Lizzybear
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2006
- Messages
- 2,955
Since i'm just a couple of days away til our 1 month countdown I thought i'd start my pre-trip report. I haven't given it a name yet, i'll see what seems appropriate after the trip!
I guess the cast is a good way to start so here goes:
Me (Lizzy) Age 23 and the chief Disney obsessive/trip planner. I initiated the trip and have been driving my boyfriend crazy for a year with my constant Disney chatter and planning, he'll thank me later of course! This will be my third WDW trip and i've also been to DLP 6 times.
Yes i'm wearing Disney Crocs and have a Kipling bag, i'm a bonafide Disney message board devotee!
My boyfriend (Steve) Age 25 and in his own words "just along for the ride." One of those sneaky Disney fans who enjoys it when he's there but won't fully admit it at home! Also a first timer though has been to DLP once.
Bass playin' in his band The Last Chance
Literally one of the only pictures I have of us together, on a very cold Crosby beach!
This trip came to fruition last August when after paying off a chunk of debt I was finally in a position to book a decent holiday, hooray! A few choices were thrown about, New York being the most significant, but I didn't think it was 'big' enough for our first proper holiday together (we went to DLP in January of last year but that was just a short break) and I struggled to find enough to keep us busy in a fortnight without venturing further afield which I wasn't sure i'd be confident enough doing having never driven in the US before so I got an idea that was so obvious I hadn't thought of it earlier: Orlando! Steve wasn't convinced at first since it would cost more than New York would (tickets etc considered) but we figured out a plan for saving and it became do-able. When the free DDP offer was announced with Virgin I booked us for 2 weeks staying at Pop Century from 13th til the 27th September which was later changed to Port Orleans French Quarter with the lucky procuring of some extra cash! Steve now has a better job so the financial pressures of the holiday are no longer a worry, and it gives us an extra reason to enjoy the trip as he's been so stressed in the past year with his old job and the string of applications, interviews, denials and waiting involved in getting a new one.
Over the coming months I worked on our itinerary, made ADRs and changed a few, booked various tickets and generally beavered away with the planning. Although i've been to WDW twice i've never planned so much for past trips and never made any ADRs or stayed onsite so I have plenty of new experiences to look forward to. Since it is Steve's first trip I wanted to try and make it as enjoyable for him as possible: He's vegetarian so i've tried to choose restaurants that cater for this well which means we have 4 signature eateries to sample the delights of. Since we both love good food it works better for us in this respect aswell, not to mention it gives us time and belly space to eat at some off-site places too!
Our itinerary goes something like:
Wednesday 12th (evening) travel to Bewley's at Manchester Airport for the night. Steve is working that day so we'll be having dinner either in the hotel or nearby (if anyone has any good suggestions please let me know!)
Thursday 13th Flight day. On arrival the plan is to get some basic groceries at Publix on the way to POFQ and have a counter service dinner in the foodcourt.
Friday 14th Epcot: Breakfast ADR at Akershus, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Coral Reef. I'm currently looking at the CS menus to see which ones look the best in each park. We probably won't plan definite ones, just a range of potential ones that appeal to use the most.
Saturday 15th Shopping day: Florida Mall and Festival Bay. Breakfast at iHop, lunch at one of the malls (I like the look of Fuddruckers but we'll see when we're hungry. I definitely want to try Coldstone Creamery for ice-cream though!), dinner ADR at Jiko.
Sunday 16th Animal Kingdom: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Boma.
Monday 17th MGM inc. Fantasmic: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby.
Tuesday 18th Universal Studios: CS breakfast, lunch/snack at Universal, dinner at Olive Garden. Cirque de Soleil at 9pm.
Wednesday 19th MGM and Epcot inc. Illuminations: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse.
Thursday 20th Busch Gardens: CS breakfast, somewhere in BG for lunch, Bahama Breeze for dinner.
Friday 21st Typhoon Lagoon/MK inc. MNSSHP: CS breakfast, snack for lunch, dinner ADR at Crystal Palace. I'm dressing up as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz and bf is dressing as a Ghostbuster.
Saturday 22nd Seaworld/Mall at Millenia: CS breakfast, snack for lunch, early dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Doing the dolphin nursery tour at Seaworld which i'm very excited about as I love animals.
Sunday 23rd Kennedy Space Center: Breakfast in room, lunch somewhere in KSC, considering Beaches and Cream for dinner or we may use a CS credit at the Coronado Springs food court.
Monday 24th Islands of Adventure: CS breakst, lunch/snack at IOA, dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.
Tuesday 25th No definite plan for today *gasp* but some ideas are Downtown Disney/DQ, Target or look round the resorts: Breakfast ADR at Boma, snack for lunch, dinner ADR at California Grill.
Wednesday 26th Magic Kingdom inc. Wishes cruise which we are sharing with Dibbers LYNNMCI and curlywurly and their families: Breakfast in room, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Kona Cafe.
Thursday 27th Departure day *sob* Breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey's, check-in at DTD (unless the queue looks huge in which case we may leave it, we'll have checked in online anyway so no biggie if we have to adapt the plan a bit) and do some last minute shopping, CS lunch and use up our last credits, if any, to get snacks for the airport.
Despite the detailed itinerary there is some wiggle room and i'm hoping it will enhance our trip rather than hinder it! With the popularity of the DDP and going during the free period planning has become almost inevitable! I plan to add some more pictures later, first one that springs to mind is the big pile of pins i've acquired to trade: I've been collecting Disney pins since 2002 and trading since 2005 so I bought a big lot on eBay for this trip which I hope to trade for some good ones. I'm sure i'll still buy quite a lot though, those things are addictive!
If you've made it this far, well done and thank you! I hope you stay with me for the actual report at the end of September/start of October.
I guess the cast is a good way to start so here goes:
Me (Lizzy) Age 23 and the chief Disney obsessive/trip planner. I initiated the trip and have been driving my boyfriend crazy for a year with my constant Disney chatter and planning, he'll thank me later of course! This will be my third WDW trip and i've also been to DLP 6 times.
Yes i'm wearing Disney Crocs and have a Kipling bag, i'm a bonafide Disney message board devotee!
My boyfriend (Steve) Age 25 and in his own words "just along for the ride." One of those sneaky Disney fans who enjoys it when he's there but won't fully admit it at home! Also a first timer though has been to DLP once.
Bass playin' in his band The Last Chance
Literally one of the only pictures I have of us together, on a very cold Crosby beach!
This trip came to fruition last August when after paying off a chunk of debt I was finally in a position to book a decent holiday, hooray! A few choices were thrown about, New York being the most significant, but I didn't think it was 'big' enough for our first proper holiday together (we went to DLP in January of last year but that was just a short break) and I struggled to find enough to keep us busy in a fortnight without venturing further afield which I wasn't sure i'd be confident enough doing having never driven in the US before so I got an idea that was so obvious I hadn't thought of it earlier: Orlando! Steve wasn't convinced at first since it would cost more than New York would (tickets etc considered) but we figured out a plan for saving and it became do-able. When the free DDP offer was announced with Virgin I booked us for 2 weeks staying at Pop Century from 13th til the 27th September which was later changed to Port Orleans French Quarter with the lucky procuring of some extra cash! Steve now has a better job so the financial pressures of the holiday are no longer a worry, and it gives us an extra reason to enjoy the trip as he's been so stressed in the past year with his old job and the string of applications, interviews, denials and waiting involved in getting a new one.
Over the coming months I worked on our itinerary, made ADRs and changed a few, booked various tickets and generally beavered away with the planning. Although i've been to WDW twice i've never planned so much for past trips and never made any ADRs or stayed onsite so I have plenty of new experiences to look forward to. Since it is Steve's first trip I wanted to try and make it as enjoyable for him as possible: He's vegetarian so i've tried to choose restaurants that cater for this well which means we have 4 signature eateries to sample the delights of. Since we both love good food it works better for us in this respect aswell, not to mention it gives us time and belly space to eat at some off-site places too!
Our itinerary goes something like:
Wednesday 12th (evening) travel to Bewley's at Manchester Airport for the night. Steve is working that day so we'll be having dinner either in the hotel or nearby (if anyone has any good suggestions please let me know!)
Thursday 13th Flight day. On arrival the plan is to get some basic groceries at Publix on the way to POFQ and have a counter service dinner in the foodcourt.
Friday 14th Epcot: Breakfast ADR at Akershus, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Coral Reef. I'm currently looking at the CS menus to see which ones look the best in each park. We probably won't plan definite ones, just a range of potential ones that appeal to use the most.
Saturday 15th Shopping day: Florida Mall and Festival Bay. Breakfast at iHop, lunch at one of the malls (I like the look of Fuddruckers but we'll see when we're hungry. I definitely want to try Coldstone Creamery for ice-cream though!), dinner ADR at Jiko.
Sunday 16th Animal Kingdom: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Boma.
Monday 17th MGM inc. Fantasmic: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby.
Tuesday 18th Universal Studios: CS breakfast, lunch/snack at Universal, dinner at Olive Garden. Cirque de Soleil at 9pm.
Wednesday 19th MGM and Epcot inc. Illuminations: CS breakfast, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Yachtsman Steakhouse.
Thursday 20th Busch Gardens: CS breakfast, somewhere in BG for lunch, Bahama Breeze for dinner.
Friday 21st Typhoon Lagoon/MK inc. MNSSHP: CS breakfast, snack for lunch, dinner ADR at Crystal Palace. I'm dressing up as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz and bf is dressing as a Ghostbuster.
Saturday 22nd Seaworld/Mall at Millenia: CS breakfast, snack for lunch, early dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Doing the dolphin nursery tour at Seaworld which i'm very excited about as I love animals.
Sunday 23rd Kennedy Space Center: Breakfast in room, lunch somewhere in KSC, considering Beaches and Cream for dinner or we may use a CS credit at the Coronado Springs food court.
Monday 24th Islands of Adventure: CS breakst, lunch/snack at IOA, dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.
Tuesday 25th No definite plan for today *gasp* but some ideas are Downtown Disney/DQ, Target or look round the resorts: Breakfast ADR at Boma, snack for lunch, dinner ADR at California Grill.
Wednesday 26th Magic Kingdom inc. Wishes cruise which we are sharing with Dibbers LYNNMCI and curlywurly and their families: Breakfast in room, CS lunch, dinner ADR at Kona Cafe.
Thursday 27th Departure day *sob* Breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey's, check-in at DTD (unless the queue looks huge in which case we may leave it, we'll have checked in online anyway so no biggie if we have to adapt the plan a bit) and do some last minute shopping, CS lunch and use up our last credits, if any, to get snacks for the airport.
Despite the detailed itinerary there is some wiggle room and i'm hoping it will enhance our trip rather than hinder it! With the popularity of the DDP and going during the free period planning has become almost inevitable! I plan to add some more pictures later, first one that springs to mind is the big pile of pins i've acquired to trade: I've been collecting Disney pins since 2002 and trading since 2005 so I bought a big lot on eBay for this trip which I hope to trade for some good ones. I'm sure i'll still buy quite a lot though, those things are addictive!
If you've made it this far, well done and thank you! I hope you stay with me for the actual report at the end of September/start of October.
i love your 
