Our First Glimpse of the World! 12/28-1/8 pre-trip (update 1/12: we're back!)

[Giselle22]

My husband and I are headed to Disney World for the first time in just over a month, so I figure it's about time to get my pre-trip report going! I'll start out tonight with a very quick intro to the "cast" and our trip

So, we've got DH (Dan) and myself (Lauren)

Dan and I were introduced by mutual friends who were convinced we should date and very conveniently invited both of us to a trip to Disneyland about five years ago How can you not fall in love at the happiest place on Earth? We've been inseparable ever since that weekend, and were married last April!

Originally, Disney World was our honeymoon destination. We had a lovely trip planned for right after the wedding, until Dan came home one day and said "sorry, I can't take that much time off work!" Dan's a teacher, so there are only certain times (excluding summer...I didn't want to go then!) he could go without missing work. So we settled on moving it to December, from the 28th to January 8th. I was bummed that we wouldn't be jetting off to Florida right after the wedding, but now I am so excited that I'll be able to see the Christmas decorations!

We're staying at the Wilderness Lodge and have the deluxe dining plan (soooo excited!).

Up next time: More about us, and Dan has another schedule conflict! Will our trip be cut in half??

 

[Giselle22]

I realized I left out a very important member of our party , so allow me to introduce him now!

The third member of our "cast" is Paquito the Miñata (mini piñata). Here he is at the airport, on his way to another adventure!

My friend and I share custody of Paquito, our travelling buddy Paquito has been on camping trips, to Disneyland and various other California destinations, and to many European countries, but this will also be his first trip to Disney World, and he is STOKED!

Here he is at Disneyland (see him?) and in London

Unfortunately, Paquito is of a weak constitution [a plush buddy really would have been much more sensible] and requires a lot of rest so he won't be able to venture out with us most days, but I'm sure he'll make quite an impression on the World anyhow!

Now, a little more about Dan and me, as promised

Dan's a teacher and coach and all-around stand-up guy He likes Disneyland and humors me with a trip once in a while, but I'm the real Disney nut (but I'd like to point out that he originally suggested WDW for the honeymoon). Truth be told, I've ditched him a few times to go to Disneyland with my friend when he hasn't wanted to As I said last time, we were married in April and so far are living in blissful happiness hahaha, well, you know, most of the time I have a degree in biology but am currently unemployed and trying to figure out what the heck I want to do with it...and I'm not gonna lie, not working ain't half bad! So let's see...what else...as I'm sure you've gathered, we live in sunny California, and we have an adorable doggie who we're going to miss very much when we're in Florida.

So, Dan doesn't actually have his credential yet and is finishing up his classes to get it. He has ridiculously long classes two nights a week. Remember last time, when we had to move our trip from April to December because of Dan's work schedule? We thought everything was a-okay; no work missed, no school missed, we're good to go! However, a couple weeks ago, Dan came home from school and said "My classes don't end until January 10th. My teacher said we can't miss more than one class or we'll be dropped." Our trip was planned for two weeks, meaning Dan would miss two classes...yikes!

I thought and thought and cried a little when I imagined we'd have to cancel the whole trip, but then I pulled myself together and said "well, we could shave off a week and still have a fab time." *sigh* Not my ideal solution, but what can you do? And then, the next night, the best thing ever happened. Dan came home from his second class of the week with the news that they have a winter break!!! When he asked this teacher about missing class, she told him there's actually a winter break, meaning we could go on our trip as originally planned and he would still only miss one class! Additionally, she asked Dan who his other teacher was (the one who said Dan couldn't miss), and when he told her, the teacher said, "Oh he's my friend! Don't you worry about him, I'll talk to him!" I now love Dan's teacher.

So we're back on track for 12 days of Disney!!!

Up next time: our ADRs!

 

[Giselle22]

Okay, sorry, I changed the title to say I was posting ADRs then I got distracted and didn't Sorry! But here they are now, for reals!

After spending countless hours drooling over the Dining Review boards , I decided we HAD to have the deluxe dining plan so we could try out as many restaurants as possible! Dan and I pretty much never eat three meals a day, but I'm hoping all the walking will work up our appetites between meals In any case, Dan can usually eat a lot, and I'm of the belief that "too full for another bite [of dinner]" and "too full for dessert" are completely different concepts, with the latter very seldom occurring; plus, the reason we usually don't have three meals is because we're the sort of people who get into work or whatever and just forget to eat, not because we're not hungry, so I think we'll do okay!

I've decided to just list which meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) we're eating at which restaurants instead of writing out where we're eating every day. Now, without any further ado, here they are!

Breakfast:
Crystal Palace
Boma
Kona Cafe
The Wave

Lunch:
50's Prime Time Café
Restaurant Marrakesh
Liberty Tree Tavern
Sci-Fi Dine In Theater
Tutto Italia

Dinner:
Whispering Canyon
Artist Point
San Angel Inn
Jiko--The Cooking Place
Raglan Road
California Grill
Hollywood Brown Derby
Le Cellier
Rose & Crown
Citricos

They all sound sooooo good and I can't wait to try everything!!

Up next time: Our rough itinerary

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

Okay, sorry, I changed the title to say I was posting ADRs then I got distracted and didn't Sorry! But here they are now, for reals!

After spending countless hours drooling over the Dining Review boards , I decided we HAD to have the deluxe dining plan so we could try out as many restaurants as possible! Dan and I pretty much never eat three meals a day, but I'm hoping all the walking will work up our appetites between meals In any case, Dan can usually eat a lot, and I'm of the belief that "too full for another bite [of dinner]" and "too full for dessert" are completely different concepts, with the latter very seldom occurring; plus, the reason we usually don't have three meals is because we're the sort of people who get into work or whatever and just forget to eat, not because we're not hungry, so I think we'll do okay!

I've decided to just list which meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) we're eating at which restaurants instead of writing out where we're eating every day. Now, without any further ado, here they are!

Breakfast:
Crystal Palace
Boma
Kona Cafe
The Wave

Lunch:
50's Prime Time Café
Restaurant Marrakesh
Liberty Tree Tavern
Sci-Fi Dine In Theater
Tutto Italia

Dinner:
Whispering Canyon
Artist Point
San Angel Inn
Jiko--The Cooking Place
Raglan Road
California Grill
Hollywood Brown Derby
Le Cellier
Rose & Crown
Citricos

They all sound sooooo good and I can't wait to try everything!!

Up next time: Our rough itinerary

Im so excited for you guys your such a cute couple!! Me and my DFi are planning the same thing for our honeymoon in Sept. (WL + DxDDP). Sounds like a great start and all your ADR's look good ... as sad as it is the only one i've eaten at so far has been Whispering Canyon Cafe ..it was a riot! and the food was sooo good...it's for sure on my list of things to subject my DFi to when we go

 

[Giselle22]

the only one i've eaten at so far has been Whispering Canyon Cafe ..it was a riot! and the food was sooo good...it's for sure on my list of things to subject my DFi to when we go

Hahaha yeah it sounds fun! I hope Dan gets picked on at 50s Prime Time too! Has your fi been to WDW before?

 

[maberlyne]

O*M*G you are like, the cutest couple ever! Oh, wait, I was the friend who introduced you, that's right!

Your report is very cute, and I think you need to put a pic of your fancy planning notebook!

 

[princessbee]

You guys are SUCH a cute couple! And Paquito is pretty adorable himself. My family is going to be at WDW around the same time you are... it's not too far away now!

 

[ariel1025]

Hello and Congratulations - again

I love you film strip pictures - super cute!

 

[Linda67]

Great pre-trip report and your ADRs look great
I am so glad you didn't have to cut short your trip as you sound soooooo excited - have a fab time

 

[Giselle22]

We'll be at Disney World just shy of two weeks, so I've decided to break this up into our first Monday to Saturday, then next time I'll write about our plans for Sunday to Friday

We leave San Jose at 9:10am Monday and, what with the time difference and all, will be spending most of our day on airplanes. We get to the Orlando airport at 7:30pm and I'm hoping everything will be on time and running smoothly so we can make it to our 9:30 dinner at Whispering Canyon that night!

I know it will be extremely crowded through New Year's, so I've tried to keep things somewhat flexible for the first week. On Tuesday, we're planning on peeking in at all the different parks (or, at least Magic Kingdom and Epcot) and a few of the hotels to look at the Christmas decorations. Aside from being able to see all the decorations, I figure this will be a good way to get used to the transportation system and see firsthand how long it takes to get from place to place.

Wednesday is Epcot! We have vouchers for free mini-golf that came with our package, so we may skip off mid-day to play a round. And that night is Candlelight!! I am so excited about it! I had never seen it before, but my friend and I were at Disneyland last weekend and watched it then. It was SO amazing, but we were just in the standing crowd then so it will be quite nice to have seats to see it in Epcot

Thursday is New Year's Eve! Dan and I went to Disneyland on the eve of 2007 and it was ridiculously crowded, of course. Here we are with Mickey and Minnie (and our awesome 2007 ears!)

Anyway, we're planning on spending the day at Magic Kingdom. We have an early ressie at Crystal Palace for breakfast and I'm not entirely sure what our plans are... Originally I wanted to stake out a good spot and hang out most of the day, but we'll just have to see how we're feeling. When we did New Year's before we actually went on rides and things and, though it was crowded, still had a good time. We were packed in on Main Street at the end of the night and of course couldn't see the little show in front of the castle at all, but had a good enough view of the fireworks. So that may be our plan again. Who knows?

On Friday I'm allowing us a bit of a lie-in; we've got breakfast at Boma at 10am. I'm very excited about eating here Then, naturally, we'll be spending the day at Animal Kingdom and finishing it up with dinner at Jiko, which I'm also totally exited about!

Saturday is our "day off." We'll sleep in, then may go to Disney Quest, or just wander about Downtown Disney. We're getting a couples massage at Saratoga Springs that evening! Neither of us has ever had a professional massage before and this is one of the things we're most excited about, haha Then dinner at Raglan Road (per Dan's request--he's all about the pub grub!) and off to bed

Next time: our second week's itinerary. See ya then!

 

[Giselle22]

Great pre-trip report and your ADRs look great
I am so glad you didn't have to cut short your trip as you sound soooooo excited - have a fab time

Hello and Congratulations - again

I love you film strip pictures - super cute!

You guys are SUCH a cute couple! And Paquito is pretty adorable himself. My family is going to be at WDW around the same time you are... it's not too far away now!

Thanks, thanks, and thanks!

O*M*G you are like, the cutest couple ever! Oh, wait, I was the friend who introduced you, that's right!

Your report is very cute, and I think you need to put a pic of your fancy planning notebook!

Silly Maber I heart you.

 

[Giselle22]

Sooo, I didn't finish my pre-trip report (obviously). Along with the holidays and planning our trip, Dan and I were moving right before we left, so everything got very busy at the last minute and I just didn't have time! Anyhow, we're back now, we had a fabulous time, and I will soon be starting my actual trip report (which I promise I will finish!)