Shhh! Let's sneak off to Disney - Nov 2012 PTR Updated 11/19/12

Pluto0809

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
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I've enjoyed reading everyones PTRs and TRs so I thought I would give writing my own a try. I dont think I'm the best writer, kind of stick to the facts. This probably won't be the most witty PTR ever written but I will try.

So to get started, Im Ariana.

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I'm 39 and live outside of Atlanta, GA. I'm married but unfortunately my DH is not the biggest Disney fan or of traveling at all. Thats ok; I just leave him at home and enjoy WDW and other places without him! We do not have any children unless you count the three furry ones. Here they are, Alex, Eddie and Sierra all ready for Christmas:

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Here's a little (well not so little) background on how this trip came about. Its gonna be lengthy so if you want to, just skip down to the next picture.

This will be my 9th trip to Disney. The first five were all before I turned 14. After that, high school and college got in the way.

I went back again for my honeymoon in October 1998. That was DHs second trip (after a horrible trip during childhood) to WDW and he did enjoy himself but had no desire to go again. He is going back with me next year for our 15th anniversary but that is a story for another PTR.

After the Disneymoon, real life interfered and I didn't make it back till January 2010. I was determined to get back so I started researching and invited pretty much everyone in my family. We ended up with 8 people, me, Mom, brother, SIL, Aunt and three cousins. We had a really great trip and I fell in love with Disney all over again. Here we are:

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My last trip was in May 2011 with two friends. One of the friends was going for a conference so I tagged along. Neither friend had been to WDW since the 70s so I had a great time introducing them and being the tour guide. Unfortunately neither of them fell in love so while they had a great time, I did not gain a Disney buddy. No pictures to post from this trip because one of the friends asked me not to post any pictures of her on the internet.

After the 2011 trip, I felt that I had seen everything I wanted to at WDW and figured I could take a year off. I started looking at October 2013 for the next trip WDW trip (how wrong I was). Instead, I turned my sights on Universal Studios. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and really wanted to see the area in IOA. I bought a book on US and started researching. In the book there was this little web site recommended and I decided to check it out. My new obsession with the DIS boards had begun. My DH and I (yes I dragged him along) headed to US in January of this year for a long weekend. While I had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter stuff, something was seriously bugging me. I was in Orlando and I wasnt going to Disney. I left there glad I went to US but also sad and missing Disney. So the plotting began...

As soon as we got home, I started doing some research in the Disney section of these boards (I had only used the Universal section up to that point), discovered TRs and the Solo section and was instantly hooked. I read solo trips from Kat789, Jenbear123 and GaRain to name a few (thanks ladies!), did some number crunching via the WDW web site, counted my fun money and realized I was not far off from affording a solo trip to Disney! So I booked it. I was going to go the first week of November, Sun through Fri, stay at ASMu with the Regular Dining Plan. I had all of my restaurants picked out, Coral Reef, Rose & Crown, Raglan Road, Whispering Canyon Café, and Sci Fi (stay tuned to see if any of those stick). I was going to do what I wanted, when I wanted! Then I started to feel slightly guilty...

You see, my Mom is a huge Disney fan just like I am and we have very similar touring styles. We have been traveling together a lot since my DH doesnt like to travel and my Dad passed away in 2007. I couldn't imagine going by myself without first inviting her. So when she came to visit in April, I asked her. I had no idea if she would want to go but the first words out of her mouth were, "I need to call my boss to see if I can get that week off!" So my solo trip became a duo and everything I had planned changed. We have many other family members that love Disney so we decided to keep the trip hush, hush because we want it to be just the two of us.

Wow, that really was long winded wasnt it? Hope I didnt lose too many people! So here are Mom & I:

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This was taken on our 2010 trip. It was towards the end of the week and we were the only two that made it up in time for rope drop at Hollywood Studios. We both have the philosophy that there is no sleeping at Disney!

Our final trip looks like this:

Dates: Sunday, November 25th through Saturday, December 1st
Resort: Caribbean Beach
Dining: Regular Dining Plan

Some general Disney information about myself:

Favorite Character: Pluto, Pluto and Pluto. He has been the love of my life since before I can remember. I have an entire room in my house devoted to him. If you dare, click here and you will see my obsession (Pluto Room). Beyond Pluto I tend to like the animal sidekicks the best. I love Mittens from Bolt, Flower from Bambi, Maximus from Tangled, Dug from Up, etc. I think you get the idea.

Favorite Park: If I'm forced to pick then it would have to be MK but I could not imagine a trip without a visit to all four.

Favorite Ride: I don't have one favorite but I love TSM, Soarin, POTC, and Dinosaur to name a few.

Favorite Restaurant: This one is a tie between Rose & Crown (for the Scotch Egg appetizer) and Coral Reef (for the atmosphere and the Baileys Chocolate Mousse).

As for my Mom, I don't really know what hers are. She's not really into characters but neither am I. I just can't get past the fact that there are friends to the characters if you know what I mean. I do have to get a picture with Pluto each trip and she likes to get one with Mickey. The only two rides she has talked about making sure we dont miss are TSM and Soarin.

Well, I think I have overloaded everyone with information now so I will end this post here.

Next up, Day 1!
 
Awesome start!

I feel like you have been following my PTR/TR for so long now, and I don't know that much about you - so it's really fun for me to meet you! :)

I loved hearing about your previous trips... And I love even more that your solo trip turned into a duo trip - and you get to spend some great quality time with your Mom - how wonderful!

Believe it or not, I did know that you are a Pluto fan! ;) And I love your Pluto room!!! It's amazing!

I can't wait to read about everything, and to see if all your dining choices stay the same or not.

D~
 
Oh - and I forgot to mention - I LOVE your adorable kids!! They are so cute... It looks like Christmas morning. :)

D~
 

I just subbed to this...I am not sure how I have missed you on the Dis so far. :confused3 Glad to finally "meet" you. :thumbsup2 Need to catch up with this PTR now...lots of fun Disreading to do! :cool1:

Your Pluto room is great...and I can totally see D~'s sewing room looking like that, only with Donald stuff everywhere, someday!
 
Awesome start!

I feel like you have been following my PTR/TR for so long now, and I don't know that much about you - so it's really fun for me to meet you! :)

I loved hearing about your previous trips... And I love even more that your solo trip turned into a duo trip - and you get to spend some great quality time with your Mom - how wonderful!

Believe it or not, I did know that you are a Pluto fan! ;) And I love your Pluto room!!! It's amazing!

I can't wait to read about everything, and to see if all your dining choices stay the same or not.

D~

Glad you found it! I have been a pretty serious lurker for a while (I have over 30 subscriptions to PTRs & TRs right now) and thought it was time to come out of the shadows. :rotfl: I'm actually pretty shy in real life, but my desire for a Pluto bag brought me out of lurking on your TR. I've been trying to speak up a bit more on other threads too. Finding a community that understands my love for Disney has been a blessing.

As for the meals, some stick, some don't. My original picks were all about entertainment value since I was going to be alone. Once my Mom added on, entertainment was no longer as necessary.


Oh - and I forgot to mention - I LOVE your adorable kids!! They are so cute... It looks like Christmas morning. :)

D~

Thanks, they really are my kids. I wish I had a better picture of the three of them but it's hard to get them to sit still long enough! The middle one, Eddie is my baby. He is the first dog that has been all "mine". He just turned 11. Unfortunately he's had some serious eye issues. He lost one eye a few years ago and just had surgery to remove the other yesterday. It's going to be a hard few weeks while he (and me and DH) adjusts to being blind.

I just subbed to this...I am not sure how I have missed you on the Dis so far. :confused3 Glad to finally "meet" you. :thumbsup2 Need to catch up with this PTR now...lots of fun Disreading to do! :cool1:

Your Pluto room is great...and I can totally see D~'s sewing room looking like that, only with Donald stuff everywhere, someday!

Thanks for joining in. :goodvibes You probably missed me because I've been more of a lurker. I feel like I know a lot of the people on these boards so it was time to formally introduce myself. This is actually my first PTR so you haven't missed much. I do have four trips in the planning stages right now so I'll be around a lot more!

My Pluto collection has been growing for almost as long as I've been alive! When eBay came about though, it exploded! Collecting can be very addicting so I could easily see D~'s sewing room looking like that!

The very last picture (of a picture :lmao:) was a new purchase just this weekend. The thing is huge, over three feet wide and three feet tall. No idea where it is going to go but I'll find a place!
 
Hey!! I just jumped over from my TR to check out what was going on over here!! And as it turns out, we'll be in the world at the same time!! I'm headed down the 24th to the 28th! Maybe we'll run into each other!
 
I thought I replied... Hmm... I know I read this...

Glad you found it! I have been a pretty serious lurker for a while (I have over 30 subscriptions to PTRs & TRs right now) and thought it was time to come out of the shadows. :rotfl: I'm actually pretty shy in real life, but my desire for a Pluto bag brought me out of lurking on your TR. I've been trying to speak up a bit more on other threads too. Finding a community that understands my love for Disney has been a blessing.


I couldn't agree more - I love being here. And I swear these PTRs keep me motivated to keep going to Disney.

As for the meals, some stick, some don't. My original picks were all about entertainment value since I was going to be alone. Once my Mom added on, entertainment was no longer as necessary.

Well, I am anxious to hear what you all have planned.



Thanks, they really are my kids. I wish I had a better picture of the three of them but it's hard to get them to sit still long enough! The middle one, Eddie is my baby. He is the first dog that has been all "mine". He just turned 11. Unfortunately he's had some serious eye issues. He lost one eye a few years ago and just had surgery to remove the other yesterday. It's going to be a hard few weeks while he (and me and DH) adjusts to being blind.

Awww... Poor guy. We had a neighbor with a blind dog (it was the neighbor we got Rufus from) - and Maggie (the dog) adjusted very well to it, and she never wandered very far at all. I am sure there will be an few weeks of an adjustment, but after that, everyone will find their groove. I hope it all goes well for him, and you.

My Pluto collection has been growing for almost as long as I've been alive! When eBay came about though, it exploded! Collecting can be very addicting so I could easily see D~'s sewing room looking like that!

ACK!!! I've been trying to keep my Donald collection "spread out" - I have a feeling, if I gathered everything into one room, it might look a little like your Pluto collection. :rolleyes1

The very last picture (of a picture :lmao:) was a new purchase just this weekend. The thing is huge, over three feet wide and three feet tall. No idea where it is going to go but I'll find a place![/SIZE][/COLOR]

Oooh - did you get something new? I didn't go look at the pictures, because I had just seen them... I better go look again. :thumbsup2

Oh - and I just stopped by to wish you a Happy Halloween!

D~
 
Hey!! I just jumped over from my TR to check out what was going on over here!! And as it turns out, we'll be in the world at the same time!! I'm headed down the 24th to the 28th! Maybe we'll run into each other!

That is so exciting that you will be there at the same time as me! We will have to see if any of our days overlap. I'm hoping to get another update done today or tomorrow. Where are you staying?

I thought I replied... Hmm... I know I read this...



I couldn't agree more - I love being here. And I swear these PTRs keep me motivated to keep going to Disney.



Well, I am anxious to hear what you all have planned.





Awww... Poor guy. We had a neighbor with a blind dog (it was the neighbor we got Rufus from) - and Maggie (the dog) adjusted very well to it, and she never wandered very far at all. I am sure there will be an few weeks of an adjustment, but after that, everyone will find their groove. I hope it all goes well for him, and you.



ACK!!! I've been trying to keep my Donald collection "spread out" - I have a feeling, if I gathered everything into one room, it might look a little like your Pluto collection. :rolleyes1



Oooh - did you get something new? I didn't go look at the pictures, because I had just seen them... I better go look again. :thumbsup2

Oh - and I just stopped by to wish you a Happy Halloween!

D~

Happy Halloween to you too! I actually retook all of the pictures on Sunday so there is lots of stuff you probably didn't see. The ones I sent you were from 2009!

Eddie's doing ok. I can tell the poor guy is hurting so he isn't trying to get around too much. He was basically blind before he had to have the eye removed, could only see a little bit of light. I'm hoping he will adjust quickly. Right now he is going to doggie day care at my Vet's office. He's had so many medical issues I just have to call and say Eddie's coming and they know who I'm talking about!
 
I'm actually going to start this post on Friday, November 23rd, the day after Thanksgiving. My DH works a lot during the Holidays so we rarely travel to visit family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I don't do the Black Friday shopping thing, so the day after Thanksgiving is usually for relaxing and putting up Christmas decorations. Right now I don't have a big Christmas tree as our pre-lit one gave out last year and it went in the garbage. I don't know at this point if I will buy a new one or use my little ceramic tree since it's just the two of us.

Our flights out on Sunday are very early so I plan to stay up as late as I possibly can on Friday. I'll probably catch up on some TV shows or maybe watch a few Disney movies to get in the mood (like I really need to do that, I’ve been in the Disney mood ever since I booked the trip). I want to make myself good and tired for Saturday night so I can go to bed early.

Saturday, November 24th, I will be getting up early and heading to the local animal shelter where I volunteer most Saturdays. I start at 8 am and help clean the cat rooms and do some filing until they open the doors at 10 am. Then I help customers find the perfect cat or kitten to add to their family. I am affectionately known as the Saturday “Cat Lady”. I love cats but DH is allergic so I volunteer to get my kitty love. I usually stay there till about 2-3pm. I'll head home then, finish some last minute packing, eat some dinner and hopefully head to bed around 7 pm.

Then Disney Day, November 25th will be here!! :banana: Mickey and Pluto will wake me up probably around this time:

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My flight is at 8 am and I am determined to be at the airport by 6 am. That means leaving the house around 5:15 am to be safe.

Quick rant…. When I flew to visit family in July, I got to the Atlanta airport about an hour and ½ ahead of my flight to find that the security wait was over an hour. I barely made the flight and had to check my carryon at the gate. Unfortunately I didn't realize there wasn't any overhead space left till I got to my seat towards the back of the plane. The stewardess made me go all the way back to the front of the plane against the tide of incoming people to check my carryon. I got plenty of dirty looks and then the pilot was kind of pissy too (not really at me but at the whole security situation, there were a lot of people late to the gate). Not a great start to my trip and left me in a slightly bad mood. I do not want any chance of that happening when I’m headed to Disney! …….End rant.

I land at MCO around 9:30. My mom is flying in from further up north and the only direct morning flight I could get her on Southwest departs at 6 am. She has only flown by herself a few times so I didn't want her to have to switch planes. I know she would be just fine if she switched plans but then I would be worried like a good daughter. Hopefully she will get to bed early on Saturday too! She actually lands about an hour before me. I’m thinking I will have her meet me right outside the security area.

Once I meet up with her we may or may not grab a quick snack. We have a lunch ADR but not till 2 pm. Then we will head to the Magical Express to catch our bus to….

Caribbean Beach Resort!

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This is the first time either of us has stayed here. I’ve stayed at both POR and CSR so Mom chose between CBR and POFQ. Obviously she chose CBR. We both love trying new resorts. I plan on doing on-line check in so hopefully everything will go smoothly. I requested either Jamaica 45 or Aruba 51 but I don’t think we will be disappointed if we don’t get either. Walking is not a problem for either of us.

If our room is available, we will head there and drop our bags and if not we will give them to Bell Services to watch. Then we will hit the nearest bus stop to the first park of the trip. And where will that be? Stay tuned…..

Up next: Our first park of the trip.
 
My plans go like this:
24th: arrive, probably head into MK for a bit, maybe DTD
25th: DHS
26:AK
27: MK/MVMCP
28: Departure

I'm staying at CSR, first time there! I like trying new resorts too, you'll LOVE CBR, it's so beautiful!! I'm excited to read more!
 
Your plans sound awesome!

I love your alarm clock!

And I agree - when we left WDW in March... ME picked us up on time, but we ran into traffic, they dropped off side A first (we were side B) and the security line was very long... Add a sick Alli to that - and it was just an awful experience... Not to mention, our plane was very late arriving to the gate in the first place - so we wouldn't have had to rush at all.

I hope this flight goes much smoother for you.

And Yay for CBR - it looks like a gorgeous resort - and one I would love to stay in some day, its' just so huge that kind of scares me off.

D~
 
My plans go like this:
24th: arrive, probably head into MK for a bit, maybe DTD
25th: DHS
26:AK
27: MK/MVMCP
28: Departure

I'm staying at CSR, first time there! I like trying new resorts too, you'll LOVE CBR, it's so beautiful!! I'm excited to read more!

Bummer, I don't think our plans are going to overlap very much except maybe 11/25 in the evening. As for CSR, I stayed there last year and loved it. It reminds me a lot of CBR except more of "desert" feel.

It's a bit of a drive to MK and DTD (if I remember correctly, about 20 minutes) so keep that in mind when heading to those places.

Also, there are four bus stops. Stop 1 is the Lobby area. The DTD buses stop at the lobby first so if you want to get to your room from there, hop on a DTD bus. All the other buses start at stop #2 and the lobby area is the last stop. You can get from your room to the lobby by riding any park bus. Hope that makes sense! There are signs at each stop explaining the system.


Your plans sound awesome!

I love your alarm clock!

And I agree - when we left WDW in March... ME picked us up on time, but we ran into traffic, they dropped off side A first (we were side B) and the security line was very long... Add a sick Alli to that - and it was just an awful experience... Not to mention, our plane was very late arriving to the gate in the first place - so we wouldn't have had to rush at all.

I hope this flight goes much smoother for you.

And Yay for CBR - it looks like a gorgeous resort - and one I would love to stay in some day, its' just so huge that kind of scares me off.

D~

Thanks, I spent a lot of time working on the plans. I think I have just as much fun planning the trips as I do going on them!

I've had that alarm clock for ages and I love it. I really need to get a new one as this one has gotten a bit of water behind the glass and there are condensation spots you can probably see in the picture. I think I should have dusted it a bit before taking the picture though! :rotfl:

I do hope this flight goes better. I love to fly but it keeps getting harder and harder to enjoy.

I'm excited to try CBR! The size is a little intimidating and I'm a bit worried about the bus situation. But Mom and I are patient and tend to get places way earlier than necessary so I think it will be ok.
 
I agree - half the fun of the trip is planning it, IMO. I am lost these days if I don't have a trip to plan. ;)

I can't wait to hear your CBR review - I hope you'll do a TR when you get home. ;)

D~
 
I agree - half the fun of the trip is planning it, IMO. I am lost these days if I don't have a trip to plan. ;)

I can't wait to hear your CBR review - I hope you'll do a TR when you get home. ;)

D~

I'm planning on doing a TR. I just need to learn to take more pictures! I looked through the ones from last trip and I only took about 100 the whole week. 1/3 was animals at AK, 1/3 was random other stuff and the last 1/3 was all from the Swiss Family Tree House. I don't know why but every time I climb that tree I end up photographing every inch of it!
 
When we left off, Mom and I had checked in at CBR and were headed to the nearest Bus Stop to go to:

Epcot!

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(not sure where I found that picture on the internet, it looks like it's a few years old! :lmao:)

I'm hoping we will end up arriving around noon which will give us a few hours to spare before our lunch ADR. I don't have any set plans but I'm hoping we can catch a few rides in Future World. I doubt Soarin' will be possible but maybe Nemo or SE will be reasonable.

And if the lines are too long (crowd calendar says a 6 that day), we will probably shop! There are three things my Mom and I love to do at Disney: rides, shopping and food! I have quite a list of things I want to buy while there. I’ll share my shopping list towards the end of this PTR.

Once it gets towards 2 pm, we will have to start heading towards the World Showcase for our first Disney lunch at Le Cellier.

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We wanted to try new places this time and all but one of our TS meals are new to us. I am a very picky eater so you won’t see much variety in my meals. Mom likes just about everything. She jokes about where I came from because I’m the only picky eater in our family. I went through all of the TS menus and sent her a list of the ones I was able to find something I would eat. Then we picked from there. My goal is to go the whole week without eating chicken tenders one time! ::yes::

At Le Cellier, I plan to start out with the Martini Trio. I don't drink much but I love Martinis. I definitely won't be able to drink all three but it is a great way to try different ones and I'm sure Mom will help a bit! My entrée will be the mushroom filet, hold the mushrooms and substitute the mashed potatoes for the risotto. Dessert will always be something chocolate for me, probably the Chocolate Moose here. I'm also looking forward to trying the pretzel bread.

After lunch, I plan to steer us towards Innovations for a picture at the Visa Photo place. I'm hoping to get our one meet and greet with Pluto and Mickey done. I know it will be the luck of the draw which characters we get but I will get my picture with Pluto sometime during the week!

After our picture, it will probably be about time to hop to Hollywood Studios.

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I have two goals for us at DHS this night, Fantasmic and Osborne Lights. I wasn't going to worry about Fantasmic because I saw it in 2011 and once every few years is fine by me. But then Mom said she doesn't think she has ever seen it. So if we can get into the show without waiting in line for hours we will go for it. If it's too full, we’ll head straight back to the Osborne Lights. Disney just added a second Fantasmic this night so I think our chances will be good to go to one of them.

Once we get our fill of the Osborne Lights and Fantasmic we will probably be getting tired after our early morning. It will be time to head back to our room to get a good nights sleep. If we are hungry, we may stop at Centertown for a quick bite to eat before bed.

Next up: Rope Drop and a full day at Hollywood Studios
 
Your plans sound great so far!

I have never eaten at LeCellier - not sure if we ever will - definately not with the kids in tow, maybe if I can ever convince DH to do with me... Sigh.

And you for sure need to do a meet n' greet with Pluto - no questions!

I would help you out with your martinis if I was there. ;)

D~
 
I made it!!! Your pups are adorable! Sorry Eddie is blind now, but I've worked in the animal care field for 9 years now and they adjust so well to blindness and get around like they can see still.

Love your plans for the first day. As for Fantasmic!, it was redone at the beginning of this year, so the one you see this time will be different from the one you saw last year. I saw the second show of the new version this past February and it was wonderful. :goodvibes
 
Ariana, I am all caught up. Great intros; and I LOVE your Pluto room. I'm sorry your DH is not a Disney lover...I don't know how I'd survive if my DH wasn't.

Your plans sound great thus far. A little suggesiton for dessert at LeCellier if I may? The Chocolate on Chocolate Whiskey Cake is :worship::worship::worship:

Looking forward to reading more.
 














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