"Pirates are kind of gross..." Jan 2010 TR

[zil0902]

I’ve been lurking and stalking for a while now, trying to soak up all the magic from other people’s adventures to the World. What better way to relive the magic than to record my own trip? My family and I took our first trip together to Disney World this January, from the 14th to the 21st. It really was an amazing experience filled with ups and downs, which left me with a hankering for all things Disney. I really feel like Disney is a little like an addiction to crack cocaine minus the whole gang related violence/seedy underbelly of life aspect.

First I will introduce the family

Myself, Liz, 30: Mother and mastermind
Jason, Jay, 32: My “husband” (minus the whole wedding part that word implies) and father to our two children

Suzannah, Suzy, 7: Sassiest girl in the World

And Michael, M, Bubby, 2: sweet baby boy

A little background: I am not a Disney person. Well I wasn’t a Disney person. I’ve never felt the need to watch every Disney film ever made, have never owned clothing with characters on it past the age of 10, I could not be characterized as sweet or nice by anyone that actually knows me. These were all attributes I had assigned to people who would find Walt Disney World a mecca for vacationing. I would label myself as darker than that, more world weary and cynical. I did hope to someday bring my children to Disney but more as an obligatory salute to being American than any love for the Mouse. In fact despite my growing anticipation over our trip I would continually feel slightly ashamed to be so excited to do something so typical, so “mom-ish”.
My own mother passed away in February of 09, we were very close and she gave new meaning to the word Nana. She was an amazing woman, mother, and grandma.

Because of her we were able to afford this trip and I really felt like it honored her memory to spend time creating memories and travelling. I began searching for the perfect vacation spot in October. I looked into cruises, Club Med, Atlantis, anything warm and wonderful. But every vacation I checked out lacked something. The kids activities didn’t cater to children as young as my son. Nothing felt right. Not to mention the price tag. Once we factored in airfare (we live in upstate NY) everything was pricing out to around 5000 dollars which seemed way too extravagant.
Finally in exasperation one day I wheeled around in the desk chair and said the seven little words that would change everything: “We may as well go to Disney!”
I figured if I was gonna spend so much money I might as well be able to also check off one of the great tasks in life, getting the family to Disney. And as I started my tentative dive that day into all things Disney I realized it was actually much more affordable than I had ever thought. And so much more involved!

 

[DisneyDaddio]

You hooked me. Can't wait for more.

 

[zil0902]

Thanks for finding me and reading Daddio! I'm working on the next installment so it should be up no later than tonight

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great start, my family was there shortly after you guys. Can't wait for more!

 

[disneybound2010]

I'm hooked!

 

[donnajean17]

Sign me up! Great start so far!

 

[cmp1111]

Great start, can't wait to hear more! Thanks for sharing.

 

[dydo2424]

I'm in! I like to hear the stories when people "come to the other side".

 

[zil0902]

I'm in! I like to hear the stories when people "come to the other side".

Hahahaha! Me too though I'm usually refering to the darkside and as it may or may not be known, we have cookies!

Anyway, thank you all so much for the support. I am so excited to have people to share this with who understand the joy Disney brings!

I did another update that gets us almost there and I will work diligently this weekend to chronical the first two days with pics for you guys.

Again thanks for reading!!!

 

[zil0902]

Now I am a hotel person. Blame it on my lavish father who travelled for business all through my childhood and would have my mother and I accompany him to deluxe digs any chance we could. I know it’s spoiled and bratty but staying in a really nice hotel means something to me. Even at Disney where obviously the main draw is what’s outside your door.

So I began looking on the Disney site at the different hotels and what they had to offer. I loved the bunk beds and rustic charm of WL, the elegance of the GF, the taffy colors and fun promised at the Boardwalk. I looked at villas. OKW tickled my fancy because I’ve always wanted to get lost in the Florida Keys. The last place I wanted to stay was Saratoga Springs. Even though my daughter rides horses so it goes with the theme, and I’ve actually been to that little town north of Albany, I thought it would be such a waste to stay somewhere so familiar….

Three guesses where we wound up.

Yeah… after much exploring of the Disney site I stumbled upon the “book 4 get 3 free option.” This could extend our vacation from 4 days to 7 and make a deluxe villa not seem quite so ridiculous financially. (If you continue reading you’ll see that my idea of ridiculous and yours are probably quite different. Not because I’m wealthy or special, but because I am financially disabled. I blame genetics, see above mentioned lavish father.)

Disney offered “the 3 options” once I started really plugging things in and SSR won me over because we could upgrade to a one bedroom villa. The extra space seemed like it would make a big difference with two kids on very different schedules. And I liked the idea of a real kitchen to do breakfast or lunches because I knew with the baby we would have to take the recommended afternoon pool/nap break.

I wound up booking the one bedroom villa for 8 days 7 nights, 8 days of base MYW, and roundtrip airfare for 4 (yes baby boy got his own seat! The kid won’t hold hands let alone sit in my lap for 3 hours) for just under $3300. I felt this was a steal, again you might think I’m stupid but this was my first foray into trip planning and honestly I had thought to make it to Disney both Jay and I would have to sell organs on the black market.

I tried to book online about 10 times and each time Disney declined my bank card, refusing to let me pay in full. Now the Mouse was laughing at me and I was pissed, but it was after call hours for the reservation line so I vowed to get a hold of someone in the morning and figure this out.

I called bright and early and spoke to a nice operator who informed me I had indeed booked and cancelled 10 vacations last night and the reason I couldn’t pay in full probably had to do with daily spending limits imposed by my bank. So after a quick call to the bank and an increased limit I called back and booked what I had now come to think of as “Our Family’s Vacation of a Lifetime!!!”

The nice gentleman at Disney walked me through the process then asked if I wanted to book any character meals. “Of course” I replied as I vaguely remembered meeting Mickey and Goofy near a monorail as a 9 year old child on my one and only trip to Disney. “Are there any with Princesses?” I asked and he began telling me about CRT. I stopped him when we got to the price and we had a frank conversation about not spending millions of dollars on overhyped experiences and mediocre food. (Disclaimer: the same can be said about practically any Disney experience including some of the ones we did, to each his own, I just didn’t think we needed to go that big on our first trip.) He agreed and now we were on the same page.

We wound up booking 3 ADR’s: Chef Mickey on our first full day at Disney 1/15 at 10:30, Askerhaus Princess Breakfast at Epcot at 9:20 the next day, and Tusker House on Tuesday the 19th at 9:00. Excellent, look at me go! I had all my bases covered, or so I naively thought. Of course as you all know there is soooooo much more to Disney planning, and as I obsessed daily on the internet and found more and more reviews, and touring plans, and forums I made more and more plans. Then changed them, and then changed them again. But this is a TR, not a PTR, so I will cut all that short and give you the schedule of events as set the day we left home:

1/14
• 130 flight out of ROC Rochester, NY airport
• 430 arrive at MCO
• Get rental car find Disney
• Check into SSR
• Get groceries at local supermarket preferably a regular one

1/15
• MK, cancelled Chef Mickey’s weeks ago because it cut into touring too much
• Resort break 1 to 330
• ADR Liberty Tree Tavern 420
• More MK and Wishes

1/16
• Epcot
• 9:20 breakfast with Princesses
• Resort break 2 to 5
• In Room sitter (Kids Night Out) for M.
• Suzy, Jay and I off to DTD for dinner at Planet Hollywood and 9pm La Nouba

1/17
• Relaxation day until 5
• In Room Sitter for both Suzy and M
• Jay and I off to Epcot for dinner at Coral Reef, WS, and Illuminations
1/18
• Pirate Adventure from GF for Suzy 930 to 1130
• Richard Petty Driving Experience for Jay 11 am til?
• Whatever we want

1/19
• AK day
• Lunch ADR at Rainforest Café

1/20
• MK Day again

1/21
• Plane home at 230 BOOOOOOO!
• Arrive in ROC 530

So like I said financial irresponsibility abounds! I really wanted this to have something for everyone. La Nouba was very important to me and I wanted Jay to have a knock your socks off experience too so I booked the Richard Petty. Again my thought process for this trip was go big or stay home. Who knew when another vacation was in the cards.

Was it all worth it? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[DisneyDaddio]

Yeah, I think I would be quite frustrated if I was declined 10 times. Glad you got it all sorted out. Everyone's type of vacationing is different. Sounds like you know what you want, so go for it.

 

[jelloarms]

I look forward to more reporting from the perspective of a former non Disney person!

 

[zil0902]

So I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but Jason is terrified of flying. So much so that when I first booked the vacation we had a rather heated argument about how we were getting to Disney. He was adamant that we could make the drive with the kids no sweat. I let him know that we would miss him if he didn’t want to fly but that’s how we were going. Seriously 20 plus hours in a car with 2 kids and me the most nervous passenger on the face of the earth, no thank you!!!

I’ve flown once before about 8 years ago, and the kids and Jason have never flown, so this was definitely a stressful day! But things went rather smoothly and in no time we were exiting our aircraft. We were greeted by the warmth and sunshine of Florida which amped my excitement meter up about 12 notches. NY is sooooo cold!!!!

We boarded the shuttle to the main terminal got our baggage and headed over to Alamo. I decided to rent a car for a few reasons: after reading all the reviews for SSR I found the most complained about issue to be the way the resort is spread out and the wait for buses. This coupled with my lack of enthusiasm over budgeting an hour of travel time into all adventures was a big factor. Also I wanted to get the most out of having a full kitchen in the villa, and I wanted to shop at a grocery store. I also didn’t pack diapers and wipes so I needed to pick those up too. I felt like I was buying piece of mind to be able to be self reliant if need be and not rely solely on Disney transportation.

Jay and I had a slight disagreement over which car to pick:
J: Keep going keep going…
L: But this one’s fine lets go
J: Wait, right here (gestures at an Eclipse 2 door sports car)
L: Seriously?! 2 kids, car seats, all our bags. It’s a five speed! What are you thinking?
J: I just thought it’s vacation…..

We took the Impala….

The drive to the resort was a little hairy, for some reason I researched and planned every aspect of our trip except how to get to Disney from the airport… oopsy

Good thing it’s pretty clearly marked!

Somehow we made it, check in was a breeze (I did the online check in), and we were on our way to our room. We got the Springs block which I wasn’t super thrilled about because it’s one of the oldest buildings but it’s also really close to the main pool and the restaurants. At this point I decided to stop being so obsessed with what I’d read online and just go with the flow. If our room sucked I’d make them fix it.

The room was great, I was very pleasantly surprised! After reading some of the reviews I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But everything was lovely. The room was very clean; it was a first floor with a patio that overlooked a pond with a fountain. I thought the whole resort was very nice. It felt a little swanky but not to the point that I was uncomfortable being on vacation in jeans and flip flops. There isn’t a ton of Disney theming, they have pictures of all the horses from Disney movies up in the lobby and a few hidden Mickey’s in the designs of furniture, but overall it’s not a big Disney fest, which didn’t really bother me much. The theming of the hotel in terms of its mission: upstate ny, horses, wellness, was very nice. We even had what I lovingly referred to as a confused maple outside our room. It didn’t know what season it was in FL, but by the end of our trip it had made the full transition to fall.
The living room:

Some treats from "Tinkerbell":

The kiddo's enjoying their treats:

(Sorry I can never get them to both look at me at the same time)
We dumped the bags and walked over to the main building for some dinner. We opted for The Artists Palette because Jay isn’t a big fan of sit-down dining. They have a selection of wraps, flatbreads (think thin crust pizza) and salads. I was happy but everyone else was a little upset that the usual fast food wasn’t represented. The layout was a little confusing also.
A pic of the dining room at The Artist's Palette:

Afterwards we let the kids splash around in the giant whirlpool tub while I unpacked and settled in. Then I headed out to the local Winn Dixie with awesome directions from one of the CM’s to stock our cupboards. Honestly driving around Orlando, or wherever you are when you’re near Disney, alone in the car pumping the tunes really put me in a good mood. I love all the action and lights. SSR may not be super close to all the parks but it is very convenient to DTD and going off property.

Many grocery bags later I finally heaved a sigh of relief and settled into our king size bed for some much needed rest before out big day at MK in the am.
The kitchen in the one bedroom villa:

At this point it may be obvious that this vacation was my baby. All planning and scheming was conducted by me with little input from Jay. Add that to the fact that over the holidays my father had been in the hospital with a heart attack that led to triple bypass surgery (which he is still recovering from) and my obsessive thought process that this had to be the best vacation ever because it was our first one and in honor of my mother and you can only imagine my stress load and ridiculous expectations. Will Mickey delight? Or am I left with emptiness inside? Stay tuned to find out!!!!

 

[areck]

Hello Liz!
Welcome to our world.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your TR and am looking forward to more. Your honesty, perspective, and writing style stand out. The tentative schedule is fabulous given the ages of your beautiful children and being a little apprehensive. Something for everybody without breaking the bank!
My husband will never admit to loving Disney, but once he's there he goes commando.. Our last trip in October was a pleasure for me. Rick and our ,then 12 year old, son did the parks during the day as a team. They rode all the coasters and wild rides to their heart's content. I, in the meantime, took advantage of the pools, photo ops, and shopping. We stayed in a 1 bedroom at SSR also. Groceries were delivered by Garden Grocer. After 25+ trips to the World, I don't think one was the same as the other as far as scheduling. You live and learn as you go.
Andrea

 

[zil0902]

Hello Liz!
Welcome to our world.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your TR and am looking forward to more. Your honesty, perspective, and writing style stand out. The tentative schedule is fabulous given the ages of your beautiful children and being a little apprehensive. Something for everybody without breaking the bank!

Andrea

Thank you for your kind words and for joining me on my adventure! I definately look forward to more trips to Disney in the future to try out different methods and events. I think you can really have a unique vacation there every time even though you are going to the same place.

Jay and I are headed for a little romantic overnight sans children tomorrow so I will be back to updating late this weekend. Thank you to everyone who is reading, this is fun for me and I hope it's as enjoyable to you!

 

[honeydiane1953]

Great report love your pix and u have BEAUTIUFL children. ty for sharing

 

[momof2blondes]

Enjoying your TR, can't wait to read more as I too am planning our first Disney Vacation.
I like the pictures you have posted, looking forward to reading along.

 

[praisehisname]

Joining in!

 

[katie395]

Joining in!

Me 2 Me 2!!

 

[Khill]

Great start, ready for more.....