PTR August 20-29 2014 - COMPLETED

[DISNEY180]

Hi everyone

This is my first every attempt at any type of report. I am a Disney fan and would work and live there if I could but being Canadian doens't work so well for me.

At little about myself my name is Barb and am a 50 yr female( yes I did say my age) whom is married to a military man and we live 2 hours north of Ottawa. I retired from the military in 2001 after 20 yrs and now work for National Defense. I have one step daughter from my DH first marriage and she is in colllege taking nursing which is going to come in handy when we get alot older...lol

I first went to DL in 84 with hubby number 1# ( current DH is #4) and LOVED it but havne't been back there since. Went to WDW for the first time with Hubby #3 in Xmas 97' and realize to me that this is my happy place but due to the issues going on at the time didn't get to enjoy the trip as I would of liked. Okay no going backwards....

Married DH in 2001 and finally convinced him to go to WDW in 2006 with SDD and MIL. We stayed at CSR in two rooms ( found out DVC rentals after the fact) He was comparing WDW to Canada's Wonderland... I tried to tell him what the differences were but he just wasn't getting it so I said wait you will see..and boy did he ever... We bought DVC in SSR when we were there and I didn't even have to convince DH as he saw the potential in owning. I hope to buy more points in the next year or so.

We have been back 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 ( two day trip off site), and 2013.

This trip is for August 2014 with only me and DH as we usually take our DD and God Daughter and this last trip took my neice. We wanted to go for F & W festival but the military won't let him due to the a busy time for work. So we settle on August. We usually stay in at least a 1 BR villa as I love the huge tub and extra room. This trip we are in studios so we are staying first leg at AKL at Kadani and then moving over to BW (always wanted to stay there)

I am a PLANNER big time and DH thinks I should become a travel agent jsut for Disney but I say there are enough of them out there....

We fly out mid afternoon as we are flying from Buffalo as it is still cheaper then Canada and leave late afternoon. We are going ot get TIW as I don't think DP would work for us as we can eat bagels in the morning amd as long as I can have coffee I am good to go.

So far I have made a few ADR's but still trying to decide if we want to wing it or more structured. I have made an excel spreadsheet with the crowd numbers and which park is which day.

OKay I think I have written enough.. I will add some picks later as I have to figure out how to do that.

Cheers

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I'm just hopping over from my PTR to follow along. This sounds like a wonderful trip for you and you DH. I love it when people compare WDW to Canada's Wonderland lol they have no idea! We always fly out of Buffalo too, it is so much cheaper, even when we book a motel room and sleep near the airport the night before. Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

 

[DISNEY180]

I'm just hopping over from my PTR to follow along. This sounds like a wonderful trip for you and you DH. I love it when people compare WDW to Canada's Wonderland lol they have no idea! We always fly out of Buffalo too, it is so much cheaper, even when we book a motel room and sleep near the airport the night before. Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

Thanks for joining my thread I do appreciate it. Any advice you can give I will gladly take.

 

[DISNEY180]

Hi I thought I should post a pic of me Barb and DH aka Tim in the front row



Wow that took awhile to find out how to do.. but i believe in time it will get faster to upload a picture

RnRC is my favorite ride in all of WDW and have to ride it ASAP and if I can manage it is the last ride..

This ride I have been only on twice and that is because I hate drops..


I love the look on my neice's face on SP


As for this trip I booked our parknfly for our return to Buffalo and I am not impressed with the price.. but we get in at 930pm so not wanting to drive across the border at that time.

Now it is time to decide which parks to go to and if we are going to do a tour of kind. Thinking of Wild Africa Trek or KKTW..

What do you think?

 

[SarahSlink]

followed over from my PTR Looking forward to seeing what all you have planned!

 

[MarbleBob]

Joining in

 

[DISNEY180]

followed over from my PTR Looking forward to seeing what all you have planned!

THANK YOU for joining I do appreciate it.. Today is tentatively schedule park day.

So stay tuned

 

[DISNEY180]

Joining in

Hi MarbleBob!!! Thanks for joining, I see you have done a few of these so any advice on how to proceed is greatly apppreciated.

 

[DISNEY180]

Morning Everyone

Last week I receive a parcel in the mail with a return address from the Netherlands. I don't know anyone there so imagine my surprise when I opened the package and found TA DA!!!!!






There was no name attached, no invoice to pay so I had no idea who sent this. So I took pics and put it up on facebook THANKING whomever it was as they had to know how HUGE a Disney fan I am.

To my surprise it was my AWESOME sister who ordered them but I guess there was suppose to be a note attached to say it was a gift for our new car as this is scent diffuser. I am just very Thankful there are pictures to show how to use them... as I can't read chinese.

They are in the car vents but to be honest I really don't smell them but that isn't important to me so all is great.. It was such a wonderful gift my sister gave me I wouldn't of cared if no smell was attached.

 

[DISNEY180]

WOOT!!! WOOT!!!!

I just booked BOG for Aug 25th at 920pm.. Not the greatest time but I will take until I can get a better timing or a FP+ Lunch later...

Doing the dance

 

[MarbleBob]

That's great about the Mickey car scents. Who doesn't love a surprise Disney parcel?!?!?!


And BOG ADR's? Cool!!! We haven't been to BOG yet, but have ADR's for our next trip in June. Looking forward to it

I think your PTR is off to a great start

 

[DISNEY180]

That's great about the Mickey car scents. Who doesn't love a surprise Disney parcel?!?!?!


I know I was so surprised that my sister did that..

And BOG ADR's? Cool!!! We haven't been to BOG yet, but have ADR's for our next trip in June. Looking forward to it

You will really enjoy BOG We went last Dec and my only regret is I didn't take the time to wander around more and take pics. The room with the rose is where I want to sit next time. And I can use TIW card there

I think your PTR is off to a great start
Thank you so much for the complinments I truly appreicate it

 

[DISNEY180]

I posted yesterday but it has diappeared Poof!!! So I am going to try again.

DH like most of the male population has to shave every day due to his work being in the Cdn military it is not an option not too

A couple of years ago we found a store in Tampa that is dedictated to mens shaving products. DH said why not try the products at least a small travel kit.. Well DH loved them and we went back and bought more..

Jump to now, he needs more but no stores in Canada and nor do they ship here. So the plan was to get to Buffalo early to stop in and get loaded up.

I bet you are sitting there reading (THANK YOU BTW) and asking yourself what does shaving and Disney have to do with each other.. Let me tell you...

I went to the company website as I needed the address for the store and in Buffalo and low and behold want did I find....they are opening a store in Disney Springs soon I sent DH the link and he is all smiles between whiskers...

So what is the stores name....The Art of Shaving and if you haven't tried their product the travel kit is a great Father's Day gift

Here is the link to the store opening http://retail.theartofshaving.com/retail/locations/disney-springs

 

[DISNEY180]

Its been a couple of days since posting and I hope you all check out the website of my last post.

It goes without saying that I am a little crazy about WDW and would live a lot closer to the mouse if job and money were not an issue

So to help fund our trips I have a side business which allows me a bit of extra spending money and a write off for taxes. and we are at a festival 3 days before we leave.

We get back on the Monday, empty the 5th wheel and get ready to head out again. I originally made flight arrangements to leave afternoon Wed to get into Orlando around 730ish and just relax and hit the parks on the Thursday.

After reading some posts about flight changes about gettting there earlier I talked with DH, we decided we could Tuesday late morning instead of "O dark thirty" on Wed Morning to get to Buffalo, long drive

So now we are leaving now leaving 830 Wed morning and getting into Orlando an hour before we were originally flying out.. WOOT WOOT!!! I didn't realize that flying SW I could change flights and only pay the difference which is great.

Last Christmas I had to change flights from another airline and it cost me almost $300 foir just one person due to our car breaking down and not being able to leave so she couldn't fly our til a day later...talk about a money grab!!!!: SO VERY HAPPY that SW doesn't do that.

 

[DISNEY180]

WOOT WOOT in the 70's for days left and I have to get myself in gear to get the rest of my ADR's finished so I thought I would post them here to see how it all looks

Thursday Aug 21
Boma - 920am
Sanaa-105pm
Sanaa 720pm

Friday Aug 22
Hollywood & Vine 915am
Artist Point 535pm

Sat Aug 23
Jiko 720pm

Sun Aug 24
Flying Fish 745pm

Mon Aug 25
Kouzzina - 9am
BoG-920pm

Thursday Aug 28
Coral Reef 530pm
Rose & Crown 920pm Wind Down

I know that I have 3 res for Thursday Aug 21 but we were getting in later on the Wed I didn't know if we would be up earlier or later that day. Now that we are arriving mid afternoon Wed I can change the res just not sure if which one.


On the Wed we will proably head over to the park to get our TIW cards and just eat CS for supper. I want to try new places mostly and actually thinking of trying to get into CRT but that may be a long shot.

Wow looking at the list I am going to be straving alot of days... Good for losing wieght I guess

 

[DISNEY180]

Hi all

I know I have been MIA but a lot has been going on. DH and I had major chats over the weekend about ADR's, tours, events and how we want to proceed.

We have decided to do more tours this trip and less big ADR's as we want to learn more about behind the scenes of Disney

The tours that we have decided to do are as follows and as we are DVC members we recieve a 15% saving which doesn't hurt either

The Boardwalk Ballyhoo Guided Tour which is FREE... not too many of those

Backstage Safari which is great as we get to see the animal hospital and how food is prepared.

The balloon ride at Downtown Disney.. I am scared of heights so this should be interesting to say the least..

Disney Key to the Kingdom Tour is great as we get to go into the tunnels

Pirates and Pals Firework Voyage but no savings here but we hear it is pretty good.

The UnDiscovered Future World at Epcot which we beleive will be educational and fun

So as these tours will be at the end of the day about $300 in cost will have taken out alot of the big ADRS like Jiko for sure and still thinking about maybe dropping either Flying Fish or Artist Point. We are actually thinking of going with QS DP but haven't made any commitments.

Any thoughts???

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Hi! Hopped on over from my PTR. Sounds like a fun trip with all those tours. I love tours myself. I really really liked the Wild by Design tour at AK. It was just me and DDad and we ended up being the only ones with our tour guide. Amazing.

I think it is a good idea to drop some ADRs as the tours are expensive but I think they are worth it - a good trade. We are doing free dining again this year and always by Thursday we hit a food wall and don't even want to look at it anymore. We've decided to share meals if we want or not order dessert (no matter how much the server pesters us) because we have a hard time leaving food if it's sitting in front of us!

 

[DISNEY180]

Hi! Hopped on over from my PTR. Sounds like a fun trip with all those tours. I love tours myself. I really really liked the Wild by Design tour at AK. It was just me and DDad and we ended up being the only ones with our tour guide. Amazing.

I think it is a good idea to drop some ADRs as the tours are expensive but I think they are worth it - a good trade. We are doing free dining again this year and always by Thursday we hit a food wall and don't even want to look at it anymore. We've decided to share meals if we want or not order dessert (no matter how much the server pesters us) because we have a hard time leaving food if it's sitting in front of us!

WELCOME!!! Thanks for joining.. I had a hard time deciding between Wild by Design and Backstage Safari but we will be back so that will be on our bucket list.

 

[heathsf]

Hi! I came over from the Official Aug thread to join your PTR.

I don't have any input on the tours except that I'm sure you can't go wrong! The only tour I've ever done was the World Showcase Segway Tour (which they don't have anymore) and we thought that was great!

 

[DISNEY180]

Hi! I came over from the Official Aug thread to join your PTR.

I don't have any input on the tours except that I'm sure you can't go wrong! The only tour I've ever done was the World Showcase Segway Tour (which they don't have anymore) and we thought that was great!

Welcome I really should do an update as it is getting closer. DH is gone for the weekend so I should be able to get some pics loaded from past trips..
Thanks for kick in the behind