Our Very Last, No Really, We Mean It This Time, Disney Trip (Before Kids) PTR

[ZephyrHawk]

Hello everyone! I tried trip report writing once before and ended up not finishing my masterpiece, but I'm hoping things will work out a bit better this time.

There's slightly over 2 weeks until DH and I take off on our last trip ever to Disney...before we have kids, that is. See, we love Disney, and we love being non-parents. But we also love other travel, and we do want to have kids in the near future. Having offspring does not prevent three week trips to Europe (October 2011 BABY!!!), but it does make them more cumbersome. Meanwhile, I've heard that Disney is a fine place to visit with your family (once you have one). Even grandparents are willing to get into the mix when there's little ones involved...and cruises (Disney Dream 2015 BABY!!!). So, DH and I figured we'd get one last couples only Disney trip out of our system before taking the plunge. Plus, we kinda really sorta want to see the new Harry Potter themed park...it's not Disney, but we're fanboys (and girls).

So I started on planning, and if you haven't figured out from the parentheticals above, I like planning trips...a lot. Almost as much as I like taking trips. And I love to talk about planning for trips (it's basically all my parents - world travellers extrodinaire - and I ever talk about...well...that and Michigan football). If you're reading this, it's because you like reading about people planning Disney trips. I'd say we have a win-win situation.

So, here's the basics-

Me: 31, attorney, live to get away from my job, this will be my 9th trip to the World

DH: 33, administrative law judge, actually kind of likes his job, DH used to be a cast member so this will be his ?th trip to the World

Here's a picture of us the last time we visited (circa 2007).

On our last trip a woman asked us if we were yuppies. After staring at her for several seconds trying to figure out if she was being serious I eventually stammered out that we were a little young to be yuppies. In retrospect, we probably are.

And this is Bo.

Bo came into our family 2 Christmases ago as a present from absent relatives. Seeing as how we have no liking for garden gnomes...and no garden...we decided that the only sensible thing to do with Bo was to turn him into a travel gnome. He has now accompanied us on several trips and has his own travel blog.

Yes, we're a bit weird. I'm looking forward to explaining to TSA folks why I'm carrying a garden gnome in my non-checked luggage ("Well officers, we need pictures of him on the plane.")

So now you know the cast of characters, how about a brief trip outline-

October 22 - Fly down to MCO on Southwest, check into Pop Century Resort, visit EPCOT and possibly AK
October 23 - DHS , really just anyplace that's not EPCOT
October 24 - AK...maybe (yeah, we're kinda light on the tour planning), dinner at Chefs de France
October 25 - Breakfast at Whispering Canyon, MK during the day
October 26 - Epcot (?) during the day and MNSSHP in the evening
October 27 - Universal Studios - Wizarding World of Harry Potter (no idea what to expect!!)
October 28 - EPCOT, this is our big F&WF day, Illuminations Dessert Party in the evening
October 29 - No idea...DH gets to choose this day...probably water parks will be involved...diner at Garden Grill
October 30 - Whatever park we feel has not been done enough...afternoon tea at the GF
October 31 - MK in the morning and fly (unhappily) home

We've got a number of special culinary demos booked too. We're focusing on the F&W aspect of this trip, mainly because we think that the F&WF would be hard to enjoy half so much with strollers in tow, so we're getting it out of our systems now.

Well, that's the general plan. Let's see who shows interest in this poor, sad pre-trip report.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

So, after we made the big decision to go during F&WF, as opposed to over the holidays (I still have never seen the castle with all those amazing Christmas lights!!), the rest was pretty easy.

We generally knew we wanted to stay at Pop Century. Our reasoning behind this was partially because it's cheaper, but mainly because we're slowly working our way through every on-site hotel and it's the only pop resort (thus far) we haven't stayed at. Why not pick a favorite hotel and stick with it? Because we don't have one yet, and we think it's more fun to learn the quirks and particulars of a new hotel over each time. In all honesty, I'd really love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and DH would kill to stay at the Boardwalk...but those can wait for a time when quality rooming is actually important to us. For now, our standards consist of, "Does it have indoor plumbing? Okay, we're on."

We were also pretty sure we wanted to go on the QS Dining plan. We'd had the regular plan the last time we visited and it was fine, but it required us to make a lot more commitment about sit-down meals than we wanted to. Don't get us wrong, we love fancy eating. I'm rather shocked we won't be making a trip to Victoria & Alberts this visit! But sometimes when you're having fun in the parks you just want to grab something quick and be on your way, and you can't do that with a lot of hefty ADRs.

Finally, we were pretty convinced about air on Southwest. We've flown with them once before and it worked well. Plus, since they're one of the few airlines not willing to stick us with baggage fees, we feel they deserve our patronage.

So, all that remained was for me to sit tight, keep my eye on the Disboards, and book when the deals arrived. I did so, and got us the QS plan for free. Not a huge savings, but nothing to shake a stick at. Got us flights for about $70 each way. Paid for one day Universal tickets (which seemed like the biggest money drain for value received, but whatever). Got MNSSHP tickets and Dessert Party reservations. Then sat back and started thinking about planning for 2011 (no, Disneyland Paris is not on the proposed agenda).

What I'm down to now is packing concerns. I'm not someone who obsesses over packing, but I do like to make lists. Really, it's more about me liking making lists than actually about the packing. I'm an order oriented person, and lists make me feel good. Plus, it does help me to recognize when there are items I need to purchase. For instance, DH got sick last week and informed me that all of our cold medicines are out of date. Well, I do not go off on vacation without a cadre of medicinal cures in reserve, so I'll have to stock up.

Also, cameras. I am kind of a photography nut. I'm not as serious as some of those folks on the photography board, but serious enough that I miss not having access to free darkrooms. I'll be taking 3 cameras and 1 zoom lens with me on this trip, which may seem like a lot, but is a significant reduction from the 4 cameras and 3 zoom lenses I carted around on my last big trip.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

So we're getting down to the wire now. By this time next week I'll be in EPCOT. I know some people on these boards have big countdown calendars, but I don't do that. Maybe when we have kids. However, I do keep track of the days in my own way. I have a post-it taped to my desk with little lines on it for each day to go, and every day after work, I cross off another line. There's my high tech system!

Anyways, my "Things To Do" list seems to keep getting longer, not shorter. I keep remembering things like "Herb gardens die if no one is there to water them" and "Garden gnomes need Halloween costumes too!" Meanwhile, we were randomly gifted with tickets to a sporting event tomorrow, so now I'm going to lose my last good preparation Saturday!

Right now our main concerns are costumes and wine.

Costumes - DH and I have a hard time every year coming up with costumes. We like our costumes original and funny...and just a little obscure. If we don't have 60% of people scratching their heads, we feel as though we haven't done our jobs. Case in point last year DH went as a member of Devo. Me? I was a Bunny with a Pancake on its Head (a rather Disney-inappropriate type bunny).

Although we had a number of good ideas this year, one got nixed because it needed a big stick that we didn't want to drag on rides. The other involved a mask that I couldn't, with good conscience, say would not obstruct my vision. So we're on to costume idea #3. Problem is, we hemmed and hawed about it so long, now I'm not sure the items I had to order online will get here in time!

Wine - I know that most of the wines available at the festival you can find locally (or obtain online), but DH and I are fans of the Iron Horse Fairy Tale Cuvee. We also have some good friends who like it, and we'd like to bring them back a bottle too. As far as I know, you cannot obtain this particular drink anywhere but on property. And given the crazy rules imposed by the TSA, you can no longer transport alcohol bottles in carry-on luggage (unless the bottles are really small). So DH and I are now discussing options. Do we wrap them in bubble wrap and hope for the best? Do we buy specialized packing baxes? Will either of these strategies put us over the weight limit on our suitcases? Maybe we should just invest in a real wine luggage piece?

Don't know how we'll deal with that just yet.

Meanwhile, I can't stop drooling over all the F&WF pictures everyone is posting. Even the snacks I had little or no interest in trying after reading about them look good!