Sunshine Makes Me Happy [04/30/11 - 05/08/11]: We're BLOOMING with Excitement!!!

[DizneyDreams]

Hi everyone!

This is going to be a SUPER short pre-trip report since we technically are leaving tomorrow!!! How fast time flies when you are waiting for a Disney trip to come! So since this is a short pre-trip report I thought that I would lay out what's to come in this PTR! Let's take a look:

- Introduction
- Past Trips to the World and How We Got Here
- My Favorite Things about WDW!
- Why Do we Almost ALWAYS Go in May
- Booking the Flight...Err...Wait?
- Booking the Rental Car + A Story
- Our Lovely Park Plans
- Our Lovely Dining Plans
- A Story About the Hotel
- What Our 'Must Do's Are'
- What We are Looking Forward To
- Memories of the 2010 Trip
- What We Tried/Experienced for the FIRST Time in 2010!
- The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival
- Day-by-Day Breakdowns
----- Day 1 Plan
----- Day 2 Plan
----- Day 3 Plan
----- Day 4 Plan
----- Day 5 Plan
----- Day 6 Plan
----- Day 7 Plan
----- Day 8 Plan
----- Day 9 Plan
- We are Almost There!
- Are We There Yet? Part 1 - Getting Ready to Go!
- Are We There Yet? Part 2 - It's Packing Time!!

I always find that with a schedule or a list of things that I am going to do, I am more able to stay on track rather than veering off course. So I will be completing the introduction tonight since I have many things I have to get done this morning/afternoon. I hope that you will all join me, because this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness (I love that line)!!!

 

[MARsMama]

Wow, even your PTR is organized....can't wait to read all about your upcoming trip

 

[jenneth79]

How very organized! I could learn a thing or two from your PTR...mine has not stayed "on course" since day 1!

Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[PixieMama]

Wow, less than a month to go! I can't wait to see what a seasoned WDW traveler has to say!

 

[DizneyDreams]

WELCOME to those who have joined me and for those who have not...whats the hold up?! (Kidding...).

So I thought that I would start off with the details of the trip, for without them you all won't know what I am talking about (and with them you still might not even know...). So, here we go!!!

The WHO?!?!?!?!
1. Me (DizneyDreams)
Well there isn't much to say about myself other than the fact that I absolutely, positively love WDW with my entire life. I would not rather spend one single moment anywhere else on vacation other than at WDW. I started going to WDW when I was 8 years old, and well...now i'm almost 2 decades old (a month...left). Oh how time flies. I am currently in University obtaining my Bachelor of Education [Primary/Junior] along with my Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Studies (honors). This trip is like my breath of fresh air after this session of upcoming exams and assignments. Woooooooot!!

2. Mom
She is so special to me and I am glad to have her in my life - and loves Disney just as much as I do. She likes to plan out the park days and make the ADR's with me. She went to WDW in the 70's but her true real trip was in 2000 with my family and my grandparents.

3. Dad
Is as special as my mom is to me and I am also glad to have him in my life. He likes Disney, but he would also like to travel to Europe some day to see Ireland and Scotland. I have to say, he may not show his excitement, but I know he's excited for this upcoming trip - I can feel it!

We will remain unseen for this trip, for this trip is not about showing us, but it is about sharing our love of Disney with you all! I think later on I might create Mr. Potato Heads to demonstrate what we look like - but that won't be until I get home from school.

So we've got the WHO down...what's up next? Oh right...the WHERE!

The WHERE?!?!?!?!
We love the Polynesian so it would only be obvious that we will be staying at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Right? Wait...something doesn't add up here. GF as our hotel of choice and not the Polynesian? Yup you read that correctly. We decided to give it a try, but we think that our next trip will be at the Polynesian for reasons I will explain later on. The little discount we got on the hotel room certainly made us want to give the GF a shot!

The WHEN?!?!?!?!
The dates for this trip are: April 30 to May 8th 2011. This means that we will be at WDW for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival (which will explain a section of my PTR later on).

I think those are all the details I wanted to share for this update. I will be posting a few pictures here and there to keep the PTR colorful and lively. I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to those who have joined me so far, I hope you enjoy my PTR and stick around to the final days! I'd love to have you here.

Now, as they say...look alive!
(Which attraction is that from????)

 

[MARsMama]

Sounding good....and it's so close!!

 

[DizneyDreams]

Sounding good....and it's so close!!

It's scaring me how close it is!!
But the more youtube videos I watch of WDW (rides, hotels, monorails etc) the more excited I become!
Your trip is quickly approaching as well!! Time flies!

 

[DizneyDreams]

It's time for the Daily Disney Countdown and the Picture of the Day!

This picture was taken from the Polynesian Beach in May 2010.​

There are 25 days until the trip!

 

[PixieMama]

Nice photo! And I like the idea of having a "countdown" photo each day... I may have to do the same!

 

[MARsMama]

Love the photo!
A countdown photo is a great idea, can't wait to see the rest of them

 

[DizneyDreams]

Nice photo! And I like the idea of having a "countdown" photo each day... I may have to do the same!

It's a great idea!! Thank you and I'm glad that you like it !!!

Love the photo!
A countdown photo is a great idea, can't wait to see the rest of them

Woohoo! It's hard to choose which picture to use especially since I do not have many days left.

 

[DizneyDreams]

Welcome back to my PTR!

For this part of the update I thought that I would discuss how this trip came to be and our past trips to the World. So please sit back, relax and enjoy this update because I have to admit right now…I’m BLOOOOOMING with excitement!

So what about our past trips! Well let’s see, I have been lucky enough to have been to WDW 10 times. We’ve stayed in a variety of different hotels, but as you might notice, in the later years of our trips we began staying at the same hotel. This year of course, we are taking a different approach to the vacation and breaking the chain by staying at a different hotel.

2000 – All Star Music
2001 – Caribbean Beach Resort
2003 – Wilderness Lodge
2004 – Wilderness Lodge; Pop Century, Port Orleans Riverside, Polynesian
2006 – Polynesian Resort; All Star Sports
2007 – Polynesian Resort
2008 – Polynesian Resort
2010 – Polynesian Resort

The Polynesian has been a wonderful resort to stay at, especially since we like to spend time at the parks but we also like to come back to the resort and relax for a little while. I liked staying at the value resorts, but when we don’t spend as much time in the parks we like to have a hotel that would be a bit roomier inside the room. I love the themeing of the Disney resorts that is something that Disney has done an amazing job on.

We shall next move onto how this trip came to be, because let me tell you this story can get long! To save time however, I will just give the brief overview. In order to explain how this trip came to be, we will need to have one of those fancy flashback moments.

It was a long time ago...or maybe like 11 months ago to be exact? that we came back from our trip to WDW. We wanted to go back to WDW in 2011, but we thought that it might be a good idea to take a break. Of course there really seems to be no possible 'break' in going to WDW. So we went off and on for about a month before we made the final decision to go to WDW. But since I was in school and the best time for my mother to travel was at the beginning months of the year, we had originally booked the trip for February 2011. Of course, after looking at the crowd levels and at the weather, we decided that May would be our time to go, again. So a few calls to Disney and our trip was changed from February to May (end of April). That is how we got to where we are today!

Woohoo!

 

[MARsMama]

Can't wait to hear more, and see your photo of the day!

 

[DizneyDreams]

It's time for the Daily Disney Countdown and the Picture of the Day!

This picture was taken outside of Toy Story Mania. We had already got our fastpasses for the ride, so we decided to do Stand-by just to see Mr. Potato Head. The stand-by line was quite short, compared to the 70 minutes later on that morning.​

There are 24 days until the trip!

 

[MARsMama]

Wow, that is a short wait time compared to what it usually is! Nice photo too, btw

 

[DizneyDreams]

Wow, that is a short wait time compared to what it usually is! Nice photo too, btw

Thank you!
I know - we tried to go to DHS during the afternoon after being at AK, but the line up for TSM was 75 minutes. Needless to say that kind of a line up is a bit too long to handle.

 

[DizneyDreams]

I'm sorry I fell behind in my updates. With my exams quickly approaching I felt it was necessary to spend my night studying. I might just end up doing the updates for the PTR in the mornings instead of at night. But anyways!

Welcome back to my PTR! I'm so glad to have you all on board; it feels nice to make a connection with fellow Disney lovers. So, for this update I thought that i would discuss my favorite things about WDW. Please feel free to share what you love about WDW as well! I'd love to hear it!

1. Walking into the Park for the First Time during that Trip.
Yes, I still get that feeling that I did when I first walked into the Magic Kingdom 11 years ago. It's a feeling that cannot be described, or put into words. It’s like a feeling of relief – all the worries that I had just go away and I am emerged into a world of magic! It doesn’t even matter what park it is either, I mean the first park we will be going to this trip is DHS, and I guarantee that I will get that feeling in my heart again. Speaking of which…

2. Seeing the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
This is a weird one, or maybe it’s not really weird. Whenever we drive into WDW and I get that first peek at the Tower of Terror. Driving down World Drive and seeing the Tower of Terror in the distance makes it real. That’s like the first park icon that we actually seeing in WDW, even if it is for a few minutes.

3. Seeing Space Mountain.
When we were staying at the Polynesian, we almost always got the opportunity to stay in the Tahiti longhouse. So as we would round the Tokelau longhouse, BAM there it was. Space Mountain in its glory, and seeing that made me smile…always. I wonder what we will see of the Magic Kingdom this time from the Grand Floridian. Maybe the train station if I remember correctly…

4. The Food.
This would not be a proper list of my favorite things about WDW if I didn’t mention the food. Between the candy and the restaurants…WDW Dining – AMAZING. Plus all the walking the gets done is enough to walk off the food. This trip we have some buffets planned and then some other dining reservations that I will discuss later. I can already taste the food right now! I am currently attempting to not eat any candy just so that when we go to WDW I can eat Goofy’s Taffy or something else. On our first night we always get a little goody bag of treats (I’ll have to show you the picture). Ooooh I am so excited!!!!!

This list could go on and on forever, so I’ll make sure to slip in a few favorite things with each update!

 

[DizneyDreams]

It's time for the Daily Disney Countdown and the Picture of the Day!

This picture was taken from the Polynesian beach. Super excited to call it our home in 23 odd days!​

There are 23 days until the trip!

 

[MARsMama]

Wow, that picture is awesome!

The 'magical' feeling that you get from just being at WDW is something I love too. It's something that you just can't describe to someone who hasn't experienced it! It's amazing and I can't wait to feel it again!! lol

I also love the dining at WDW. We use the DDP and it allows us not to worry about what we order, for once we don't look at price, but rather the selections and what we'd like to eat. It's great to be able to do that when on vacation, one less worry and lets us just choose and then talk more Disney talk while waiting for our food (instead of adding in our head how much the bill will be! lol)

 

[DizneyDreams]

Wow, that picture is awesome!

The 'magical' feeling that you get from just being at WDW is something I love too. It's something that you just can't describe to someone who hasn't experienced it! It's amazing and I can't wait to feel it again!! lol

I also love the dining at WDW. We use the DDP and it allows us not to worry about what we order, for once we don't look at price, but rather the selections and what we'd like to eat. It's great to be able to do that when on vacation, one less worry and lets us just choose and then talk more Disney talk while waiting for our food (instead of adding in our head how much the bill will be! lol)

Hehe! Whenever someone asks me why I love WDW, I just can't explain it in one word. It's only something that can be experienced.

We've never tried the DDP before. Is it worth it?