Our WDW Anniversary PTR, Postponed- READ WHY! Updated April 8th

[JennisSilly]

Hello!

This is my first ever PTR (and eventually, Trip Report)! DH and I are SO excited for this trip, and hope to make it memorable and magical. First, a little about us!

Me:

I'm Jenn (because that wasn't obvious). I'm in my twenties, work full time in Operations for an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G company, and am finishing my bachelors. I am a Disney fanatic (to say the least). I grew up at Disneyland, and have held an Annual Pass to DL for over 10 years, and bought DVC in November 2005 (home resort is SSR). This year I upgraded to the Disney Premier pass (annual pass good at DL and WDW), knowing that we'd be going to Disneyworld in May.

DH:

He'd probably kill me for posting this, but this is DH. He's in his twenties as well, and works full time in treasury. DH is a Disney Convert. He had never been to Disneyland until we started dating. He had never been to Disney World until our Honeymoon in June '09

About us:

We got married in June of '09 and rushed off to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. Now, I'm born and raised in Arizona, and I can take heat very well- but Florida in June was not ideal at all!

This trip is special for two reasons: 1) we're celebrating our second wedding anniversary (a little bit early- but we were NOT doing June again) and 2) we hope to make it our last trip before having children (we (namely I) will have to undergo IF treatments, so are taking a break before starting and one last "hurah" before we commit to IF drugs and treatments).

The Details:

When: May 7th-May 14th
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge: Jambo House (where we stayed for our honeymoon)

I am a classic type A personality, and have already started organizing our schedule. Thankfully, I know the people on this board understand that

Up Next: ADR's and a Preliminary Schedule

 

[BridgetR3]

Following along.....we will also be there in May but this is our first trip ever!!! What week are you going?

 

[JennisSilly]

Following along.....we will also be there in May but this is our first trip ever!!! What week are you going?

Yay!! Thank you for following!

We'll be there Saturday May 7th-Saturday May 14th. We did a Sunday-Saturday trip for our honeymoon, and this time felt an extra day would allow us to do SO much more What week are you going?

 

[JennisSilly]

As I mentioned in my first post, I am for sure a type A personality. I love to have an agenda. Please don't get me wrong, I know things go up, and I don't need to plan what ride we'll be on and when, but as you know, with "The World" is so huge, that you can't be in Epcot with an ADR within the half hour for DTD (well you can but it'd be a hall).

So without further delay- here's our line up!

ADR's:
Saturday May 7th: None, this is our arrival day, so it'll be a chill evening with dinner either at the Mara or in DTD.

Sunday May 8th: early lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In (we both ate here on our honeymoon and LOVED it)

Monday May 9th: lunch at Le Cellier (I was not about to use 2 table credits for dinner, I like the place, but not that much. I've eaten here, but it's DH's first time)

Tuesday May 10th: California Grill for a late dinner and Wishes (SO excited for this, it's a first for both of us!)

Wednesday May 11th: Dinner at 1900 Park Fare (last year we did Cinderella's Royal Table, and while it was cool, I didn't need to do it again this year, but LOVE Cinderella. Plus DH has never seen the Grand Floridian)!

Thursday May 12th: Early dinner at Coral Reef (we did this on our honeymoon and loved it!)

Friday May 13th: Dinner at Boma (again, we did this on our honeymoon and loved it)!

Saturday May 14th: Breakfast at Crystal Palace (this was DH's favorite meal last trip- go figure)!

Tentative Schedule:
Saturday May 7th- Travel Day. We land at MCO around 4pm, so should get to Animal Kingdom Lodge no later then 6pm. We're doing Magical Express- I've done this for all 3 trips and never had an issue! We'll probably just hang out at the hotel/pool and call it an early evening.

Sunday May 8th- Morning: Animal Kingdom (break at the hotel) Afternoon: Hollywood Studios for EMH

Monday May 9th- Morning: Epcot (break at the hotel) Afternoon: Magic Kingdom for EMH (maybe we'll make it to 2am!)

Tuesday May 10th- Typhoon Lagoon (DH's favorite!) all day, then California Grill in the evening (all parks close early, so it'll be an early night for us)

Wednesday May 11th- Morning: I'm hoping to do the Wild Animal Trek at Animal Kingdom in the morning, but for now it's only booking through April 2nd. (break at the hotel) Afternoon: Grand Floridian/Magic Kingdom

Thursday May 12th- Morning: Hollywood Studies (break at the hotel) Afternoon: Epcot

Friday May 13th- Morning: Typhoon Lagoon (break at the hotel) Afternoon: Epcot

Saturday May 14th- Morning: Magic Kingdom then back to the hotel for Magical Express and our flight home!

 

[JennisSilly]

On June 12th, 2009, on a beautiful Arizona June day, I married by very best friend at the Ritz Carlton. It was an absolutely beautiful and perfect day!

A few of our favorite photo's:

My Cinderella Photo:

Our little Disney Touch:

After resting for a day, we jetted off to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House in a savannah view 1 bedroom villa- it was perfect!

This trip, we'll be staying in a value 1 bedroom villa, so who knows what our view will be!

Anyway, while we were quite prepared on this trip, we did learn a-lot! The first thing I learned- after day 1:

This was the first and only day of our trip that I wore make up. This photo was from the evening of our second day, the following photo is from the morning of day 3:

As soon as we hit the water, my face started burning! I went to first aid because I could feel a ton of little bumps on my face that burned every time they got wet (chlorine and chemicals in the water were causing a reaction). When we got back to the hotel, I called my salon who advised me not to wear make up, and to apply aloe vera that didn't contain alcohol (which luckily I had). Apparently the humidity + heat and oil in the make up gave me heat rash- on my face! So, lesson learned, I will not be wearing make up except for possibly to dinner at the California Grill.

Lesson #2:

Do not put a crap load of bubble bath into the bathtub, and then turn on the whirl pool jets:

Ya, it was NUTS!

Lesson #3:

Don't go to Florida in June! Thus why we're going in May. I've heard myths of small crowds and ideal temperatures, so hopefully, that's what we're in for!

 

[BridgetR3]

Yay!! Thank you for following!

We'll be there Saturday May 7th-Saturday May 14th. We did a Sunday-Saturday trip for our honeymoon, and this time felt an extra day would allow us to do SO much more What week are you going?

How cool is that!!!! We are going the 7th through the 13th!!!

 

[Aburns8]

Subbing in! My DH and I will be there the last weekend you are there! Isn't the humidity awful? I am just hoping that in May it isn't too bad. We recently moved to VA and I am getting used to hotter and muggier summers.

Loved your wedding pics. I have a link to a TR that I am working on that introduces me and my DH (with a wedding pic). We also have that same Precious Moments figurine as well!

 

[chica622]

We are going to WDW for our anniversary too. Your wedding pictures are fabulous. You are a gorgeous couple!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Congrats on your anniversary! We are celebrating our 13 year anniversary this May at Disney! Our anniversary is in June, but it will be hot enough in May for me!

 

[JennisSilly]

Subbing in! My DH and I will be there the last weekend you are there! Isn't the humidity awful? I am just hoping that in May it isn't too bad. We recently moved to VA and I am getting used to hotter and muggier summers.

The humidity is horrible! I don't get it- people always ask me how I can live in AZ with the heat- and I just look at them like they're crazy- we get hot but at least with no humidity the evenings are gorgeous!

We are going to WDW for our anniversary too. Your wedding pictures are fabulous. You are a gorgeous couple!

Oh thank you! I can't think of a better place to spend our anniversary

Congrats on your anniversary! We are celebrating our 13 year anniversary this May at Disney! Our anniversary is in June, but it will be hot enough in May for me!

Wow- 13 years, congratulations!! LOL I totally agree with you, I told DH that we will no longer be going in June, it was just way to hot!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Yep! 13 years and 5 kids later, we are finally taking some vacations. 10 days for us! We are taking it slow, eating where we want, playing where we want, and having a blast!

 

[Aburns8]

The humidity is horrible! I don't get it- people always ask me how I can live in AZ with the heat- and I just look at them like they're crazy- we get hot but at least with no humidity the evenings are gorgeous!

I grew up in MI and the humidity there was awful to! I am very sensitive to it and hate it! I can handle heat, but when there is humidity on top of it forget it! I am miserable.

 

[JennisSilly]

Yep! 13 years and 5 kids later, we are finally taking some vacations. 10 days for us! We are taking it slow, eating where we want, playing where we want, and having a blast!

That is so awesome though- kuddos to you and your DH for still having "you" time in your marriage! I'm sure the kiddos are envious of your awesome trip!

I just noticed your ticker, btw. I'm trying to lose 40lbs before we leave on May 7th, down 6 so far. I've been working with a trainer. Really- it was so I'd fit into all my "honeymoon" clothes and not have to buy all new vacation shorts (unless I want to) and even more so, to improve our "baby making" chances once we get back (though I'll probably gain like 10lbs at Disney- ha!) Good luck to you!!

 

[JennisSilly]

I grew up in MI and the humidity there was awful to! I am very sensitive to it and hate it! I can handle heat, but when there is humidity on top of it forget it! I am miserable.

My point exactly- my best friend lives in Ohio and always asks me how I handle the heat. I've been out east in the summer and it gets into the 110's, plus 90% humidity, it's nuts! PLUS then you have to deal with super harsh winters too! I'll take my desert thank you very much =)

 

[Aburns8]

My point exactly- my best friend lives in Ohio and always asks me how I handle the heat. I've been out east in the summer and it gets into the 110's, plus 90% humidity, it's nuts! PLUS then you have to deal with super harsh winters too! I'll take my desert thank you very much =)

I will take the desert any day!

 

[JennisSilly]

So let me back up just a second here. In July, I took a new job (which I adore!), but prior to that, in my last position, I traveled non-stop, sometimes as much as 3 weeks out of the month. This doesn't have many perks, but one perk it does have: airline miles. In fact, for our honeymoon, we didn't spend a dime on airfare, we used some (not all- I traveled that much) of my airline miles for 2 round trip tickets from Phoenix to Orlando.

For this trip, I had 1 reward ticket on Southwest (I made the switch from US Airways to Southwest late 2009, both have hubs here in Phoenix). My plan was to use the reward ticket for one of us, and pay cash for the other- simple enough. Well, I waited and waited for May 2011 flight plans to post, knowing exactly what flights we would take, and when they finally posted, the non-stop from Phoenix to Orlando on Southwest changed to a departure time of 4pm, which meant it didn't land in Orlando until around 11pm- YUCK! Thankfully at the time, the non-stop coming home was still the same (leaving around 3pm), so I used my reward travel to book two one-way tickets home from Orlando for DH and I.

Well, time is quickly slipping by, and I needed to make decisions on our flight there. Here were my options:

1) Southwest flight leaving Phoenix around 8am, arriving around 5pm, with a 45 min lay over in Albuquerque. Pro: I don't mind the ABQ airport, it's small and easy, and it was a quick lay over. Plus with SW you know what you're getting, and there are no hidden fee's Con: that's a short connection that could easily be missed or lead to the dreaded middle seats if we missed A group boarding for a long flight to MCO

2) Southwest flight leaving Phoenix around 4pm, arriving around 11pm, non-stop. Pro: non-stop Con: such a late arrival! By the time we got ME, and to the hotel, plus the time change- ew!

3) Continental flight leaving Phoenix around 7am, arriving around 5pm, with a 45 min connection in Houston. Pro: I actually like Continental! In all my years of business travel (5) I've never had a bad Continental flight! Additionally, stopping in Houston would break the flight up almost in two, and the flight times were what we were looking for. Con: I am allergic to Houston, seriously, it's horrible! Plus a 45 min connection in a large airport could be tight not only on us, but our luggage. Additionally- we'd have to pay baggage fee's, but this flight was the cheapest by $200

4) A non-stop US Airways flight leaving Phoenix at 9am, arriving in Orlando around 4pm. Pro: It's non-stop, plus assigned seating, so no worrying about not getting an A group. It was also the second cheapest option. Additionally the flight times were ideal! Not to early departing, and arriving in Orlando early enough to lounge a bit and get a good nights sleep Con: where do I begin with how I feel about US Airways. I flew them for 4.5 years, and gave them about 879098908 chances before saying "eff you, I'm going to Southwest". If they didn't have a hub in Phoenix, I would NEVER fly them. Plus, I figured I'd have to pay "premium seat" fee's and of course checked luggage fees.

So which flight would you have gone with? None of them are entirely appealing right? We ended up picking option 4. While I hated forking over $$$ to US Airways, it was our best option. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was still holding preferred status, which meant we got to pick premium seats for no fee's (this saved us over $30). Unfortunately this status should disappear on Feb. 28, 2011, which means that we will still have checked bag fee's (I think we'll each carry on one roller bag, and check our big suit case, at least it's only 1 checked bag).

At least we're officially confirmed for our flight to Orlando, our flight home, and our hotel. Also, because I have my two park pass, my ticket for Disney World is already purchased, leaving us just DH's ticket and our DDP. I'm pretty happy with our "purchasing" progress

 

[Aburns8]

Wow, you know a lot about airports and airlines! I am glad that you got a flight nailed down with all of those options. Since we moved to southern VA we now just drive since it is a 12 hour drive and is less of a headache.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

That is so awesome though- kuddos to you and your DH for still having "you" time in your marriage! I'm sure the kiddos are envious of your awesome trip!

I just noticed your ticker, btw. I'm trying to lose 40lbs before we leave on May 7th, down 6 so far. I've been working with a trainer. Really- it was so I'd fit into all my "honeymoon" clothes and not have to buy all new vacation shorts (unless I want to) and even more so, to improve our "baby making" chances once we get back (though I'll probably gain like 10lbs at Disney- ha!) Good luck to you!!

Thanx! Well, they are going on this trip with us. The next trip will be for us alone. Have to lose those pounds before my momma will babysit them for me! We agreed! So...I am hoping to lose some serious pounds before I go this time, but the sooner I lose all 75, the sooner I go back to Disney! Congrats on your weight loss! That's the problem with weight loss. You know you're gonna want to buy all new clothes! I don't know why I hang onto all my smaller clothes. I'm just gonna want new ones when I get back to that size. Well, at least I'll have something to wear on the "journey" to weight loss. I haven't officially started. I had some serious health issues, and since my immunities are down from major surgery I've been catching everything! So sick of being sick! I have started slowly working out again. Time to kick it into high gear! Good luck on the baby making...goodtimes. I think the good news is that the eating at Disney and the walking cancel each other out! Good luck on your weight loss, your trip, and the future baby! I'll cheer you on!

 

[JennisSilly]

Wow, you know a lot about airports and airlines! I am glad that you got a flight nailed down with all of those options. Since we moved to southern VA we now just drive since it is a 12 hour drive and is less of a headache.

Thanks- after spending 5 years in them you get to know them quite well! I'm envious of your drive! If we could drive there in 12 hours, I'd so do it- plus then we could bring our dog- she could stay at the new boarding facility!

Thanx! Well, they are going on this trip with us. The next trip will be for us alone. Have to lose those pounds before my momma will babysit them for me! We agreed! So...I am hoping to lose some serious pounds before I go this time, but the sooner I lose all 75, the sooner I go back to Disney! Congrats on your weight loss! That's the problem with weight loss. You know you're gonna want to buy all new clothes! I don't know why I hang onto all my smaller clothes. I'm just gonna want new ones when I get back to that size. Well, at least I'll have something to wear on the "journey" to weight loss. I haven't officially started. I had some serious health issues, and since my immunities are down from major surgery I've been catching everything! So sick of being sick! I have started slowly working out again. Time to kick it into high gear! Good luck on the baby making...goodtimes. I think the good news is that the eating at Disney and the walking cancel each other out! Good luck on your weight loss, your trip, and the future baby! I'll cheer you on!

Haha, so true- I think deep down my husband knows they'll be shopping at hand- a vacation PLUS weight loss = instant shopping spree! Good luck on your journey- I'm here to cheer you on too!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Haha, so true- I think deep down my husband knows they'll be shopping at hand- a vacation PLUS weight loss = instant shopping spree! Good luck on your journey- I'm here to cheer you on too!

Haha! Awesome! Thanx for the support!