going to get a hug from Mickey! Oh, the look on his face was priceless. It was somewhere between horror and Polite Gift Face. You know, the one that you wear when you really hate the gift but you have to come up with something nice to say, for instance, “Wow. I like the color.” or “This is such a thoughtful gift.” or “I am going to wear this only on very special occasions.” I couldn’t keep a straight face for long and I had to put him out of his misery so I assured him that the gift had NOTHING to do with any characters touching him. I can see that I really scarred him, though. Oops! So much for creating a positive experience, right? I couldn’t resist though. I get a diabolical streak from my parents. I repeatedly assured him that he was going to really enjoy it and that it was a grown-up gift. I'm not sure he believed me but I told him if he wanted, I would tell him what it was or he could be surprised in September. He actually opted to be surprised in September. We’ll see how long he lasts.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Last one from my Word file. The rest of the posts will be in real time.

When they released the dates for September it showed the Magic Kingdom closing at 7:00pm Tuesdays and Fridays. The people online were convinced that it was evidence of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. I had heard of that. And to be honest, my first reaction was imagining Winnie the Pooh dressed as a pumpkin passing out candy. I wasn’t impressed and I love Halloween. My second favorite holiday after Christmas. But everyone online started talking and talking and sharing stories and pictures and it started to look like a lot of fun! And they were going to have the party when we were in Disney. I could start celebrating Halloween early! I decided that we were going to go. The ticket prices were a little high so I guess it is a second splurge! Except DH said that he wasn’t going to go. At all. He said that I could go by myself. What? Party pooper! I still bought a ticket for me but I am hoping that as we get closer he will want to go. I do get the feeling that I shouldn’t hold my breath. Darn.

With me going to MNSSHP, I had to rearrange our schedule a little:

Sat – Check-in/DTD
Sun – AK
Mon – Epcot
Tuesday – Free Day and MNSSHP
Wednesday – MK
Thursday – HS
Friday – Epcot
Sunday – Check-out

Except that I originally got 6 Day MYW PH and now we are only going to be in the parks for 5 days. Wow. An extra day. I’ll have to think about it. The possibilities are tantalizing!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Okay! Now that I've posted everything that I wrote over the summer, I have some updates. The big one is that NO, DH hasn't chosen to go to MNSSHP yet. Working on it.

Just the other day, though, there was a Segway on TV and he said that he wanted to try one sometime. Then he asked what I thought. I must say that I did a really good acting job and played it cool - "Oh. Yeah. That would be fun to do sometime. We should look into that." Luckily I was doing something at the time and I didn't have to make eye contact. It was hard to keep my voice even when inside I was . We are going to do a Segway and you are going to love it! Yay!

I am torn about when to tell him. My family has given me all kinds of advice. And of course, it all differs. The two main viewpoints are that I should tell him when we get there so he has a few days to look forward to the tour or I should just get to Epcot and have it be a surprise right there. We'll have to see, I might not be able to keep it secret much longer!

I have also found some new Sketchers to wear when I'm in the parks. I LOVE Sketchers!!! Most of my shoes and sandals are from Sketchers. Though I have some very very nice, comfortable Nike sandals that I wear around the parks. I had such a problem finding the right shoes, though. They have now gone to this DeLite shoe that is lighter but feels cheaply made to me and it has these little jewel, rhinestone-like things on it.

Ugh.

I don't care for "bling" even though this is very subtle. I am a simple kind of girl and I don't like a lot of jewelry and flashy things. (My husband really lucked out with me!) And when I went to the Sketcher store in the Mall of America, I had an awful sales person who would, after listening to me tell him what I liked and what I hated, give me exactly what I said I didn't want. He also told me that I really should get certain shoes because they were new and hot right now and don't you want your friends to be envious that you have the hottest newest shoes out there. What? Am I in high school or something? I want nice, comfortable shoes that I like! That's the benefit about being an adult. I don't have to go through that crap anymore.

Then, when I was checking out - with sandals and not the shoes that I was looking for - he told me I was "killing" him by not taking advantage of the buy one get one half-off deal. And didn't I want their new line of Soho shoes that work great casual and formal - like to prom! Grrr. I know I look young but I would like to think that I look older than 16! Normally I have had really great service at the Sketcher store but he was ridiculous. I felt like I must be in some SNL skit. This guy cannot be for real.

Anyway, I eventually found some Active Sport Sketchers (which are discontinued) on clearance at JC Penney's so I'm happy. Since it took so long to find them I have to quick break them in. I really should be doing more walking to get ready. I have been rollerblading all summer but it's not the same. Normally I would be doing the Northshore Inline Marathon (Duluth, MN) in September but we will be coming back from Disney the day of the marathon so I really have no reason to keep rollerblading when I should be walking.

I had a dream last night that I got to Disney and I didn't have any paperwork and they wouldn't let me check in. I know that I am getting close to a trip when I have that dream... 15 days and a few hours to go!

 

[weich1001]

When I first seen the acronym, I thought it meant midshipman or something...no really...sometimes I'm really dumb! Then I started talking to all my family and friends who have been there about a gazillion times...okay maybe just a million. They all told me, quit being a cheapscape and go to the Halloween Party. They have pictures from past years 2006 & 2007 on wdwinfo.com---the fireworks and parade are spectacular! Plus they say you'll get a lot of candy...just what I need for my two darlings! They change the background colors of the castle during the fireworks display and it kinda looks like a haunted house...they are pretty neat! I have heard some people dress up but in the pictures it looks like alot just wear their normal everyday park dress.

We (the grandparents, dbf and me) all got orange shirts that say county jail inmate on the front and we ironed on a Halloween Party transfer on the back and the kids (DS7 & DD9) are wearing Police shirts with play handcuffs, belts etc...

Though I have never been to Disney before, it sounds like alot of fun...I think you should use your girly powers and convince him to go!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Though I have never been to Disney before, it sounds like alot of fun...I think you should use your girly powers and convince him to go!

Hi weich! Thanks for posting! I have been enjoying your Pre-trippie. I must confess that he has shields-up against my girly powers for this one. But I will not admit defeat! I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. I think he would love "Mid-shipman" if I could just convince him. Who can resist a Halloween party?? The podcast has a video of the fireworks and I had him watch it and all he said was, "Mmm. That was nice." Which pretty much means, "I'm not interested." Gah. Party pooper.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Oh! I forgot to mention that we got our travel docs the other day. Yay! Since we had never been on-site before I didn't really know what to expect. I knew that we would get the magical express luggage stickers but I didn't realize that we would get plastic Castle luggage tags. Awesome!

Also, thanks to the DIS I found a bag that works for me. I have been looking all over for a sling bag to carry our water and camera and maybe ponchos. This is perfect and I found it at ebags.com with FREE SHIPPING!

It's the ful Peabody Mini-Sling.

Right now I have been carrying the UG in it with a few other things for weight to get used to the bag. It's very comfortable. Easy to slide around to the front and get out what you need and then slide it back. My DSis had a sling bag and it was nice for the rides because you could also just slide it to the front and ride with it secured to you. Not all rides will allow you to do this but most of them will.

Now I am trying to figure out what to wear to MNSSHP!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Checking in for today. Hello? (echo echo echo) Yup. Okay. I'll just talk to myself. I figured that the Word thing would be a problem. No spontaneity. My TR should go better. No worries.

Well, here I am at day 14 plus a few hours. I have my (sort of) LGMH. I went to Home Depot and I know that they used to have them just in the shape of a MH but now the LGMH is on a rectangle of tan paper. And it looks smaller. I'm going to have to try another Home Depot. Otherwise, this will work.

At POR there is going to be a DIS meet 9/9 at 4pm and I hope that we can make it! We have most of the day free except for 5:50 ressies at 1900 PF and then MNSSHP for me. If we do go, we'll have to leave early in order to make it to our dinner. That's what I am still concerned about. The buses. I really don't like waiting for them and maybe not getting to our destination on time and in order to make sure that we get there in time we have to leave so early.

Oh and the Captain's Grille (we have ADRs for Sat morn departure breakfast) was reviewed by the Disunplugged Podcast and they had an awful time. Now I'm wondering if I should try and get CP because we have an extra day to use on our passes. Or should we just stay with the Captain's Grille and try it for ourselves?

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Long weekend. I am so ready for our vacation. Olympics are over. Sad.

Still haven't decided about the Captain's Grille. I think we might just play it by ear - says the planner. I'm starting to become more Zen about the trip. Which I'm sure my DH appreciates.

I made another go at trying to convince DH to go to MNSSHP. He said that I told him he didn't have to go. <sigh> I think I'm going to have to wait to get him into WDW before I try again. He was getting a little irritated.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Checking in again. My poor pre-trip report. I really messed up with you, huh? Next time. (Hopefully there will be a next time!)

I switched our ADR times a little bit at Coral Reef and Chefs de France. There weren't any tables for two but when I asked about tables for four there were some open times. Go fig. Kevin from DISUnplugged recommended trying that and it worked! Flawed system. Our Coral Reef time was for 8:30pm and I wanted to make it earlier since we were going to be in Epcot at 8:30am for the Segway tour. That makes it a long day. Well, the only time I could get that wasn't in the afternoon was 8:10pm. Well, it IS 20 min earlier! I'll take all the help I can get! I also moved back our Chefs de France time because that day we are in HS and I wanted to make sure we had enough time in the park. That was moved back an hour so it should help.

I'm not sure I like this ADR thing. We normally eat CS or outside the parks on our way back to the hotel so I'm not used to factoring in sitting down at a TS. We'll see how it goes. If it is too much of a bother I might just skip a couple and do something else. Whatever.

I am getting really excited. Less than 10 days!! Lots to do in the meantime, though. As we get closer, we are getting requests from our relatives for souvenirs to bring back. My DSis wants the light-up Mickey Philharmagic conducting wand because she will be taking conducting in college this year and she thinks it's funny. DH's cousin would like some Goofy gummies (2 bags). DH's aunt would like a nice big sweatshirt for her to wear around the house. She's Greek and owns a restaurant (no cliches there, right? Though she only serves some Greek food on her menus) and she gets worn out after a long day so she needs something to relax in.

We are also going to be sending out lots of postcards - some to family and friends and some to a few children on the DIS going to Disney in Dec! I love sending postcards because I know how much fun it is to get them!

Now that we are almost a week away, it is time to make more lists!

 

[Jenvenza]

You are really getting close!! Less than 10 days away! So exciting!

I am really excited about our ADR's at Coral Reef - I know it gets mixed reviews, but I have high hopes! Hopefully it will be good for both of us!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

You are really getting close!! Less than 10 days away! So exciting!

I am really excited about our ADR's at Coral Reef - I know it gets mixed reviews, but I have high hopes! Hopefully it will be good for both of us!

Thanks! I am finding it hard to concentrate at work and I have five more days of work to go! I'll have to let you know what I thought of the Coral Reef when I get back!