Take 2! Twice a year is just as nice! A Grimm family production

[LowesChevy]

I could not resist starting my new trip report before I had the one from January complete. So here goes….

This trip pretty much planned itself right after we returned home from our January trip. We had enjoyed the Boardwalk Resort area so much, we are trying the Inn side this time. A few evenings at our home base Bay Lake Tower will be perfectly followed by a four night stay at our beloved Polynesian Village.

The lineup
Drive to Cleveland and spend the night at the airport hotel 23rd. I think we are planning to leave early afternoon from Erie and stop for shopping and dinner in Woodmere. They have a Sur La Table and Penzey’s Spices nearby I need to look around for a few items. Then we will have dinner at Bravo Kitchen and head over to the airport area.

Flight leaves before 8:00 I believe-that gives us plenty of time for a delay lol..knock on wood. NOoooo it leaves us plenty of time for Epcot! I try to be positive, but DM and I have a habit of thinking about the worst case scenario. I have mentioned before I never feel completely relaxed until we have grabbed our bags off the claim and are on our way to the car. We have started many a vacation without a bag or two and it is frustrating, but we have been incredible fortunate on our trips to Disney I will say.

We should land around 10-10:30 and be on property by 11ish. The IHOP or Miller’s Ale house is usually our first stop depending on whether we are in the mood for pancakes and eggs or fish sandwiches and brews! Either way I am ready for caffeine, especially after getting up so stinking early! Im not expecting our room to be ready so early, but the Annual Passes have been nice because you can go to the park whenever, as long as you go a couple times a year the added value is there for us. Plan is to head Epcot! J

Boardwalk: water view September 24th-27th
Bay Lake Tower: 2dbr lake view September 27th-30th
Polynesian Village: garden view September 30th-October 4th


Our first night we will dine at Teppan Edo and here is the rest of the ADR gang!
Teppan Edo Dinner
Hollywood Brown Derby Lunch
Trattoria Al forno Dinner
Via Napoli Lunch
Tutto Italia Dinner
California Grill Dinner
Plaza Lunch
Artist Point Dinner
Chef’s De France Dinner
Plaza Lunch
Paradiso 37 Dinner
Portobello Dinner
Mama Melrose Lunch
Citricos Dinner
California Grill Dinner

I am ready to roll-who’s with me?!

 

[LowesChevy]

Cast and Crew

Looking good in France! Big Daddy, mom-Debbie and me.



Day to Day planner
Arrival day: September 24th: Epcot and dinner at park
September 25th: Hollywood Studios; Hollywood Brown Derby; dinner at Trattoria Al Forno & Fantasmic
September 26th: Epcot, Via Napoli lunch, Tutto dinner
September 27th: Check out day-move to Bay Lake Tower-Magic Kingdom-dinner California Grill
September 28th: Magic Kingdom-Plaza lunch-dinner at Artist Point
September 29th: sleep in-Epcot for lunch, dinner at Chef’s De France-Eat to the Beat-Wilson Phillips
September 30th: Magic Kingdom-Plaza-Downtown Disney Springs shopping-Paradiso 37 dinner
October 1st: Animal Kingdom-Portobello dinner
October 2nd” Hollywood Studios-Mama Melrose lunch- Citricos dinner
October 3rd: Epcot-Magic Kingdom-dinner at California Grill again J

We have some free time planned for swimming, resting and shopping. I have a list of backup lunch spots for spur of the moment decisions.

Pretty much everything is set, reservations, car rental, plane tickets and the night before we leave hotel ressie is done. It is just the waiting and the waiting! 41 days to

 

[LowesChevy]

35 days to go!! My aunt and her husband are up from North Carolina, so this weekend will fly right by. After they leave we can start laying out our clothes and preparing our packing lists.

Tonight is my last photography class, while I am sad, I'm also pretty excited about night shots are Disney this year. We learned a lot of about using our flash correctly and playing around with lighting. I also have a remote shutter release so I can eliminate camera shake.

I printed out the TSMM strategy guide for my dad as well this week. He can check out how to maximize his score.

Well I check back in soon!

 

[LowesChevy]

29 Days to go! Most of the schools here are back in session-just another reminder that the trip is coming up fast!

I am planning on grabbing some Disney gift cards, but I wrote checks for my car payment, life insurance and treated myself to a new pair of Ray Bans for the trip so I will hold off for now. My parents have been buying them like mad, so we will be set well for meals. We are having a garage sale in a couple of weeks and hopefully we can bring in some cash there as well.

Work has calmed down slightly, thank goodness!

Looks like we are losing our grip on summer-it is rainy and chilly for the past couple of days. This weekend looks decent as I will be trying to enjoy those last few days of summer! See you real soon

 

[LowesChevy]

22 days to go!! Hard to believe we leave in a little over 3 weeks. It doesn't seem like that long from now, but 3 weeks sounds like a while.

I received another couple sets of MB because of the splits stays, at least I declined 1 set. We were actually part of the test program when the MB first arrived. I met a lot of people with a lot of problems, but we didn't experience too many hiccups. Just my Haunted Mansion Band didn't work and took some tinkering from front desk and tech. I never thought I would be happy to wear something on my wrist, but it is so easy getting in and out of the parks and your room. Much preferred than having to get your wallet out each time.

My new camera bag arrived and it is the perfect size for a small carry on. My other one was rather big and bulky, this way I can haul my camera and an extra lens plus a few goodies, but not feel like you have to lug the whole bag everywhere.

Looking forward to the long weekend coming up! We didn't have a day off around the 4th. We opted to "work" apparently. See you all real soon!

 

[LowesChevy]

15 days to go! I do not know what I would be doing if we did not have this garage coming up this weekend! At least it is keeping us busy.

I printed out some cast member appreciation cards on some heavy duty stock paper and a gave a few to our neighbor/mom's best buddy Nell. She is heading down for the nursing conference next weekend. It is fun-we will get to hear some fun goodies right before we leave for our trip of course. She is really good at hunting down the skinny on new offers and hidden gems. We used to vacation with their family when us kids were younger and oh the adventures we had! The more disasters that happened the more memorable the trip

I still need to make a few Mousekeeping envelopes, but other than that just keeping calm. Talk to y'all real soon!

 

[LowesChevy]

9 days-Single digit dance commences!!

Yesterday was a tough day. Long day at work and a random phishing call that prompted me to run home and check my credit report. Yikes! Everything seems to be fine, but that was not a fun feeling. Then soccer was brutal-I couldn't stop much in goal last night. I was just feeling rattled. Good day to forget

On a positive note, we will get online check in done tonight! I am charging up my video camera ad uploading old videos to make space on the card. I will also pack up my camera bag to see what all I will need to carry along with me.

My little cousins (technically my 2nd cousins) are staying over Saturday night so their parents can go out to dinner and celebrate their anniversary. Our family is really close and all of the families go to WDW yearly- we all understand the excitement of countdowns. I think we will bake some Mickey cookies as a treat too. We will have to put the clothes out in the office room, but that's were a lot of my things are anyhow. Unless they decide to sleep in separate beds, but we will worry about that later.

Jock Lindsay's Hanger Bar opens when we are down there so I really want to pop in for a drink to check it out for y'all. The Land and POC will be coming out of refurb as well while we are visiting. Can't wait-see you all real soon

 

[LowesChevy]

3 days baby! Only working 5 or so hours on Wednesday. The weather looks great for the trip to CLE and Thursday looks clear as can be for a travel day.

DM and I laid out nearly all of our clothes. Maybe just a few items to add, another pair of flip flops or so. I picked out some assorted bathroom items and discovered we needed another poncho. It is nice to grab them at Walmart and not worry about taking them back home. They came in handy last year, especially for the end of September!

This weekend was fun-my cousins all made it through the night and enjoyed the turkey dinner. Sunday morning I prepared birthday brunch for my twin cousins-their parents. We even made Mickey Mouse pancakes! It was some much needed fun for us all. I also hosted a football party-made some tasty wings and snack foods and everyone brought a dish to share. Needless to say last night I was totally ready for bed! Holy cow was I worn out.

Work has really slowed down this week as usual for this time of year. I am letting my customers know that I will be out and who to contact in my place. I can do it-just another day and a half counting down the hours....see you real soon.