Chicago526
<font color=red>Any dream will do...<br><font colo
- Joined
- May 6, 2003
- Messages
- 11,024
Cast of Characters:
Me: 28 year old corporate travel agent. A Disney-holic looking to re-live her childhood.
Tim: 32 year old newspaper pressman. It's his first visit to WDW and is looking to have the childhood he never got the first time around.
Tim and I met via an online dating service (proving you really CAN get everything you need from the internet!) in Aug. '03. We hit it off and have been dating since late Nov. '03. Sometime last April, Tim and I are chatting on the phone.
"I want to take a vacation, wanna come along"
"Sure, where do you want to go?"
"Jamaica!"
So I, being a corporate travel agent who would rather do leisure bookings full time, dive right in, researching to find just the right resort. In the midst of my search, one day Tim and I are out to breakfast. Somehow or another I got on the subject of Disney World (I had just been to Disneyland, so that could be how the conversation got started). It wasn't the first time I've gone on and on about how much fun I've had in the World, so Tim says
"How about we go to Disney World instead of Jamaica, since you love it so much?"
After making sure I wasn't "hijacking his vacation" for my own evil purposes (I really wasn't trying to hint, honest! I'd just been to WDW in May of '03 and DL in Feb '04) I began my research of Disney.
We at first wanted to go in October, but due to work constraints in my office, my boss nixed that idea. Tim was able to change his week off to the first week of December, a slow time for me at work. My dream has always been to stay at WDW as long as possible, to enjoy not only the parks, but to relax at the resorts and do some "non-park" activities. So we settled on 8 nights, leaving Friday, Dec. 3rd and returning Saturday, Dec. 11th. This gives us two "travel" days, we won't go to the parks the day we get to Orlando, or the day we leave. We will then have 5 park days, and 2 non-park days. More than enough time for two mostly organized adults to have the time of their lives!
But where oh where stay? I've stayed at the CR, Ft. Wilderness Cabins, POFQ, and the Villas at WL previously. While I loved POFQ, I wanted a deluxe hotel for our romantic getaway. We didn't need the space of a cabin or villa, either. I loved the WL, though, when staying next door at the Villas. So I call WDW Reservations to inquire if the Travel Agent discount is available for our dates (the TA discount is slightly better than an AP discount). It isn't. Drat! Now what?
So I bring home a WDW brochure, to show to Tim and get his input.
"Book us where ever you want to, sweetheart! I've never been and you have so you take care of everything!" This has been his answer to EVERY question I've asked about what he wants to do on this trip. He asked for it, folks!
Great! So I narrow it down to the monorail resorts, the CR, the Poly, and the GF. I decide the GF is too expensive, even with the TA discount, and really not our style, anyway although I do want to stay there someday, at least for a few nights. So that leaves either the Poly or the CR. I stayed at the CR as a 7 year old, way back in the early '80's not too long after Epcot had opened. I loved the resort then, but would we like it now? I decided that since our original idea was to visit Jamaica, we would stay at the Poly, with it's tropical theme. So I once again call WDW Reservations. Guess what? The Poly isn't available at the TA rate, either! Double Drat! But the CR with a garden view IS available. So we book it.
Fast forward a month or so, I call back WDW Reservations to put payment on a corporate client that booked a Disney vacation through my office (we do that now and again, some of our clients like us so much that they want to book their vacations with us, too). Since I had them on the line, I had them pull up my own reservation and asked if anything at WL or Poly had opened up. WL still had nothing, but there was a Lagoon View available at the Poly! But at $400 more than the CR, should I book it? Knowing that a LV room had a 90% chance of a castle view (per Tikiman's website) and that the Poly is where we really wanted to be, I decide to go for it!
So, now to plan our days. Since we weren't going to the parks on our day of arrival or departure and we didn't want to spend every day in the parks anyway, I knew that an Ultimate PHP was not going to be a good value for us. So to figure out how many park days to buy on a regular PHP, I needed to know how many days we'd WANT in the parks. Sometimes I think I have a little of obsessive/compulsive disorder, I often find that I have an urge to do things the same way every time. The first time I went to WDW when I was seven, we went to MK the first day we were there, and then Epcot on the second day (since there were only the 2 parks at the time, we alternated between the two, until the last day when we went to MK in the morning and Epcot after lunch. Guess what we're doing our last day of this trip!). To complicate maters, I also have to consider two things. One is that I want two non park days, and preferably do not want to have more than two park days in a row, so we don't get over tired. The second issue, is that I want to surprise Tim with the Richard Petty Experience, and that only runs certain days. We also want to go horseback riding and see the Hoop Dee Doo Review, and see DTD so Tim can go to the Lego store and I can shop to my Mickey-Mouse-heart's content. With all of these "conditions", it was imperative that I plan exactly what park for what day. This had the added bonus of making it much easier to make PS's, since I knew where we'd be everyday, and about when. So here is what I pounded out!
Day 1, 12/3. Tim works overnight, and gets home Friday morning around 5AM or so. I'll wake up as he goes to bed to get some sleep. I'll finish up all that last minute packing and stuff, and once the kennel opens at 7:30 AM, drive our dog Missy to doggy jail (sorry Missy, WDW doesn't allow doggies!). I'll be back by 8AM or so, when I'll wake up Tim so he can shower and change. By that time, our limo driver will be there for our ride to the airport. Parking at Chicago O'Hare is $13 a day a the cheapest lot, and so the $80 round-trip limo fare actually saves us money. Plus it's a nice way to start the trip! Our flight leaves at 11, so we'll land around 2:30. We'll be picked up by Tiffany Town Car, and whisked to the Poly forth-with. Baring airline delays (boo-hiss!) we should be checking in by 4 PM. We have dinner PS's at 'Ohana's for 6:20, but we also have PS's for the California Grill at 8:20. Wait, wait let me explain! I want Tim's first view of the Castle to be extra special, and therefore want to time our dinner to see Wishes while eating at the CA Grill. But that's a long time to wait for dinner, since Wishes won't be until 9 or 9:15. So I booked 'Ohana's in case we are hungry earlier, and then we'll eat at CA Grill for desert! If we feel we can wait until 8:20 to eat, we will cancel our PS at 'Ohana's so someone else can have it. This also gives us extra back up if the flight is REALLY late, we'll just miss 'Ohana's but still be able to make it for CA Grill.
Day 2, 12/4. Our first full day, and of course my OCD self needs to go to MK! We have pre-open PS's at Crystal Palace (another tradition, we always had breakfast there on the days we went to MK when I was a kid. Sense a pattern here?). A character breakfast and an empty Main Street to view the Castle will be a great way to start Tim's induction to the cult .err his first day at WDW. ! After breakfast, we will hit the park, which should be open by the time we're done eating. True tradition dictates that we do POTC first, since that's what we always did when I was a kid, it was Mom's favorite ride. But we might wind up doing Space Mtn. first as I want to give the Unofficial Guides touring plan a try (this is a Saturday and MK may be very busy). Lunch is open, we may or may not take a break at the hotel, and then we have PS's for Tony's at 5:45 PM. After dinner, we'll stake our places to view Spectro and Wishes. Yes, we just saw Wishes the night before, but this time it will be IN the park! Makes all the difference, dontcha know!
Day 3, 12/5. Day two dawns with us ordering room service. Tim hates getting up early, so this is a compromise since I'll be waking up at 6 AM, Commando Niki style. Eating in the room allows Tim to sleep that much longer. We plan on being at Epcot at open. Epcot doesn't invoke strong "traditions" like MK does, so no particular order of rides. So we'll just hit Mission Space and Test Track first, then go as the wind blows us. We'll have lunch in WS (no PS, we'll just go with the flow). We have a diner PS at 7 PM for my fav restaurant, the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion. Then we'll stake out our spots for IllumiNations.
Day 4, 12/6. Our first non park day. I'll take pity on Tim and let him sleep in a bit. We have a PS for Chef Mickey's at 10:20. Then we are free until our horseback riding gig at Ft. Wilderness at 2:30. Then we are free again until the 7:15 showing of Hoop Dee Doo. I figure since we'll be in that part of the woods, so to speak, we'll tour WL since I hear that they have the best Christmas decorations of all the resorts. Maybe have lunch at Whispering Canyon. But it's all open, I've tried not to over plan our "days off".
Day 5, 12/7. Room service again today, as I want to be at MGM for the rope-drop. My first visit to MGM was as an adult, so no strong "childhood traditions" to keep here, either. We don't have to do the rides in a particular order, but I do insist we make time for the animation tour, I always seem to miss this! We wound up with a very early dinner PS, so lunch is open again. We booked a Fantasmic Dinner package to get the reserved seating for the show, but we were only able to get a 3:50 PM slot for dinner at the Brown Derby. That's okay, it's a full meal with appetizers and desert, so we'll just eat slow. By the time we're done, it will be almost time for the show, which is scheduled for 7 PM that night. If we do have extra time, there's always shopping to be done!
Day 6, 12/8. Room service again today, because we have to be out and ready for Tim's 8 AM appointment with a stock car. Today is the day of Tim's carefully kept surprise, he gets to do the Richard Petty Experience. I paid a huge amount of money for an 8 lap trip around the WDW Speedway. He'll flip, he's a huge NASCAR fan, and when driving home from work at 3 AM in the morning, likes to pretend that I-290 is his own personal speedway, so this will make his day for sure! The rest of the afternoon is open, I don't know if Tim will be tired after driving. I figure we'll just hang out at the Poly until we are ready to head to DTD for the evening. No dinner PS, I can't decide where to eat!
Day 7, 12/9. Room service yet again, as we need to be at AK for the rope drop. We'll do the Safari first, hopefully the animals will still be awake a moving around a bit, or at least out where we can see them. After that, no set ride pattern, but we will make time for Tough to be a Bug and Festival of the Lion King, my two fav shows at AK. The past 2 times I've been to AK, I've been ready to leave by 1 or 2. So I plan on going back to the room around this time, to rest up a bit. For we are going to a party. A Christmas party, to be exact! We are heading to MVMCP this evening! I tried for a dinner PS at CRT, no luck, so I've left dinner open for now, I'm not sure what we'll do. Maybe just Kona Café.
Day 8, 12/10. Our last full day. We will take the Key to the Kingdom tour, so Tim can see all the behind the scenes stuff and learn how Walt designed and built WDW and some of the rides. He likes this kind of stuff, well, I do too! After, we will either stay if we feel like it or head back to the hotel. I did score a dinner PS at CRT for 4:00 PM. It's been a dream of mine to eat in the Castle, so this will be the highlight of the trip for me, and a great way to end our stay! After dinner, we'll spend our final evening at Epcot and see IllumiNations again. As you can see, once again I must follow the format of my 1st WDW visit. That first visit, we also split our last day between MK and Epcot. The tradition lives!
Day 9, 12/11. Breakfast at Kona Café, then our town car should pick us up around 11 AM for our 1:30 PM return flight home. The end of over 220 days of planning and dreaming!
So that's the master plan. I've got 42 days left, and everything is booked, so no real changes will be possible at this point. I shall return, oh faithful reader, to report on how much we stuck to this plan, how much we enjoyed the Poly, how much we enjoyed the parks and food, and how I had a heart attack when the credit card bill came in the mail, fortunately for Tim, my life insurance should just about cover it. Fair Well!
Me: 28 year old corporate travel agent. A Disney-holic looking to re-live her childhood.
Tim: 32 year old newspaper pressman. It's his first visit to WDW and is looking to have the childhood he never got the first time around.
Tim and I met via an online dating service (proving you really CAN get everything you need from the internet!) in Aug. '03. We hit it off and have been dating since late Nov. '03. Sometime last April, Tim and I are chatting on the phone.
"I want to take a vacation, wanna come along"
"Sure, where do you want to go?"
"Jamaica!"
So I, being a corporate travel agent who would rather do leisure bookings full time, dive right in, researching to find just the right resort. In the midst of my search, one day Tim and I are out to breakfast. Somehow or another I got on the subject of Disney World (I had just been to Disneyland, so that could be how the conversation got started). It wasn't the first time I've gone on and on about how much fun I've had in the World, so Tim says
"How about we go to Disney World instead of Jamaica, since you love it so much?"
After making sure I wasn't "hijacking his vacation" for my own evil purposes (I really wasn't trying to hint, honest! I'd just been to WDW in May of '03 and DL in Feb '04) I began my research of Disney.
We at first wanted to go in October, but due to work constraints in my office, my boss nixed that idea. Tim was able to change his week off to the first week of December, a slow time for me at work. My dream has always been to stay at WDW as long as possible, to enjoy not only the parks, but to relax at the resorts and do some "non-park" activities. So we settled on 8 nights, leaving Friday, Dec. 3rd and returning Saturday, Dec. 11th. This gives us two "travel" days, we won't go to the parks the day we get to Orlando, or the day we leave. We will then have 5 park days, and 2 non-park days. More than enough time for two mostly organized adults to have the time of their lives!
But where oh where stay? I've stayed at the CR, Ft. Wilderness Cabins, POFQ, and the Villas at WL previously. While I loved POFQ, I wanted a deluxe hotel for our romantic getaway. We didn't need the space of a cabin or villa, either. I loved the WL, though, when staying next door at the Villas. So I call WDW Reservations to inquire if the Travel Agent discount is available for our dates (the TA discount is slightly better than an AP discount). It isn't. Drat! Now what?
So I bring home a WDW brochure, to show to Tim and get his input.
"Book us where ever you want to, sweetheart! I've never been and you have so you take care of everything!" This has been his answer to EVERY question I've asked about what he wants to do on this trip. He asked for it, folks!
Great! So I narrow it down to the monorail resorts, the CR, the Poly, and the GF. I decide the GF is too expensive, even with the TA discount, and really not our style, anyway although I do want to stay there someday, at least for a few nights. So that leaves either the Poly or the CR. I stayed at the CR as a 7 year old, way back in the early '80's not too long after Epcot had opened. I loved the resort then, but would we like it now? I decided that since our original idea was to visit Jamaica, we would stay at the Poly, with it's tropical theme. So I once again call WDW Reservations. Guess what? The Poly isn't available at the TA rate, either! Double Drat! But the CR with a garden view IS available. So we book it.
Fast forward a month or so, I call back WDW Reservations to put payment on a corporate client that booked a Disney vacation through my office (we do that now and again, some of our clients like us so much that they want to book their vacations with us, too). Since I had them on the line, I had them pull up my own reservation and asked if anything at WL or Poly had opened up. WL still had nothing, but there was a Lagoon View available at the Poly! But at $400 more than the CR, should I book it? Knowing that a LV room had a 90% chance of a castle view (per Tikiman's website) and that the Poly is where we really wanted to be, I decide to go for it!
So, now to plan our days. Since we weren't going to the parks on our day of arrival or departure and we didn't want to spend every day in the parks anyway, I knew that an Ultimate PHP was not going to be a good value for us. So to figure out how many park days to buy on a regular PHP, I needed to know how many days we'd WANT in the parks. Sometimes I think I have a little of obsessive/compulsive disorder, I often find that I have an urge to do things the same way every time. The first time I went to WDW when I was seven, we went to MK the first day we were there, and then Epcot on the second day (since there were only the 2 parks at the time, we alternated between the two, until the last day when we went to MK in the morning and Epcot after lunch. Guess what we're doing our last day of this trip!). To complicate maters, I also have to consider two things. One is that I want two non park days, and preferably do not want to have more than two park days in a row, so we don't get over tired. The second issue, is that I want to surprise Tim with the Richard Petty Experience, and that only runs certain days. We also want to go horseback riding and see the Hoop Dee Doo Review, and see DTD so Tim can go to the Lego store and I can shop to my Mickey-Mouse-heart's content. With all of these "conditions", it was imperative that I plan exactly what park for what day. This had the added bonus of making it much easier to make PS's, since I knew where we'd be everyday, and about when. So here is what I pounded out!
Day 1, 12/3. Tim works overnight, and gets home Friday morning around 5AM or so. I'll wake up as he goes to bed to get some sleep. I'll finish up all that last minute packing and stuff, and once the kennel opens at 7:30 AM, drive our dog Missy to doggy jail (sorry Missy, WDW doesn't allow doggies!). I'll be back by 8AM or so, when I'll wake up Tim so he can shower and change. By that time, our limo driver will be there for our ride to the airport. Parking at Chicago O'Hare is $13 a day a the cheapest lot, and so the $80 round-trip limo fare actually saves us money. Plus it's a nice way to start the trip! Our flight leaves at 11, so we'll land around 2:30. We'll be picked up by Tiffany Town Car, and whisked to the Poly forth-with. Baring airline delays (boo-hiss!) we should be checking in by 4 PM. We have dinner PS's at 'Ohana's for 6:20, but we also have PS's for the California Grill at 8:20. Wait, wait let me explain! I want Tim's first view of the Castle to be extra special, and therefore want to time our dinner to see Wishes while eating at the CA Grill. But that's a long time to wait for dinner, since Wishes won't be until 9 or 9:15. So I booked 'Ohana's in case we are hungry earlier, and then we'll eat at CA Grill for desert! If we feel we can wait until 8:20 to eat, we will cancel our PS at 'Ohana's so someone else can have it. This also gives us extra back up if the flight is REALLY late, we'll just miss 'Ohana's but still be able to make it for CA Grill.
Day 2, 12/4. Our first full day, and of course my OCD self needs to go to MK! We have pre-open PS's at Crystal Palace (another tradition, we always had breakfast there on the days we went to MK when I was a kid. Sense a pattern here?). A character breakfast and an empty Main Street to view the Castle will be a great way to start Tim's induction to the cult .err his first day at WDW. ! After breakfast, we will hit the park, which should be open by the time we're done eating. True tradition dictates that we do POTC first, since that's what we always did when I was a kid, it was Mom's favorite ride. But we might wind up doing Space Mtn. first as I want to give the Unofficial Guides touring plan a try (this is a Saturday and MK may be very busy). Lunch is open, we may or may not take a break at the hotel, and then we have PS's for Tony's at 5:45 PM. After dinner, we'll stake our places to view Spectro and Wishes. Yes, we just saw Wishes the night before, but this time it will be IN the park! Makes all the difference, dontcha know!
Day 3, 12/5. Day two dawns with us ordering room service. Tim hates getting up early, so this is a compromise since I'll be waking up at 6 AM, Commando Niki style. Eating in the room allows Tim to sleep that much longer. We plan on being at Epcot at open. Epcot doesn't invoke strong "traditions" like MK does, so no particular order of rides. So we'll just hit Mission Space and Test Track first, then go as the wind blows us. We'll have lunch in WS (no PS, we'll just go with the flow). We have a diner PS at 7 PM for my fav restaurant, the San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion. Then we'll stake out our spots for IllumiNations.
Day 4, 12/6. Our first non park day. I'll take pity on Tim and let him sleep in a bit. We have a PS for Chef Mickey's at 10:20. Then we are free until our horseback riding gig at Ft. Wilderness at 2:30. Then we are free again until the 7:15 showing of Hoop Dee Doo. I figure since we'll be in that part of the woods, so to speak, we'll tour WL since I hear that they have the best Christmas decorations of all the resorts. Maybe have lunch at Whispering Canyon. But it's all open, I've tried not to over plan our "days off".
Day 5, 12/7. Room service again today, as I want to be at MGM for the rope-drop. My first visit to MGM was as an adult, so no strong "childhood traditions" to keep here, either. We don't have to do the rides in a particular order, but I do insist we make time for the animation tour, I always seem to miss this! We wound up with a very early dinner PS, so lunch is open again. We booked a Fantasmic Dinner package to get the reserved seating for the show, but we were only able to get a 3:50 PM slot for dinner at the Brown Derby. That's okay, it's a full meal with appetizers and desert, so we'll just eat slow. By the time we're done, it will be almost time for the show, which is scheduled for 7 PM that night. If we do have extra time, there's always shopping to be done!
Day 6, 12/8. Room service again today, because we have to be out and ready for Tim's 8 AM appointment with a stock car. Today is the day of Tim's carefully kept surprise, he gets to do the Richard Petty Experience. I paid a huge amount of money for an 8 lap trip around the WDW Speedway. He'll flip, he's a huge NASCAR fan, and when driving home from work at 3 AM in the morning, likes to pretend that I-290 is his own personal speedway, so this will make his day for sure! The rest of the afternoon is open, I don't know if Tim will be tired after driving. I figure we'll just hang out at the Poly until we are ready to head to DTD for the evening. No dinner PS, I can't decide where to eat!
Day 7, 12/9. Room service yet again, as we need to be at AK for the rope drop. We'll do the Safari first, hopefully the animals will still be awake a moving around a bit, or at least out where we can see them. After that, no set ride pattern, but we will make time for Tough to be a Bug and Festival of the Lion King, my two fav shows at AK. The past 2 times I've been to AK, I've been ready to leave by 1 or 2. So I plan on going back to the room around this time, to rest up a bit. For we are going to a party. A Christmas party, to be exact! We are heading to MVMCP this evening! I tried for a dinner PS at CRT, no luck, so I've left dinner open for now, I'm not sure what we'll do. Maybe just Kona Café.
Day 8, 12/10. Our last full day. We will take the Key to the Kingdom tour, so Tim can see all the behind the scenes stuff and learn how Walt designed and built WDW and some of the rides. He likes this kind of stuff, well, I do too! After, we will either stay if we feel like it or head back to the hotel. I did score a dinner PS at CRT for 4:00 PM. It's been a dream of mine to eat in the Castle, so this will be the highlight of the trip for me, and a great way to end our stay! After dinner, we'll spend our final evening at Epcot and see IllumiNations again. As you can see, once again I must follow the format of my 1st WDW visit. That first visit, we also split our last day between MK and Epcot. The tradition lives!
Day 9, 12/11. Breakfast at Kona Café, then our town car should pick us up around 11 AM for our 1:30 PM return flight home. The end of over 220 days of planning and dreaming!
So that's the master plan. I've got 42 days left, and everything is booked, so no real changes will be possible at this point. I shall return, oh faithful reader, to report on how much we stuck to this plan, how much we enjoyed the Poly, how much we enjoyed the parks and food, and how I had a heart attack when the credit card bill came in the mail, fortunately for Tim, my life insurance should just about cover it. Fair Well!
