PTR-Cheating on Mickey w/Harry!...OMG! Only a month to go!

[PrincessInOz]

YUM! I wish I'd gone back for that lobster roll now!

 

[franandaj]

Yay!

So I booked my first step in my vacation today! It's 11 months until my check in date for Disney, so I called Member Services. After two phone calls, the first one being 30 minutes long, I was able to book a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs from October 27th through November 3rd!

The next step is to book our hotel at Universal....and start working on flights. In 4 months I then try and switch the reservations to Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge, THAT will be the hard part!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Yay!

So I booked my first step in my vacation today! It's 180 days until my check in date for Disney, so I called Member Services. After two phone calls, the first one being 30 minutes long, I was able to book a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs from October 25th through November 3rd!

The next step is to book our hotel at Universal....and start working on flights. In 4 months I then try and switch the reservations to Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge, THAT will be the hard part!

Excellent! Congrats on being booked!! I know it makes it feel so much more real once the trip is actually booked! Sorry to be a pain, but didn't you mean 11 months before your check-in date (minus 2 days since it is November 27th)? 180 days would be some time in May, right? Please don't be mad at me for correcting you!

Enjoy booking your hotel at Universal! Planning these trips is always so exciting! When the time comes to switch your reservation to Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge, remember that no matter what happens, you are going to Disney and you will have a wonderful time! Saratoga Springs is also a beautiful resort, and you will have a magical trip no matter what!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yeah, I was going to say... It's 184 days until I get to DLR, so it has to be longer before you ladies get back to WDW

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm all for the time bending trick....I'm hoping you'll share the time machine with us!

Well done for booking at SSR.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks ladies! I changed it, but I am 11 months from Disney check in. The first two days are at Universal. I was trying to get out of the house so fast, I wasn't thinking. But imagine my surprise when two days ago my ticker said 11 months! I knew I couldn't reserve until today!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks ladies! I changed it, but I am 11 months from Disney check in. The first two days are at Universal. I was trying to get out of the house so fast, I wasn't thinking. But imagine my surprise when two days ago my ticker said 11 months! I knew I couldn't reserve until today!

Oh man, that's frustrating, and I know what you mean! On our trip this past July, we left the house on July 8th, drove down from NYC to Southern FL so we stayed over 2 nights along the way, and stayed in Southern FL for 3 nights. So we didn't actually get to WDW until July 13th, 5 days after the vacation officially began! I like it that way though...doing happy things while waiting to go to WDW...makes the vacation longer and even better!

 

[franandaj]

I wanted to share a mini TR from the weekend before Thanksgiving. Our Community Concert band plays out at Disney every year, and has for the last 10 or so years. Every year we pick six dates in order of preference, and every year we have received our top date. So I booked Saturday night at the VGC for the weekend of our performance. Well barely a month beforehand, we find out our date and it was our second choice. November 21st! I had to scramble to cancel my reservation so that the points didn’t go into a holding account, and rebook trading out to the DLH instead. I know for next year to book all the weekends that we want and cancel when we find out when we’re playing.

So on Saturday we had a rehearsal in Hollywood where our out of town guests were able to join us. My friend Jim and I cooked a Thanksgiving style lunch for everyone with Ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, zucchini casserole, spinach salad and green salad. After everyone gorged themselves (there was almost nothing left), we played down the show and everyone went home, or for about a dozen of us we headed down to the parks.

I had spent so much time earlier in the week with some unexpected personal business that the time I planned to spend Friday packing my suitcase was spent making food for the lunch, so as soon as we got home to drop off the mashed potatoes that were left, I started packing. It took about two hours to get everything together and loaded up in the car, and we headed off to the parks a little after 4PM. We estimated that we would arrive at the Valet at 5:30 and be in our room by 6PM and we were right on target.

We checked into the DLH and got one of those nifty refurbished rooms with the fireworks display on the headboard. We had a view of the Neverland Pool and the construction. I realized while we were there that one entire tower is closed down. They are certainly doing a lot of construction work!

One of the ladies in our band is a member of Club 33 and a highlight of our “Disney concert weekend” is Saturday night dinner at Club 33. It usually runs about $100 per person and diners get free admission to both parks. I wish we could have arrived earlier to take advantage of the admission, although we have APs, so it really doesn’t matter, but it was just not in the cards. Once we checked in, I still needed to get a shower and get “gussied up” since we were dining at such a swanky restaurant.

After we got dressed up, we headed out for our reservation, though it wasn’t until 8:45PM we left the room around 7PM so that we could check out the shops. We visited the jewelry shop and were pleased to find that they had my necklace still (a Mickey Journey pendant priced at $5K LOL!) plus another 55th anniversary pendant at the same price. In my dreams!

By the time we arrived at the Club they were ready for our party. So they seated us immediately.

We had prepaid for a four course meal, Butternut Squash Soup,

Scallop Appetizer,

Filet of Chateaubriand

and a Kahlua Chocolate Bombe.

We had a very nice dinner and left around 11:30PM. I took a few pictures of the castle

I was so glad to have our points because all we had to do was go back to the DLH instead of drive ½ an hour home, wake up at 5 or 6 AM and drive back. In the past that’s what we’ve done, we thought about going to Steakhouse 55 for breakfast at 7AM, but we were still too full so instead of getting up at 6AM we slept in until 7AM.

We packed our suitcases and called Bell Services. They had free coffee in the Lobby so I took advantage of that. We checked our suitcases, put our horns in the car and checked the large scooter (normally we take the two small ones, but we had issues I won’t go into here), we put the small scooter in the back of the SUV and we prayed that the rain would let up because the DCA stage doesn’t have a roof. Back in 2008 they cancelled our performance due to rain.

We hit McDonald’s on Harbor Blvd, where I got a Fruit & Yogurt Parfait and I don’t know what DP ordered. We sped over to the entrance gate because as Band Manager I had already received a number of calls with problems regarding the entrance list, people who were going to be late and other such things. We got there well within time to perform and after clearing up the performers names we were allowed backstage, we took a picture with the group and shortly thereafter they provided a tram for us to DCA where we were scheduled to perform. It had been iffy all morning as to whether or not we would be able to perform at the Backlot Stage at 10:30AM because the weather was not cooperating, but just before we got onstage a big patch of blue sky opened up and we had a great performance!

After that we returned to backstage at Disneyland for our complimentary passes. We changed into our everyday clothes and headed back to fetch our things at the DLH, parked the car and headed towards our lunch at Café Orleans. On the way I stopped and got a FP for Indiana Jones. We were an hour early and they really couldn’t honor the reservation that soon, so we waited for what they said would be 20-45 minutes. It seems a lot of other people weren’t willing to wait because they called numerous parties who weren’t there, so our name came up rather quickly. We were seated outside which was not a very good thing, the high that day was about 57 degrees so it was pretty cold.

We ran into several of our friends from the band there, so it seems we all know where to get good food! We ordered coffee to keep warm,

and the onion soup, which didn’t arrive as an appetizer. When our Monte Cristo sandwich arrived, we asked about the soup and they brought it right away.

In the end they comped the soup. It seems they were having a bad day because the table next to us also missed a couple items. All in all it was still a good lunch, by the time we finished, my FP for Indy was up so I rode that. Then we made our way slowly out of the park stopping in various shops just to look. Our last stop was at Marcelines in DTD. I was bummed they didn’t have their Cheshire Tails, but they had holiday treats with marshmallows on a stick dipped in caramel, chocolate and crushed pieces of Peppermint Bark. We got a couple to take home and they were really good! We’ll have to go back again before the end of the year to get another one!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Looks like you guys had a good time that day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! What a fantastic opportunity to have dinner at Club 33. The meal looks great and your band looks wonderful all dressed up!

Thanks for sharing,

 

[ACDSNY]

Great pics of DL & Club 33. If you win the lottery be sure to buy two of the Journey necklaces, one for you and one for me!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Awesome report of DL and great pics! That meal looks amazing!!!

You are tempting me with DL again...I always say we have to get there someday. The original that started it all!

 

[franandaj]

Angela,
Love your "shiny ball"

 

[ACDSNY]

Angela,
Love your "shiny ball"

My one and only Christmas decoration so far!

 

[ACDSNY]

We'll be taking our nieces to WDW on 10/30 - 11/6/11 and on the Disney Dream 11/6 and I've thought about taking them to Discovery Cove. I received an email from DC with a price of $199 and it includes a day at SeaWorld or Busch Gardens too. Like you I'm still trying to figure out what date we could squeeze it in.

On another note our tree is decorated!

 

[franandaj]

Who knows...if we don't meet up in CA sometime, we could say "Hi" in WDW, do you know where you will be staying?

 

[franandaj]

So I have some great news about our WDW trip! Yesterday we went to Disneyland. Now how can going to Disneyland have anything to do with a trip to WDW. :

Well yesterday was the first time in 18 months that Fran has climbed inside a ride vehicle! The new hip and two knees has paid off. We rode Buzz Lightyear and the Haunted Mansion with the Overlay. She tried the Pooh ride, but the angle it forced her knees into was too severe and she had to get out of the car, but it's a start!

This means that she can go on some of the rides when we get to WDW, she'll still need to bring a book for RnRC, but perhaps when we visit DLR in June with Firefly we can try Indiana Jones and POTC. If she can do Pirates there are lots of rides at WDW she'll be able to ride!

 

[ACDSNY]

Who knows...if we don't meet up in CA sometime, we could say "Hi" in WDW, do you know where you will be staying?

We'll be at AKV Kidani from 10/30 - 11/6 and then the 4 night Dream cruise.

So I have some great news about our WDW trip! Yesterday we went to Disneyland. Now how can going to Disneyland have anything to do with a trip to WDW. :

Well yesterday was the first time in 18 months that Fran has climbed inside a ride vehicle! The new hip and two knees has paid off. We rode Buzz Lightyear and the Haunted Mansion with the Overlay. She tried the Pooh ride, but the angle it forced her knees into was too severe and she had to get out of the car, but it's a start!

This means that she can go on some of the rides when we get to WDW, she'll still need to bring a book for RnRC, but perhaps when we visit DLR in June with Firefly we can try Indiana Jones and POTC. If she can do Pirates there are lots of rides at WDW she'll be able to ride!

Great news! I'm sure it hasn't been easy for Fran to bounce back from both knees and hip surgeries, one alone is hard for most people. I'm short and the Pooh ride and IASW both are hard on my knees.

 

[Leshaface]

So I have some great news about our WDW trip! Yesterday we went to Disneyland. Now how can going to Disneyland have anything to do with a trip to WDW. :

Well yesterday was the first time in 18 months that Fran has climbed inside a ride vehicle! The new hip and two knees has paid off. We rode Buzz Lightyear and the Haunted Mansion with the Overlay. She tried the Pooh ride, but the angle it forced her knees into was too severe and she had to get out of the car, but it's a start!

This means that she can go on some of the rides when we get to WDW, she'll still need to bring a book for RnRC, but perhaps when we visit DLR in June with Firefly we can try Indiana Jones and POTC. If she can do Pirates there are lots of rides at WDW she'll be able to ride!

Woo hoo!! This is great news!! I hope, also, she'll be able to get on some things at WDW!!!

You're concert pics looked great!! Still bummed we couldn't meet up But i'm sure there will be more opportunities!

I seriously need to get crackin' on my TR!!

Sometimes I just feel so unmotivated to write my report, because what do I have forward to after it's finished?! I mean, I don't have any concrete plans as of yet and my TR keeps me excited and looking forward to something...sigh..

 

[franandaj]

Woo hoo!! This is great news!! I hope, also, she'll be able to get on some things at WDW!!!

You're concert pics looked great!! Still bummed we couldn't meet up But i'm sure there will be more opportunities!

I seriously need to get crackin' on my TR!!

Sometimes I just feel so unmotivated to write my report, because what do I have forward to after it's finished?! I mean, I don't have any concrete plans as of yet and my TR keeps me excited and looking forward to something...sigh..

I know, the only attractions she did on the last two trips were shows or Ellen's Energy Adventure where you transfer to a wheelchair, so I hope we can do some together instead of her reading a book while I ride.

I'm sorry you felt so bad, but we'll both be back and can meet up sometime.

I know what you mean about your TR, I didn't want to finish my dining review from my trip at the same time because then it would have been over. We hadn't planned this trip then so it's hard to think about one ending when you don't have one on the horizon!

That's why I love that we have DVC points, we know we will be back sometime!