Laralyn
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2004
- Messages
- 509
The start of what I hope will become an annual trip to Walt Disney World!
The plan: Nine nights' stay at Disney's Port Orleads: Riverside, from Nov. 10-19, 2004.
The cast:
Laralyn, a 39 year old video game designer. I'm a long-time Disney park fan who always wanted to be an Imagineer.
Charlie, my 28 year old boyfriend, a graphic designer. He's not a big Disney fan although he loves animation and art. He also hates crowds, especially when they involve screaming kids and harried stroller-wielding parents.
Let's see. We're all packed. Charlie has his early Christmas present, a Canon Digital Rebel, and I have his old digital camera (hence his early Christmas gift was also a gift for me!). I set out extra food and water for my 18 year old cat, although a friend will stop by and check on her. Looks like we're set!
Luggage in the trunk, slam it shut, get in the car... uh... get in the car... Hmm. Looks like my keys are locked in the trunk with the luggage. Charlie's looking at me as if to say, "You've driven me nuts with your incessant planning, and the first thing you do is THIS?" My cell phone is... yep. In the trunk with the keys and the luggage. I borrow Charlie's phone and call AAA. Charlie keeps checking his watch--he's paranoid about getting to the airport on time even though we have three hours before our flight.
While we're sitting here on the curb, waiting for the AAA locksmith, here's a little background. I'm an Army brat. I've been a Disney park fan as long as I can remember, watching avidly on TV as they built Walt Disney World, starting with The Magic Kingdom. I dreamed of doing what Walt was doing, even as a child: I wanted to make worlds that people could experience and enjoy.
We lived in California from 1971-1974, when I was 6-8, and I went to Disneyland twice. I'll never forget going onto the roof of our hotel and seeing the fireworks over the castle our first night, before we even visited the park. We moved a few more times, and ended up in central Florida from 1976-1979, and I got to go to Walt Disney World several times. This was all pre-EPCOT, of course. I still dreamed of creating worlds, and I spent a lot of time writing.
We moved away again, I got my first computer (a TI-99/4A) and played my first computer game. Look--someone created a virtual world, in words! I immediately started teaching myself to program in BASIC so I could make worlds too.
The years pass: high school, college, a few years wandering around, law school, marriage... All the while I'm writing and dreaming and imagining. I play the game Myst and there it is: I know I can do it! I create a game demo, sell it to a publisher, and finally, at 26 years old, I'm officially making worlds.
I go to Walt Disney World a few times with my now ex-husband, but even happy times there can't save the marriage. So I'm single again at 35, living in Omaha, Nebraska because I'd given up my career in games so my ex-husband could go to school. It was like starting all over again.
Then I met Charlie, and everything changed. I got hired at a game developer in Chicago to be lead designer on the Playstation 2 game based on... Lilo & Stitch! Hooray! Disney and games came back into my life at the same time. When we finished the game, Disney treated the team leads and their families to a trip to Hollywood for the movie's premiere and a three-night stay at The Disneyland Hotel. It was Charlie's first trip to any Disney park... I was so excited!
Unfortunately, it was a summer weekend, and it was packed. If you've been to The Magic Kingdom on July 4, take that crowd and insert it into a place about half the size and you'll get the idea. Charlie was miserable, and I learned how much he hates crowds. In the end, the company in Chicago wasn't a good fit for me, so I accepted a position in Los Angeles... meaning I would not get to finish the title I was working on, The Haunted Mansion.
We went to Disneyland several times while in Los Angeles, but it was always a day trip. Somehow, it's not the same when you drive through traffic, go to the park, then drive home again. Once it was really uncrowded, and I thought I saw a glimmer in Charlie's eyes of what a good Disney trip might be like.
You move around a lot in the game industry, so here I am now in Austin, Texas. We hadn't had the money (or the time) for a vacation in years. I hadn't been to WDW since 1996, and Charlie had never been on a real vacation in his entire life. I started planning in August for our big Disney trip in November.
It started as 5 nights at POP. Then I found the DISboards, and hooray! Look at all that information! I asked whether we would be better off at a moderate, based on Charlie's dislike of crowds, and on the good advice of the folks here, I switched us to Port Orleans: Riverside, at the AP rate. I figured we could go again next year and save all that ticket money, right? There are four parks now, so maybe we need another few days? And look, if we leave two days earlier, we save $200!
We ended up with 9 nights at Port Orleans... and 16 priority seatings! Whew! I tried not to talk to Charlie about it TOO much, but I was so excited, and I really wanted his opinion. So that leads us back to the curb, waiting for AAA and the start of our trip.
The plan: Nine nights' stay at Disney's Port Orleads: Riverside, from Nov. 10-19, 2004.
The cast:
Laralyn, a 39 year old video game designer. I'm a long-time Disney park fan who always wanted to be an Imagineer.
Charlie, my 28 year old boyfriend, a graphic designer. He's not a big Disney fan although he loves animation and art. He also hates crowds, especially when they involve screaming kids and harried stroller-wielding parents.
Let's see. We're all packed. Charlie has his early Christmas present, a Canon Digital Rebel, and I have his old digital camera (hence his early Christmas gift was also a gift for me!). I set out extra food and water for my 18 year old cat, although a friend will stop by and check on her. Looks like we're set!
Luggage in the trunk, slam it shut, get in the car... uh... get in the car... Hmm. Looks like my keys are locked in the trunk with the luggage. Charlie's looking at me as if to say, "You've driven me nuts with your incessant planning, and the first thing you do is THIS?" My cell phone is... yep. In the trunk with the keys and the luggage. I borrow Charlie's phone and call AAA. Charlie keeps checking his watch--he's paranoid about getting to the airport on time even though we have three hours before our flight.
While we're sitting here on the curb, waiting for the AAA locksmith, here's a little background. I'm an Army brat. I've been a Disney park fan as long as I can remember, watching avidly on TV as they built Walt Disney World, starting with The Magic Kingdom. I dreamed of doing what Walt was doing, even as a child: I wanted to make worlds that people could experience and enjoy.
We lived in California from 1971-1974, when I was 6-8, and I went to Disneyland twice. I'll never forget going onto the roof of our hotel and seeing the fireworks over the castle our first night, before we even visited the park. We moved a few more times, and ended up in central Florida from 1976-1979, and I got to go to Walt Disney World several times. This was all pre-EPCOT, of course. I still dreamed of creating worlds, and I spent a lot of time writing.
We moved away again, I got my first computer (a TI-99/4A) and played my first computer game. Look--someone created a virtual world, in words! I immediately started teaching myself to program in BASIC so I could make worlds too.
The years pass: high school, college, a few years wandering around, law school, marriage... All the while I'm writing and dreaming and imagining. I play the game Myst and there it is: I know I can do it! I create a game demo, sell it to a publisher, and finally, at 26 years old, I'm officially making worlds.
I go to Walt Disney World a few times with my now ex-husband, but even happy times there can't save the marriage. So I'm single again at 35, living in Omaha, Nebraska because I'd given up my career in games so my ex-husband could go to school. It was like starting all over again.
Then I met Charlie, and everything changed. I got hired at a game developer in Chicago to be lead designer on the Playstation 2 game based on... Lilo & Stitch! Hooray! Disney and games came back into my life at the same time. When we finished the game, Disney treated the team leads and their families to a trip to Hollywood for the movie's premiere and a three-night stay at The Disneyland Hotel. It was Charlie's first trip to any Disney park... I was so excited!
Unfortunately, it was a summer weekend, and it was packed. If you've been to The Magic Kingdom on July 4, take that crowd and insert it into a place about half the size and you'll get the idea. Charlie was miserable, and I learned how much he hates crowds. In the end, the company in Chicago wasn't a good fit for me, so I accepted a position in Los Angeles... meaning I would not get to finish the title I was working on, The Haunted Mansion.
We went to Disneyland several times while in Los Angeles, but it was always a day trip. Somehow, it's not the same when you drive through traffic, go to the park, then drive home again. Once it was really uncrowded, and I thought I saw a glimmer in Charlie's eyes of what a good Disney trip might be like.
You move around a lot in the game industry, so here I am now in Austin, Texas. We hadn't had the money (or the time) for a vacation in years. I hadn't been to WDW since 1996, and Charlie had never been on a real vacation in his entire life. I started planning in August for our big Disney trip in November.
It started as 5 nights at POP. Then I found the DISboards, and hooray! Look at all that information! I asked whether we would be better off at a moderate, based on Charlie's dislike of crowds, and on the good advice of the folks here, I switched us to Port Orleans: Riverside, at the AP rate. I figured we could go again next year and save all that ticket money, right? There are four parks now, so maybe we need another few days? And look, if we leave two days earlier, we save $200!
We ended up with 9 nights at Port Orleans... and 16 priority seatings! Whew! I tried not to talk to Charlie about it TOO much, but I was so excited, and I really wanted his opinion. So that leads us back to the curb, waiting for AAA and the start of our trip.
! I hope all goes well for Charlie and that he didn't suffer to much from the crowds. We were there from Nov. 1st -15th and the crowds were massive, but I still had loads of fun and the waits for rides were not an issue what with fast pass. Hope it was the same for you both! Didn't you love the beautiful Christmas decorations! I was thinking we should have gone over Christmas time instead just to see them but they started putting them up in our hotel (Pop) and around and about before we left. The best was the music piped in everywhere, made me all weepy just before we left, awww 
. 
