Pop the champagne and the sherry, 'cause we're going back in January-Pretrip

[coltink]

I can’t believe she said she wanted to go back?!?!? I think heck may freeze over! 5 months from today we will be at Disney!

I’ve never done a pre-trip report so please excuse me if I ramble or ask too many questions or post too much. I love Disney and I love to blog (PM’s will get an invitation to my personal blog). This is the perfect opportunity to do both. None of my few friends have the Disney bug so I am super excited to be able to share this experience with all of you. She definitely doesn’t do the planning thing so I am looking forward to meeting new people who are as in to planning their Disney trip as I am. I love feedback. So please feel free to make suggestions, comments, or ask questions.

Now on to us. Our background:

Me -30 y.o. female – rental property manager and work a part time job. I was 4 weeks old during my first trip to Disney world. We went EVERY summer and even snuck in a trip to Disneyland when I was in 6th grade. My brother had a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding and now works for Disney. My parents have DVC and go at least 3 times a year. My favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion.

Her-31 y.o. female – store manager of a video store. She’s very shy, and looks kind of mean, but is way funny once you get to know her. Her first trip to Disney was in September 2007 when I dragged her kicking and screaming, and she really had a good time (although she probably wouldn’t admit it out loud). Her favorite ride is Space Mountain.

We’re both pretty laid back, home-bodies, tattooed and peirced, love movies and music, and our two daschunds - Minnie and Jack.

Here we are at the It’s Tough to be a Bug! in the Animal Kingdom in September of 2007. One of the few that we have of us together at Disney, but my favorite!

Well, we have decided to go back. I honestly can’t believe that she said she wanted to go back. I never thought those words would come out of her mouth! But they did, so I jumped on it and made the reservations before she changed her mind. Her only conditions were to go when it wasn’t crowded and it wasn’t hot. I REALLY REALLY wanted to go during December because I have never been during the Holidays but there was no way that we were both going to be able to get off work during that time and this gives us the opportunity to save extra money over Christmas. So our dates are set for January 10th – 16th. Not crowded or hot! This will be a big change. I’ve never been in the winter. How cold does it get?

Where are you going to stay, you may be asking. My parents offered their DVC points to me so we will be staying at Old Key West and Boardwalk Villas. When she booked BWV’s the 10th wasn’t available because of the Disney Marathon (darn you runners) so she got us on the waitlist and reserved OKW. I don’t mind if the waitlist doesn’t come through. It will be kind of nice to stay somewhere different.

We will have 6 days at Disney. One of those days will be an off property day. In 2007 we planned an off property day in the middle of the week so she wouldn’t have Disney overload, and it worked quite well, so we plan on doing it again. Outlet malls, visit with some friends, etc. I know I am probably going to get some flack from the hardcore Dis’ers but I don’t want to push it with her. It’s a miracle she suggested we go back! We will be getting 6 day hopper passes. To save money we decided against the water park and more option. We didn’t do water parks the last time we went. We visited Disney Quest twice but weren’t that impressed. We did use it for the Adventurer’s Club in Pleasure Island but since it has closed there really is not point in having that option. I thought about taking off the hopper but then that would limit us to 1 park a day and I am not sure I like that idea especially since we will be so close to Epcot and DHS..

We will be doing the dining plan again this year. Here are the table service restaurants we are thinking about:

O’hana –this is a definite-she really liked this one the last time and she LOVES their bread pudding.

Ragland Road-this is a definite-this was the best meal we had the entire time in 2007.

Chef Mickey’s (breakfast)-we were supposed to do this last time but passed to get to the park earlier

Boma-?? Went there last time and we didn’t care for it (we’re not adventurous eaters) but for some reason she wants to go back.

Le Cellier-I have heard really great things about this place and would love to try it. We tried to make late reservations there last time but it was booked.

The other one’s we are thinking about are Coral Reef, Wave, Cat Cora’s new place, and Tusker house. Any suggestions? We’d like to do a Fantasmic dinner package but doesn’t that use 2 table services?



I suppose that’s it for now. I hope to have lots of readers and lots of fun!

 

[coltink]

Less than 5 months until our trip. I have already broken out the Disney play list on my ipod and listen to it all day everyday. Thankfully I work by myself and I don't have any one to complain about it. My playlist is about 4 hours long so I really only listen to the playlist twice a day. But my battery is going on the ipod. I need to get an ipod dock that will charge while I listen.

Some developments in an otherwise slow pretrip...
Our first day finally came through so we will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas, prefered view, the entire trip. YAY! No changing resorts or rooms. Although staying at another resort for a night would have been fun, but I am glad to simplify things!

We've also decided to to fly. Or at least that is the plan (for now). It's going to cost about $100 more to fly than to drive but I think $100 is worth 13 hours of driving. And even less if we can find some one to drive us the hour to and from the airport. So by flying that means we won't have access to a car unless our friends come pick us up, or by some sort of magic my brother allows us to borrow the car, which I probably won't ask. No car means no off property. Which I am fine with and she seems to be ok with too! So it will be all Disney the entire time we stay. uh YAY! I'm sure our friends and family will come see us at some point though.

I guess the next thing up will be our dinning plans...

 

[geaux_half]

Our first day finally came through so we will be staying at the Boardwalk Villas, prefered view, the entire trip.

One of those darn runners probably broke a leg or something to free up the first day for you....
I'll be one of those runners visiting the 7th through the 12th. I'll be running both the half marathon Saturday and the full Sunday for the first time this year. Staying at All Star Music this year; stayed at BWV my last trip Jan 2008 for the marathon. To me thats the most convenient place to stay with both Epcot and DHS right there.

 

[coltink]

One of those darn runners probably broke a leg or something to free up the first day for you....
I'll be one of those runners visiting the 7th through the 12th. I'll be running both the half marathon Saturday and the full Sunday for the first time this year. Staying at All Star Music this year; stayed at BWV my last trip Jan 2008 for the marathon. To me thats the most convenient place to stay with both Epcot and DHS right there.

Thank goodness for the broken leg. HAHA! We'd LOVED BWV in 2007. Convenient, well designed, perfectly themed, not too over done, and there wasn't 5 million kids running up and down the halls.

I'm so looking forward to this trip! It will be my first vacation since September 2007.

Have you been in January before? How's the weather?

 

[geaux_half]

I've been 3 times before in January, all for marathon weekend. 2 out of the 3 times were perfect weather for being outdoors with lows being in the lower 60s. Not so good running weather. The other time was awesome running weather in the upper 30s; not so good weather for just being out. I think it's a great time of year to visit Orlando.

 

[coltink]

I've been 3 times before in January, all for marathon weekend. 2 out of the 3 times were perfect weather for being outdoors with lows being in the lower 60s. Not so good running weather. The other time was awesome running weather in the upper 30s; not so good weather for just being out. I think it's a great time of year to visit Orlando.

Hopefully the weather will be fine. I looked at our area weather for January 2009 and it was quite cold and we had already had an ice over. YUCK!

I just looked at your blogger site. WOW, you like to run eh? If you want I'll pm you my blogger site. No running in it though.

 

[geaux_half]

Yeah the blog is pretty much all about running. Trying to run the 50 states isn't one of those weekend projects. It is a great way to see and visit different parts of the country if you like that sort of thing. PM me your blog link; I like

 

[coltink]

I'm having a bit of a heart attack moment. We've just gotten word that there may be black out dates at her work. We've got a call in to the district manager and HR to see if they will allow it. CROSS YOUR FINGERS!!!
As for the planning not too much is going on. Mostly because the park hours and EMH haven't been posted for January yet. We didn't hit any of the EMH in 2007 but going in January the park hours will be shorter and we may need to utilize them.
Here are the tenantive plans and once the hours are posted I can be more thorough with them.

Day 1: Arrive mid day. Check in and head to Downtown Disney. Shop/Browse and then to Ragland Road for dinner
Day 2: Early breakfast at Chef Mickey's, then to Magic Kingdom, break mid-day, O'hana for a semi-early dinner, then back to Magic Kingdom for rides, SpectroMagic, and Wishes
Day 3: (Note the next three days can be interchangable and may depend on when Fantasmic is being shown) walk to Disney Hollywood Studios, break mid-day, Mama Melrose for dinner and then Fantasmic
Day 4: Port Orleans for bengiets, Animal Kingdom, we may do Tusker House for a meal, Boardwalk at Night
Day 5: Epcot, break mid-day, Le Cellier for dinner, Illuminations
Day 6: Counter Service for all meals today as this is our last day and reserved for FAVORITES, we'll probably do DTD, Epcot, and then Magic Kingdom
Day 7: Leave

On a side note we have our tickets paid for. Well the money has been saved, I just need to actually pay for them.

 

[coltink]

We got the clear to go on those dates. Boy am I relieved!?!? It would have been such a pain to have to change the dates.

Been busy with work and my other work (part time job), there isn't much to report and I doubt I have any readers.

The wait is the most agonizing part besides comeing back from vacation. Hope to have more info soon!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Hey there, my name is Ty. Whereas I have never been in January, I have been in December, the weather was nice, mid 70's comfortable for shorts or jeans. the evenings required a sweatshirt or light jacket.

I agree with you about it being cheaper to drive, but flying saves so much time. Plus I love Magical Express, I never have to get my own luggage.

I had a trip planned for January 7th-15th, but plans had to change so now I am going back in Dec. I'm not complaining though, I get to go a month earlier now. I haven't said anything to my boss yet, I work retail so I'm hoping there won't be a big stink about it.

I'm looking forward to more of your plans.

 

[coltink]

Hey there, my name is Ty. Whereas I have never been in January, I have been in December, the weather was nice, mid 70's comfortable for shorts or jeans. the evenings required a sweatshirt or light jacket.

I agree with you about it being cheaper to drive, but flying saves so much time. Plus I love Magical Express, I never have to get my own luggage.

I had a trip planned for January 7th-15th, but plans had to change so now I am going back in Dec. I'm not complaining though, I get to go a month earlier now. I haven't said anything to my boss yet, I work retail so I'm hoping there won't be a big stink about it.

I'm looking forward to more of your plans.

good luck going in December! Most retail jobs have black out dates, especially if you are fulltime. How exciting though to go during the Holidays. I so wanted to go then but because one of us works in retail we knew it was nearly impossible to go. Well at least I get to go!

 

[disneyaddicted]

good luck going in December! Most retail jobs have black out dates, especially if you are fulltime. How exciting though to go during the Holidays. I so wanted to go then but because one of us works in retail we knew it was nearly impossible to go. Well at least I get to go!

I work Part time at bed bath and beyond, for the most part they are pretty good at letting people off, but I don't know, I've never asked off for a vacation, especially in December. I would like to say no job is worth missing Disney over, but I really do like my job. I've already booked, paid the money and bought the airline ticket, maybe if I offer to send them a post card?

 

[coltink]

Definitely tell them now to prepare. That's how we had to position it. We just told them that we had to schedule this vacation 6 months in advance, and they took it fairly well. They adjusted the black out dates.

 

[coltink]

Sorry guys I know this is rather boring and I am sure no one is reading but I'm sort of st a standstill until the ADR window opens up. I'm about to go CRAZY. The last time we went it was 180 days and now it is 90. I see that shortly after I can book it goes back to 180 so I am glad that I get in before then.

Any suggestions on some must eat places?
We have several that we are going to but have a few undecided. When we went in 2007 the food was rather blah. Our favorites were Ragland Road and O'hana, our least favorite was Sci Fi-not that we were expecting much, we were pretty much going for the theming. I was trying to get her to do Prime Time but I think she's a little too shy for that, so we decided to do Mama Melrose and Fantasmic.

Well off for now, I'll be anxiously awaiting your suggestions, comments etc.

 

[coltink]

Well it looks like we may be getting to Disney a day earlier than anticipated.
The original plan was to drive. THen we decided to fly out of the nearest major airport which would be about an hour away. Then we decided to drive. Then we decided that we would fly only out of our local airport (which is about 2 miles away) if we could find a really good rate. Well low and behold we found a good rate. $361 which is only about $45 more than if we were to fly out of the major airport. That $45 would be what we would have to pay to park at the airport. So any way back to why we are getting to Disney a day earlier... for us to fly at that cheap rate would require us to fly out on Saturday instead of Sunday. WOO HOO Hopefully we'll be able to add on a day in the begining.
I'm so excited. BUT this means we'll be paying for an extra day of the meal plan.

The next thing to do is start planning our meals and days. Just waiting for October to find out the park hours etc... hurry up Disney!!

Any one want to suggest some meals? Are there any readers out there anyway??? Hello??? Echo???

 

[coltink]

Well it's official. The plane tickets were purchased today!
Park tickets are paid for.
3/4 of the meal plan is paid for.

I made $60 today for notarizing stuff. How awesome is that?


Now I just need the rest of the meal plan, our Cirque tickets, and spending money.

Today has been an EXCEPTIONALLY good day for me!

Except that I have to work my part time job tonight. UGH! Oh well. Hi Ho, Hi Ho, off to work so I can pay off my vacation, I go!

 

[coltink]

Ok so stupid me thought I had to work tonight. I totally showed up and they were like 'Why are you here?'

More time for me to lurk on the boards.....

So over inthe Disigns Board a really great lady made us a little sign for our trip. Her name is tebi78 . Find her thread and request one for yourself.
Here is ours!

Isn't it cute?

Oh so our tickets are for the original dates Sunday to Saturday. So no additional days boo, but also no additional costs yay!

I'm so ready for this vacation! Anything I can do to make the time go faster???

 

[coltink]

Since no one is reading, I'll just keep talking to myself. Nothing abnormal about that since I do it all the time.... hehehe


I did the Dining Calculator today and this is what it told me:
You can make your 90 Day Advanced Reservations on 10/12/2009

Those are such evil words. Why couldn't it have said:
Well sweet pea, because you are so AWESOME you can just go ahead and make those pesky dining reservations now.

We're having troubles deciding where we want to eat.

Our Musts are:

O'hana-dinner
Ragland Road-dinner
Chef Mickey's-breakfast
Le Cellier-dinner

That leaves us 2 meals unaccounted for. I've posted a thread asking for suggestions yet no one responds. I must be invivisible.
So my point is if any one has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them!

 

[coltink]

110 days until Disney Woot-Woot!

I'm so excited I might wet myself!

 

[coltink]

Everything is falling in to place.

Magical Express was booked on Thursday.

Dining plan was added today.

Now we just need to finish paying off the dining plan, purchase La Nouba Tickets. set aside tip money, and drinking/play money.

Dining Reservations are being made on October 12th (unless they do the 180 day relase early-rumor is there is going to be an announcement tomorrow-who knows what about though)

Here's what we have

Arrival Day: Ragland Road (with my DB & DSIL)
Day 1: Chef Mickey's for breakfast
O'hana for dinner
(days 2, 3, & 4 are interchangable due Fantasmic and ressie availability)

Day 2: Mama Melrose for dinner & Fantasmic
Day 3: Le Cellier for dinner
Day 4: Boma for breakfast (OOP) Tusker House for lunch
Day5: Sassagoula for bengiets and counter services since we will be going all of our fav attractions and won't know exactly where we'll be

So that's it for now.
We'll see what tomorrow brings!