Our Trip is Done, But the Trip Report is Just Beginning! *Update 6/10 or 6/11?*

[tlenzendorf]

The Lenzendorf/Sletten Family Vacation!

We just got back Sunday and I'm ready to start planning our next Disney vacation already!

I've never written a trip report before, so here goes...

The Crew

Me, 30

Yep, thats me standing in the corner at 50s Primetime Cafe Man, I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. I laughed so hard I was crying... at which point I was told by cousin Jennifer that I should be crying since I had been so bad. Favorite character Tinkerbell.

Brent, Boyfriend, AKA DH,35

A big smarty pants. No, we're not actually married. We've been together 2 years now and like celebrating Unniversaries. Alyssa's Dad. Favorite character Eeyore.

Mariah, 10 going on 18

Preteen Drama Queen!!!! But you'll be able to see from photos she can still be a kid. Favorite characters are the Princesses. My daughter.

Alyssa, 9

An in-between of Mariah and Ellie, wants to be big/cool, little/fun. Brent's Daughter. Favorite characters, Mickey, Ariel and Belle.

Ellie, 5

My real wild child. I think she was supposed to be a boy. Favorite character varied on who we had seen earlier that day Seemed like favorite character was Tinkerbell, however. Don't let the cute photo fool you, she can be the devil in disguise...

Flat Mickey

As you can see, unlike Mr. Panic Attacks Pal Mickey, our Flat Mickey has a thing for blondes...

So thats our crew. Stay tuned for travel and day 1, the beach!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

What a wonderful family, ,,good look'n I say !
Great pics,,,,,and you did say that was just the start of the report

 

[bouncycat]

Yep looks good so far!! Hope ya'll had an aweome time with the kids!!!

 

[2goofycampers]

Brent, love the fan, it looks good on you.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

I'm here

 

[SCCamper]

I'm in.
Great looking family.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

Flat Mickey

As you can see, unlike Mr. Panic Attacks Pal Mickey, our Flat Mickey has a thing for blondes...

Hmmmmm....what a fascinating turn of events. I wonder if it is the lack of a 3rd dimension that makes your Flat Mickey prefer the blondes over the redheads? Or possibly the lamination?

Anyway, great start......glad to see you're off and running.

 

[shordiebecka]

I'm in, can't wait to hear about it. Does flat mickey accompany you for all your trips?!

 

[lklasing]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[tlenzendorf]

What a wonderful family, ,,good look'n I say !
Great pics,,,,,and you did say that was just the start of the report

It is just the start of the report for sure

Yep looks good so far!! Hope ya'll had an aweome time with the kids!!!

We had a great time, thanks for joining!

Brent, love the fan, it looks good on you.

He wasn't that happy that I took that picture, but he did pose for it

I'm here

Thanks for joining!

I'm in.
Great looking family.

Thanks much, glad to have you!

Hmmmmm....what a fascinating turn of events. I wonder if it is the lack of a 3rd dimension that makes your Flat Mickey prefer the blondes over the redheads? Or possibly the lamination?

Anyway, great start......glad to see you're off and running.

I'm not sure, but there is a future picture that I think you'll be able to see how exactly he got lost. He saw Tink again and I think he swooned out...

I'm in, can't wait to hear about it. Does flat mickey accompany you for all your trips?!

This was our first Flat Mickey... I'm sorry he's gone Maybe next trip we'll hole punch our Flat Disney Character and tie him/her to someone.

I'm in! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Thanks for tuning in!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Its our anniversary today, so no update tonight. If I can get some time at work today I'll give it a shot!

For our anniversary I got Brent Madden 10 for the PS3. I have thought long and hard about it and he isn't getting his gift until tomorrow morning. I know, I know, our anniversary is today, HOWEVER, I do want to spend time with him, not his TV, PS3 and John Madden... If I give it to him tomorrow morning, he'll have 2 hours after he gets home before I do to thoroughly give the game a go-thru. I wasn't going to get it for him, but since he did beat Madden '08 on all the levels, and I've been hearing about it non-stop for months now, I thought I'd be the best girlfriend ever and get him what he wants. He has no idea thats what he's getting since we just got back from WDW

 

[tlenzendorf]

Since I won't be giving you an update today, I thought I'd give y'all our itinerary for the trip... Did we make our ADRs on time? Did we stick with the plans? Stay tuned!

Saturday 8/15
Cocoa Beach
Dinner at DTD at T-Rex
7:45

Sunday 8/16
Magic Kingdom
9am-1am (7, avoid)
Cinderella’s Royal Table Breakfast (2TS)
Snack while waiting for Parade(Don’t forget Dole Whip)
Dinner while waiting for show/fireworks(1CS)

Dreams Come True Parade 3:00
Spectromagic 9:00
Disney Wishes 10:00
? Skip Fireworks for rides or watch elsewhere

EMH Rides
Tomorrowland:
Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin-FP
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway
Tomorrowland Transit Authority

Fantasyland:
Cinderella's Golden Carrousel
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
It’s a small world
Mad Tea Party
Mickey's Philharmagic-FP
Peter Pan's Flight-FP
Snow White's Scary Adventure
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh-FP
Mickey's PhilharMagic

Liberty Square:
Haunted Mansion

Frontierland:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-FP
Splash Mountain-FP
Country Bear Jamboree

Adventureland:
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Jungle Cruise-FP
Swiss Family Treehouse
Pirates of the Caribbean

Monday 8/17
Animal Kingdom
9am-8pm (5, avoid)
Breakfast (1CS) Pizzafari or Kusafiri Coffee Shop
Dinner Chef Mickey’s @Contemporary Resort (1 TS) 5:10pm

Mickey’s Jammin Jungle Parade 3:45(skip)

EMH Rides
Expedition Everest-FP
Kilimanjaro Safaris-FP
It's Tough To Be A Bug-FP
Discovery Island Trails
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
The Boneyard
Dinosaur-FP
Festival of the Lion King
Primeval Whirl-FP
Triceratop Spin
Kali River Rapids-FP
Drive to dinner and then back to park for AAA parking
Tuesday 8/18
Hollywood Studios
9am-10pm (6)
Breakfast (1CS) Starring Rolls Café or ABC Commissary
Dinner(1 TS) 50s Prime-Time 6:00 Reservation# 391380822761
Block Party Bash 3:00
Fantasmic at 9:00 and 10:30

EMH Rides
Tower of Terror-FP
Toy Story Mania-FP
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster-FP
Star Tours-FP
The Great Movie Ride
The Magic of Disney Animation
Voyage of the Little Mermaid-FP
Playhouse Disney Live on Stage
Henson's Muppet Vision 3-D

Wednesday 8/19
Resort Day
Breakfast(1CS) at WL-Roaring Forks or Contemporary-Contempo Cafe(take boat over)
Dinner (1 TS) Whispering Canyon Café at Wilderness Lodge 4:40pm
Fire/Smores and Chip N Dale show
Park after Chip N Dale?

Thursday 8/20
Epcot
9am-12am (5, avoid)
Cabin Breakfast
Lunch at Biergarten(1TS) 12:00pm
Dinner while waiting for Illuminations(1CS)

Illuminations at 9:00

EMH Rides
Future World
Test Track-FP
Spaceship Earth
Living With the Land-FP
Mission Space-FP
Soarin'-FP
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Journey Into Imagination with Figment
Honey I Shrunk the Audience-FP

World Showcase
El Rio Del Tiempo
The Maelstrom-FP
O Canada!
The American Adventure

Friday 8/21
Magic Kingdom
9am-1am (7)
CS Breakfast or Lunch
Crystal Palace Dinner (1TS) 6:25pm

Keep kids at resort/nap a little later to stay late for EMH

Dreams Come True Parade 3:00
Spectromagic Parade 9:00
Disney Wishes 10:00

EMH Rides
Tomorrowland:
Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin-FP
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway
Tomorrowland Transit Authority

Fantasyland:
Cinderella's Golden Carousel
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
"It’s a small world"
Mad Tea Party
Mickey's Philharmagic
Peter Pan's Flight-FP
Snow White's Scary Adventure
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh-FP
Mickey's PhilharMagic-FP

Liberty Square:
Haunted Mansion

Frontierland:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-FP
Splash Mountain-FP
Country Bear Jamboree

Adventureland:
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Jungle Cruise-FP
Swiss Family Treehouse
Pirates of the Caribbean

Saturday 8/22
OPEN
(7) MK 9-10(Good), HS 9-7(Good), Epcot 9-9, AK 8-6
Whatever park kids want to do…RELAX
No meal ADRs, 2 CS meals left for whatever we feel like

Sunday 8/23
OHana for breakfast(1TS) 9:00
Need to leave for airport ~12

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

That surely is an impressive itinerary tlenzendorf.....but was it negotiable? That's what I'd like to know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[tlenzendorf]

So last I left you it was with my itinerary.

Mr. PPA, our itinerary was negotiable/non-negotiable... we didn't have hoppers, so the park of the day was a must do since most of our meal plans were in a park...

So now we'll pick up with last year, 2008. Seems very logical I think. We were discussing a trip to the world and staying at the Nick Hotel. It was all planned out, we'd stay July 18-26. Six days at the park, 1 day at the hotel, everything would be groovy. And then....

We started looking at prices. We decided even with our AAA discount it would be more expensive with the resort fee, food, WDW tickets and transportation than it would be to stay onsite. PLUS we'd get the bonus of EMH. Aaaaah EMH at night when it would be cooler after dark

Here is when we entailed the help of(applause please) CLARA CHRISTIANSON of AAA here in good old Madison, WI. Props to her with some well deserved advertisement. I don't know how she dealt with me, I would have found myself in a dark alley and beat me with a stick if I were her.

Onto our next plans, then. We would stay at POFQ from 7/18-7/26 in a room with a trundle bed. Things were set, deposit paid, looking forward to our well deserved vacation in 6 months.

And then...
FREE DINING!

So I emailed Clara for about the 100th time... Switching from 7/18-7/26 to 8/14-8/23, saving about $800 AND earning an extra night. Luckily for us(or maybe Clara, I'm not sure), we booked our own flight and bought insurance so I called and changed flights, that saved us another $400, which then paid for our car rental since we were flying into Sanford.

And then...

I decided with all that money we saved, we should look at the cabins at the Ft. or a room that is a little bigger since I didn't know if I wanted to stay in a 400something sq. foot room with 5 people for 9 nights, so I emailed Clara(again...).

She emailed me back with prices for AK , Grand Floridian , Saratoga Springs , Boardwalk , Old Key West , and the Cabins at Ft. Wilderness .

So we changed plans with the help of our wonderful AAA agent Clara again.

And then...

She actually emailed me back. With free dining not starting until 8/16 and us doing the beach 8/15 and nothing WDW related until 8/16, why not stay off site the first 2 nights? We'd have a car since we were flying into Sanford so a move wouldn't be hard. We still had a credit of $45 from Allegiant from the flight change after adding the car rental, so I called Allegiant and they found us a room at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista(more on that later). Again I emailed Clara, she changed our itinerary for us(again...), which left us with the following:

8/14 Arrive at Sanford at 9pm, rent car and drive to Best Western near DTD
8/15 Beach on the Atlantic side
8/16 Move on over to the Ft and hit Magic Kingdom

For any of you whose heads are spinning right now, not to worry, DH said just tell me how much I owe and when we are going, I am sick of hearing about plans that are changing minute by minute....

And that is how I turned our lovely AAA TA into a stark raving mad lunatic.

Just kidding, she is fine and said it was a pleasure helping us. She is a great liar

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

I don't know how she dealt with me, I would have found myself in a dark alley and beat me with a stick if I were her. :

Now that's funny.....but I wouldn't let my guard down yet. Remember....revenge is a dish best served cold.

And that is how I turned our lovely AAA TA into a stark raving mad lunatic.

Just kidding, she is fine and said it was a pleasure helping us. She is a great liar

Poor Clara....you did sound like a bit of a handful. Apparently, she must love a good challenge.

 

[shordiebecka]

Wow! So many changes but such an interesting trip journey. I hear you about not wanting to be in a small room for 9 nights..I think the cabins were a perfect choice!

 

[bouncycat]

I totally understand all the changes, I've put my TA thru the wringer and back, we had 2 trips booked, changed them both....dining....the list goes on! So don't worry, I'm sure she didn't want to beat you with a stick!! LOL I ADORED the cabins in may, so I changed the Sept trip to there also....it's nice, I can't wait!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Wow! So many changes but such an interesting trip journey. I hear you about not wanting to be in a small room for 9 nights..I think the cabins were a perfect choice!

I do too. I can't wait to go there again. We may do a split stay at the Poly or someplace for a few days, but I really loved the cabins.

I totally understand all the changes, I've put my TA thru the wringer and back, we had 2 trips booked, changed them both....dining....the list goes on! So don't worry, I'm sure she didn't want to beat you with a stick!! LOL I ADORED the cabins in may, so I changed the Sept trip to there also....it's nice, I can't wait!

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who tortures our TA . Have a great trip!

Well, sad news now. I had to send my laptop in to be fixed since the charger port in the actual laptop is loose. It will take 2-3 weeks before I get it back Secondly, had to have the car towed last night. It looks like the rocker arm went(whatever that is, I think the mechanic was speaking French when he called this morning ). So with those 2 things both happening it will take me a little while for the next installment.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Update pending shortly...

 

[tlenzendorf]

Ok, last we left off I had just finished torturing the wonderfully nice travel agent Clara...

Fast forward a couple months later....

I went to get our travel ticket from Clara 2 weeks from our vacation. Its coming so fast I can't hardly stand it!

Friday August 14
I wake up at 6:30 to go to work, I flip right out of bed(highly unusual for me), DH is already gone to work, he leaves earlier than I do. I get ready for my last half day before vacation. The girls are still sleeping. DHs niece arrives for her last day of babysitting the girls for the summer. Off to work I go. What was I thinking? I am so flipping excited I can hardly stand it! Thinking about all the stuff that needs to be done, getting the car packed, what the girls will be eating for lunch, finishing purusing(sp?) the DIS boards...

Then comes THE text from DH. The boogie board won't fit in the trunk! What?? I text back. Seriously? I was soooo excited about riding the waves on the boogie board at the beach. After several what if texts back and forth and some swearing(on DHs part about the board) I finally get another text back, its in! Wooooooo!

Maybe I should list what we had in the car to pack, LOL...
There were five 21" carry ons, 2 regular suitcases, 1 boogie board, 1 umbrella stroller, 1 car seat and 4 back packs. You should have seen us getting to the check in! DD5 was in the stroller with the car seat on her lap, the back pack on the back on the stroller, the boogie board balanced on the top of the stroller, I was pushing the stroller with 2 back packs on, DH was pulling 3 suitcases and DD10 was pulling 2 suitcases. I don't remember what DD9 was carrying. We were a sight to see I'm sure, haha.

I was supposed to work until 12 and at 11:40 I couldn't take it anymore and I was out of there! I race home and do meaningless pity crap until its FINALLY time to drive to the airport.

We all are so excited we run out to the car and jump in, its time! We drive to the Rockford Airport about an hour away, park and check in. Now what? We have to sit here for 2 hours before take off! AAaaargh. Luckily for us the Rockford Airport has a pretty awesome place to wait for kids. Its a little room off to the side of the terminals, it has some Nerf basketball hoops with Nerf balls, 2 tvs, one playing Cars and one for playing Nintendo on, a couple other games, legos, some couches and an astronaut picture thingy.

Here are some pics from waiting in the airport:

This was DD5s first flight. She was soooooo excited. She was such a big girl, I was so impressed!

Pics from the flight:

After waiting after what seemed like forever it was time to get on the plane. We had a 3.5 hour flight that flew by We arrived at the Sanford/Orlando airport about 9:00pm. We went way out to the Alamo desk to get our car, a lovely 2009 Chevy Impala. Got all the stuff packed up to the car and onto a place to try to find dinner. We stopped at a McDonalds and KFC on the way, then continued on to the Lake Buena Vista Best Western. We arrived there about 10:30pm, checked in relatively quickly and were upstairs cleaning up and hitting tired heads to the pillows around 11:30

The hotel was really close to DTD. A good location and nice hotel if you are just looking for a place to stay offsite a few nights. We had a decent breakfast the next morning, a buffet with Mickey waffles. I think the price was $7.99 per adult and $2.99 per child. Other people didn't think it was that great, but it was really a place for us to rest our heads for 2 nights before we checked in.

Up next: The Beach