Planning our (hopefully) Pixie-dust Perfect Vacation ~ January 2014

[castmember19]

Hello there! How are you this evening? Just as a disclaimer, I have never, ever, ever made a pre-trip report before and so I'm completely new to this, but I've been reading some here and there and thought I'd like to try it out.

I've been blogging in my spare time and writing about the trip just makes me that much more excited about it, so here I go!

A little bit about our trip.​

My name is Mari and I am a HUUUUUGE Disney nerd. My boyfriend's name is Tristan and luckily, he is also a HUUUUUGE Disney nerd. We have a mutual understanding of each other's weirdness. Tristan and I met while working at our local Disney Store in 2011.

Please excuse the cat faces, I just didn't know if our families would appreciate their faces plastered on the Internet so I figured I might as well get creative.
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We have both been to Disney World numerous times with both of our families and we both absolutely adore the parks. We recently made the decision to go together in October when we found some really cheap flights on Southwest. It was an impulse decision but we have been in nonstop planning mode ever since!

We planned a quickie trip right before the spring semester starts up again, January 7th-11th. More details to come.

As soon as our tickets were paid for, we put together a title for all of our vacation planning:

Tristan and Mari's Super Awesome Walt Disney World Adventure 2014!​

(I know, it's long and ridiculous, but we were very excited and it just stuck... lol.)

Contents
1. Cast of characters
2. Our Days till Disney Countdown
...to be continued?
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Hopefully there will be more to come very soon! In the mean time, here is my favorite picture of the whole planning process thus far.

Yay, our magic bands! I love the colors!
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Have a magical day!

 

[castmember19]

Well, there's only the two of us, but might as well!

Cast of characters.​

Us, selfie-style.​

What is there to say about the two of us? Well, as I said, we met working for Disney Store in 2011. We both love Disney, going to the movies and we are both in college working towards becoming future teachers. Other than that, we're pretty much opposites.

We are mostly going to Disney World just because we wanted to (and because of cheap flights!) but our formal excuse is that we'll be going to celebrate my 22nd birthday.

I'm Mari and I'm a senior at university. I'm mere months away from graduating but first I have to get through a semester of student teaching! Between being a full-time student and my part-time job at the Disney Store, I don't get a whole lot of free time, but when I do I spend it with friends and family... and going to the movies!

I'm a girly-girl who loves the Disney princesses and wearing my sequin Minnie Mouse ears at every opportunity.

My favorite park is the Magic Kingdom and I am most excited to meet Duffy the Bear (I'm kind of obsessed), see New Fantasyland and for dessert at Sanaa (more on that later.)

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This is Tristan in his natural habitat... hiding from any camera in sight. His favorite parks are Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. He's excited for Downtown Disney and Finding Nemo the Musical... but he says he is MOST excited to eat all he can at the World Showcase.

I really like to plan things out, while Tristan is more of a figure it out as you go kind of person. We each made a list of must-dos and worked out our plans around that.

We will only get three full park days and hopefully a half day if everything works out according to plan. Luckily, we have both been so many times that we already know what we love and what our "must-dos" are and what we don't mind skipping this time around. It has made the trip planning a lot easier.

Hopefully more to come soon!

 

[castmember19]

Our "Days till Disney" Countdown.​

One of my absolute favorite little tidbits about the new My Disney Experience web site is the little countdown that appears whenever you log on.

It makes counting down fun and every time the number goes down, Tristan and I get a little more excited than before. Today we are at 23 days.

I saw a countdown on a Disney trip blog that I found on Google where the family counted down from 100 Days and did a Disney-related activity every day. We wanted to do our own countdown but with work and school, we didn't really have time to do one every single day. So starting at 50 days, we have done a Disney-related activity every 5 days.

• 50 days: Write a list of 50 things we can't wait to do together at Disney.
• 45 days: Write a list of our top 3 must-do rides or attractions at each park.
• 40 days: Watch our old Disney VHS tapes about the MK and Epcot in the 90s and marvel at the differences (mainly in Epcot.)
• 35 days: Wrote down our packing lists, deciding what to wear on each day (mainly me) and put aside our matching Mickey and Minnie shirts.
• 30 days: Watch The Little Mermaid on Blu-ray for the first time since it was released from the vault. Also watched the special features on the old vision for the Little Mermaid ride, so we can make comparisons to the new ride in New Fantasyland.
• 25 days: Made our Sanaa reservation and mapped out where we wanted to eat on each day... mostly quick service, but two table service meals at Sanaa and Prime Time Cafe. Also helped us determine our food budget and how much money to put aside on gift cards before we go.

As you can see, it's nothing fancy. We just try and do a small Disney related activity or planning activity on each day. At the end of it, we always feel that much more excited to go.

My big wall calendar is marked up with a countdown as well so we never miss a day, although some days we postpone activities until the next day depending on our schedules.

A picture of the shirts we bought for our trip...

I've always thought these shirts were cute for a couple but never had a real reason to purchase them until our trip. I got them on sale at DisneyStore.com, which was extra nice.