The Journey is the Destination: A May PTR! Updated 6/5

[iixheartxyouxox]

Welcome! I debated about when to start this PTR because even though I had the trip all planned out, I wasn't sure I could afford it! Well, the other day I decided it is definitely happening! Here's all the juicy details:

WHEN: May 21st to 25th

WHERE: Pop Century Resort

WHY: Well, I'm graduating from college! After 4 long years of exams and "studying", I will finally be done for good! I'm graduating with 2 Bachelors in Psychology and Sociology. It has also been the longest period of time I've gone without a Disney trip since I was able to afford the trips on my own. And, Disney World is my happy place so I will do whatever it takes to get there as often as possible!

HOW: Road Trip! Yup, We are driving from Long Island, NY to Walt Disney World! And who is we?

WHO: Me, Brittney (21) and my boyfriend, Keith (21). Keith and I have been together for over 5 and a half years. We have gone to WDW twice together but only once was it just the two of us. I know we are going to get engaged sometime before the end of the summer and I am secretly (well, not so secretly) hoping he can afford the ring before we leave for the trip! Even though I know its a long shot since he just started a new job. (A girl can dream though can't she?) Here's a little about us individually:

Brittney: Some would say im obsessed with Disney World, but I like to think its a hobby. I love planning trips and traveling, and I love theme parks. I also love event planning and hope to get into that some day. Ever since I can remember it has been my dream to get married at Disney World and of course I've had the whole thing planned out for years. I am a Disney Wedding Blog Mentor for ceremonies at the Wedding Pavilion, which means so much to me! And, since I will finally be getting engaged soon (fingers crossed!), I hope to find a good job once we come back to save up for the wedding. We are hoping to get married in August of 2014. I am also an animal lover, baby lover and I love to read! lol

Keith: He loves sports and is very athletic. He is really into fitness and being in shape and loves competition. His favorite sport is baseball but right now he plays on a basketball league and a softball league. His favorite Disney character is Mickey and even though he is not into Disney like I am, he goes along with me anyway.

The reason for the title, The Journey is the Destination is because I am really looking forward to the road trip down to Disney. I've driven down there before but never just the two of us and I love car rides so I think it will be a trip in itself!

More coming soon!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Girl...you just made my day! I am so excited that we're at the same resort now....we will definitely need to meet up! Will be so much easier when we're at the same place I am so happy for you and what a great accomplishment, graduating with 2 degrees....you should be very proud of yourself!

I can't wait to follow along, thank you so much for giving me the heads up that you started!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

This trip almost didn't happen...
I decided in January that I wanted to try to go to Disney right after I graduate. About a year ago I was planning on taking a Disney cruise out of NY in June 2012 but then I realized I probably couldn't save the money in time and I was really bummed. I also had a mother/daughter trip planned to celebrate my 21st bday which I had booked for the 40th anniversary weekend but we had to cancel because my uncle got married in Las Vegas that weekend (Vegas was the best!). So this January it had been a year since I visited the world and I was super depressed so I started looking into coming down in May. Since I am a college student and I only work at a retail store less than 20 hours a week, I wasn't sure if I could afford to even go on this trip. Add in the fact that I had to get a new car at the end of Jan and now I have a car payment. I always somehow find a way to get to Disney so when I saw the resort only discounts and priced it out, I just booked it, just in case. Up until about last week I still was only 75% sure that we were going.

Every time I talked to my parents about the trip they thought I was crazy because they knew I didn't have much money but the last time I spoke to them, they seemed to be okay with it. That's when I decided it was definitely happening! I plan on using some money I receive from graduation to pay for park tickets and gas. Keith will also chip in what he can.

We plan on getting 5 day tickets without the park hopper for the first time ever! This trip will be really budget so I don't plan on splurging on much. I've only made two ADR's (which I will share later) and plan on bringing a lot of food down with us. I decided way back in Jan that we would be driving down since it would save money and I wasnt sure if we could go just yet. I am really looking forward to the drive, I love road trips!

I am so happy that I am able to get this trip in before I hopefully start working full-time and need to save for lifes expenses. I plan on posting pictures from past trips at the end of my posts. Maybe I will even do little recaps from some trips if I have the time.

Here's a pic of the first time we went to Disney together in Aug 09, we were 18 then.

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

Girl...you just made my day! I am so excited that we're at the same resort now....we will definitely need to meet up! Will be so much easier when we're at the same place I am so happy for you and what a great accomplishment, graduating with 2 degrees....you should be very proud of yourself!

I can't wait to follow along, thank you so much for giving me the heads up that you started!

Thank you! I am very excited myself! Ever since I started reading your reports I felt like Jasmine and I had a lot in common and I always thought it would be so cool to meet up with you guys one day.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Thank you! I am very excited myself! Ever since I started reading your reports I felt like Jasmine and I had a lot in common and I always thought it would be so cool to meet up with you guys one day.

She is so excited to meet you too! I think the two of you have so much in common by the sounds of things! How's the planning going?

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

She is so excited to meet you too! I think the two of you have so much in common by the sounds of things! How's the planning going?

Great! Im about to post about our plans for the first two days! I am still debating whether or not I want to add a day to the end of the vacation, i guess it depends on money and time, we shall see!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

Itinerary:
Here is what the few days before we leave and first day at Disney will look like.

Friday, May 18th:
11:00AM - Graduation!
6:00PM - Out to dinner with family

Saturday, May 19th:
I will probably have work this day as I will not be able to work much for the month of May and need to make up for it when I can.
I will do last minute packing and load some stuff in my car.

Sunday, May 20th:
WE LEAVE!
I plan to leave here by Noon the latest. I will drive first because I know how to get from my house to I-95 and then from there Keith and I will switch on and off. It is 1,163 miles from my house to Pop Century, which should take 19hours & 49 mins (no stopping). I would like to make it there in 24 hours total. We will prob stop somewhere cheap for dinner that night. I am really looking forward to driving, I love car rides and maybe I can even get Keith to play some roadtrip games lol.

Monday, May 21st:
I hope to arrive to Pop Century around Noon or so. We will check-in and pray that our room is ready. If it isnt ready I figure we could take a drive over to Celebration as I've always wanted to just see what the town looks like. When we get into our room I will un-pack and I am sure we will take a nap because sleeping in the car/driving all night will have tired us out. Whenever we wake up we will head over to Magic Kingdom! The only thing I must do while at MK this night is see Wishes because it is one of my Favorite things ever! (I listen to the soundtrack in my car sometimes lol)

When we go to the parks I dont like to plan out much because Keith really likes to go with the flow of things and I like to be able to just decide what I wanna do at the moment. I usually decide what to ride by looking at the wait times of what we want to do. We will get a FP for the longer wait and then ride the shorter wait ride. With the new FP rule being enforced, we shall see if I am freaking out about missing our time window (I totally will be).

I made a list of rides I would like to do at each park this trip. I added rides that I have never done and the classic favorites that are must-do's every trip. Here is my list for MK -

Magic Kingdom Must Do List:

Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Country Bear Jamboree (Never done)
Splash Mountain
Hall of Presidents (Never done)
Haunted Mansion
Great Goofini
Mad Tea Party
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Monsters In Laugh Floor (Never done)
Space Mountain
People Mover
Carousel of Progress (Never done)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad(Will be CLOSED!, I am so sad about this, it is my favorite ride.)

After Wishes we will go back to Pop and get some rest for the exciting week ahead!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

One month until we arrive in Disney! I am sooo excited. I only have two weeks of classes left and then finals and im done for good. Time has been flying by, lets hope it slows down for the trip!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am so excited for you! It really is going to be here before you know it! I love that fact that you have so many "first times" on your first day!

Do you feel like everything is coming together or are you starting to panic that you won't get it all done? I really have to tear myself away from the hockey playoffs and get some work done on my planning

Hope you're having a great weekend!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

I am so excited for you! It really is going to be here before you know it! I love that fact that you have so many "first times" on your first day!

Do you feel like everything is coming together or are you starting to panic that you won't get it all done? I really have to tear myself away from the hockey playoffs and get some work done on my planning

Hope you're having a great weekend!

I know! It's crazy how many times I've passed over the same attractions and now I want to make sure I experience them all. I have most of my plans made, although I am considering adding another night to the end of the trip or maybe stopping and getting a hotel halfway through our drive home, but I cant decide! Hope you had a great weekend also!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

Continuing with our itinerary...

Tuesday, May 22nd:
DHS day! This morning I will try to wake Keith up so we can get to DHS in time for opening but who knows how that will go lol Of course we will head to TSM first and either ride or get FPs or both! Then we will just ride whatever rides are on our list.

Hollywood Studios Must Do List

Rock N Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror
Indiana Jones (I havent seen this since I was 12!)
Star Tours (Wanna see the new verison!)
Studio Backlot Tour
Toy Story Mania
One Man’s Dream (A classic)

We have our first ADR at Sci-fi Dine-in Theater at 1:30PM for lunch. We have both never been before so I am excited to try something new! I am really very picky with my food so its hard for me to pick a place to eat because nothing on the menus appeal to me! That's why I picked Sci-fi over 50's because I liked the menu better. After lunch we will continue with the rides on our list and whatever we feel like doing. Prob by late afternoon we will head back to Pop. We will either swim or take a nap and then head to Downtown Disney. While there I'd like to eat dinner at Pollo Campero because the food looks yummy! After shopping around a bit I'm sure we will head back to Pop to get rest for the next day!

Wednesday, May 23rd:
This is our Epcot day! We will prob sleep in a bit and then head over to Future World. We will do all the rides in that section and move onto World Showcase! We don't have any dining ressies today so we will just eat where ever.

Epcot Must Do List

Mission: Space
Journey into Imagination (Never done)
Spaceship Earth
Living with the Land
Soarin’
Gran Fiesta Tour (Never done!)
Maelstrom
Test Track (Will be Closed )

At some point I would like to head over to the Boardwalk because that is my favorite place in all of WDW. I would also like to get a good spot for Illuminations this night as I have only ever seen it once and the view wasnt too good. After seeing it the first time, I don't really like Illuminations too much. Wishes is my absolute favorite thing ever so I guess im kinda biased but it just doesnt do anything for me. Then we will head back to Pop and maybe do some swimming before bed.

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

I got our park tickets in the mail today! This is the first time we didnt get park hoppers so I am interested to see if it bothers us at all while we are there. I also became a Disney Travel Specialist! I am so excited to finally be able to do this as it has been something i have been thinking about. Now I will have something to occupy my time after school and before I find a full time job! My last college class is this thursday so I am trying to complete all my assignments that i've saved until the last minute, but after that there will be more updates to this PTR! 21 days until we leave! yay!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

So we leave 2 weeks from today..Where did all the time go? I still can’t comprehend that our trip is so soon. I finally finished classes and just have a few finals to worry about so now I can post the rest of our itinerary and such!

Thursday, May 24th:
Magic Kingdom day! This morning is EMH at MK so hopefully we will make it there in time to enjoy some rides to ourselves. At some point during the day we will head over to the Grand Floridian to just walk around and then visit the Wedding Pavilion (we do this on every trip). We will probably take a mid-day break and relax at the pool (Keith wants lots of pool time!). Then back to MK for more rides and Wishes! This night we might head over to the Poly beach to watch Wishes because this is one of my favorite spots because you can see the whole thing! Here’s a reminder of the rides on our must do list..

Magic Kingdom Must Do List

Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Country Bear Jamboree
Splash Mountain
Hall of Presidents
Haunted Mansion
Mad Tea Party
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Space Mountain
People Mover
Carousel of Progress

Friday, May 25th:
Our last day at WDW. Today we will go to Animal Kingdom! We have a breakfast ADR at Tusker House for 10:30am but I am unsure if I am going to keep this since we will need to check-out and stuff. We will definitely go to AK and at least hit the rides on our must do list.

Animal Kingdom Must Do List

Festival of the Lion King
Kilimanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur

Then we will have to leave. Keith’s grandpa lives about 2 hours North of WDW and we will be visiting with him for a few hours that night because he has been very sick recently. It may be the last time we get to see him so it is important we get to do this. Then we will drive through the night and stop for the day at a city still to be decided. I am really torn as to where I want to stop because there are so many great cities in the area about halfway home so even though we are two weeks out I still don’t know! We will get a hotel for the night and continue home on Sunday morning. Arriving by Sunday night.

It is really sad to type out our plans for returning home. We haven’t even taken the trip yet and I’m sad about coming back! That’s the worst thing about vacation is that it always ends! Realizing we don’t have much time left makes me panic because I haven’t noticed how close this trip has gotten. I still have a lot to do! I am going to make a list to remind myself!

Call and make a room request (Thinking of requesting 70's)
Decide on what city to stop at on our way home & make a hotel ressie
Go shopping for the food we are bringing with us
Go shopping for a few last minute clothing items
Get out suitcases and start packing!
Get an oil change and clean my car

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

So i got a few things done on my to do list! Here's what I can cross off my list:

Call and make a room request (Requested 70's building)
Decide on what city to stop at on our way home (Richmond, VA)
Get an oil change and clean my car

And this is what I still need to get done:

Make a hotel reservation for Richmond
Go shopping for the food we are bringing with us
Go shopping for a few last minute clothing items
Get out suitcases and start packing!
Print all paperwork to bring with us

12 days until we leave! I told Keith that this morning and he was like wow that came really fast! haha thats how I feel! I am really looking forward to the trip because I have a second interview for a full-time job 2 days after we return. It's freaking me out that I may have to start working full-time so soon (not that im complaining since its so hard to find a job!). This may be the last vacation for a while because who knows what my vacation time will be when I hopefully start a new job soon! I will update again soon!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

A WEEK FROM TODAY WE WILL BE IN DISNEY!!!!!

I am so excited! Keith and I are about to go to the store to get some things for the trip and then we can start packing some stuff! My last final is tomorrow and after that I am freeee! Yay!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-Congrats on graduating!!! You def deserve a Disney trip.
-Awww the first trip picture is sooo cute.
-I think you’ll like Celebration. It’s adorable.
-Sci Fi gets ehhh reviews, but my hubs and I love it. He still talks about the cheeseburger he had there.
-If you want my suggestion, I would request Building 1 at Pop Century. It’s in the 50s, and I think it’s the closest to the lobby. I love that building! Building 3 is also acceptable.
-Anyway, all your plans sound great!!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

-Congrats on graduating!!! You def deserve a Disney trip.
-Awww the first trip picture is sooo cute.
-I think you’ll like Celebration. It’s adorable.
-Sci Fi gets ehhh reviews, but my hubs and I love it. He still talks about the cheeseburger he had there.
-If you want my suggestion, I would request Building 1 at Pop Century. It’s in the 50s, and I think it’s the closest to the lobby. I love that building! Building 3 is also acceptable.
-Anyway, all your plans sound great!!

Thanks! I'm really excited to try Sci-Fi, I will tell Keith to try the cheeseburger there then! We leave tomorrow! SO excited!!

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

We've been home almost a week now and I am so sad! I've been getting settled but I will start the TR soon! We really had the best time and I will remember this trip forever! Can't wait to share!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Hi hon!!!

Got home last night and I know exactly how you're feeling! We both cried on Thursday, we just looked at each other and burst out crying. We had to be at ME at 430am yesterday morning so we were too tired to even realize what was going onbut now that we are home, I am so sad.

I won`t be starting my TR either until at least next week. It was so wonderful to meet you guys, one of the best times of our trip

 

[iixheartxyouxox]

I'm so glad we were able to meet up! I can't wait to read about the whole two weeks you guys spent there! I just started my TR, link will be in the next post

Hi hon!!!

Got home last night and I know exactly how you're feeling! We both cried on Thursday, we just looked at each other and burst out crying. We had to be at ME at 430am yesterday morning so we were too tired to even realize what was going onbut now that we are home, I am so sad.

I won`t be starting my TR either until at least next week. It was so wonderful to meet you guys, one of the best times of our trip