The Last Minute(-ish) Pre-Christmas Trip....

hematite153 said:
I told you it was a confession! (Can you imagine what a big hole my life would have had my DW not been so good at sneaking wdw into my experience???)
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Don't feel bad -- I avoided WDW for years too because I thought it seemed sorta hokey and artificial. My parents took our kids every year but I was always able to wiggle out of it. I finally ran out of excuses, went one time in the early 80's and have been hooked ever since. :lovestruc
 
TuckandStuiesMom said:
Don't feel bad -- I avoided WDW for years too because I thought it seemed sorta hokey and artificial. My parents took our kids every year but I was always able to wiggle out of it. I finally ran out of excuses, went one time in the early 80's and have been hooked ever since. :lovestruc
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:) Glad they got you hooked, since we'd never have "met" otherwise.
 
My DW and I made a deal awhile back:

When we stay at AKV we can eat breakfast AND dinner at Boma during the same vacation.
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So, we were going to be spending ONE night at AKV AND we've been looking forward to getting to try out Sanaa, so, the deal seemed impractical, but, still worth thinking about.

We booked Sanaa for lunch on our arrival day and Boma for dinner -- crazy, but, necessary if we were going to try to hit our favourites. Then, we stopped and said...hmmn...we could get the deluxe dining plan for the one night and add another meal sometime on the Sunday for not much more...likely to cost us less than what we'd end up paying OOP for counter service.

So, since the plan was to spend the Sunday in all 4 parks we needed to figure out order and rough timing. We made an early dinner reservation for Tokyo Dining.

(I've wanted to go to Tokyo Dining since the renovation since it sounds more like a "real" Japanese restaurant now and they are practically impossible to find in North America. But, I've heard bad things about their ability to deal with allergies and Japanese culture in general doesn't make it easy to deal with food allergies. In Japan I did okay because although they thought I was odd they were able to accommodate me and most restaurants didn't even have my most common allergens in the kitchen since they aren't Japanese foods. But, in order to accommodate a mostly American clientele, Tokyo Dining has lots of dangerous (for me) items on their menu. The one previous time that we had Tokyo Dining booked, I got sick from my meal at Rose & Crown the day before and was feeling too shaky to try a risky meal, so, we went elsewhere instead.)

Given the course of the rest of my report so far, you can probably guess that this plan is going to change. But, can you guess how?

Where do you think we're going to end up eating?

Are we going to end up getting the DDP? QSDP? DxDP?
 
A little over 6 years ago, my DW and I took our first trip together. We only planned a couple of months in advance and we wanted to fly on points instead of pay for the flights given the seasonal costs. We probably would have just driven somewhere except that we were combining vacation with a trip to meet some bio-relatives we'd only just made contact with. We couldn't get flights exactly where we wanted to go, but, since the closest airport was still a 3 hr drive it seemed like we might as well fly into one airport a 6 hour drive away and fly out of another airport an 8 hour drive away and spend time seeing the places in between. Of course there was still the challenge that we had to fly from an airport 4 hours from our home and we were on different flights on the way out. But, for some reason it all seemed worthwhile at the time. What it should have been was a warning sign....

Two days before we were due to leave we put the dog in the car to go for a walk by the river and discovered that ALL of the traffic lights were out. It seemed so wide-spread, that we turned on the radio in the hopes that they might be mentioning it and discovered a very odd broadcast. Anyone know where I'm going?




The power had gone out across much of Canada and the US Northeast. (The Wikipedia article seems to include a much smaller region than I recall.) It had actually been out for about 5 hours, but, since it was summer and the Sun was just beginning to set, I hadn't noticed. The power was out for weeks in some places and the airports were non-functional for about 40 hours.

We were lucky, our first flight was scheduled for about 12 hours after the airport started functioning "normally" again. Their approach was to send people out on their scheduled flights and deal with the thousands of people whose flights had never left by putting them on the standby lists. My DW had hoped to standby for the earlier flight that I was on -- that was clearly not going to work since there were people who'd already been in the airport for 48 hours! I boarded the plane without her with all of our luggage checked under my name and planned to meet all the later flights throughout the day. Apparently, just after I boarded a guy came to the gate looking for someone willing to switch seats with him (he'd gotten a boarding pass for the next flight after waiting for two days) because he'd already missed being the best man in his brother's wedding and wanted to at least make it to the reception. My DW told him that her girlfriend would be willing to switch, but, that I'd already boarded. A flight attendant agreed to go ask me, but, then never did. I still feel sorry for that guy.

Later during this same vacation, we found ourselves in the midst of forest fires -- at one point we were surrounded by burning on three sides. One of the campsites we were supposed to stay in called to leave a message at our home because it was actually on fire and they wanted to tell us not to come. We'd already figured out that the route wasn't a good idea given the fire path, but, 97% of that forest was gone by the time the fire stopped.

---

A year later we headed off on our honeymoon and, as I've already mentioned, we were run over by Hurricane Charley. We got 4 hours at wdw before it closed, then, we saw several mini-tornados on the road on our way back to our off-site hotel. (If I were doing it again I'd know better than to be on the road -- we were lucky!) The back window of our car was smashed in (and other more minor damage) and we spent a chaotic day trying to get out of Orlando, get to Miami and find a way to safely leave our car somewhere while on the cruise since the port parking lot was no longer a viable option since we couldn't lock the car. Yikes! (Now that I know Disney better, I've wished we'd stayed on-site because even though I suspect the WDW parking lots were also the site of smashed windows, I've figured that being at Disney would have been less traumatic.) I will say that I spoke to people I probably never would have without being in the midst of shared chaos and ever since I've had a better sense of acceptance for the people within the part of US society that claim I shouldn't have been allowed to be on my honeymoon. (I am now more able to separate their beliefs -- with which I disagree -- from the rest of who they are, because, I've seen how caring they can be.)

---

After our next trip to WDW (the one that started as 3 nights and stretched to 5), we were driving home and making good time when something sounded strange and the engine seemed to disengage. Thus began a nightmare that lasted THREE months as a tow-truck driver (sent to us by AAA) took 4 hours to show up AFTER he told them that he was 10 min from our location and then took us AWAY from the dealership that AAA had said he was taking us to so that he could deliver our car to his buddy's auto-shop that wasn't going to be open for another 48 hours. That progressed to us having to call CAA at home to get a supervisor to authorize us being towed again and this time ending up with our car at a dealership (not the one we were originally closest to) that claimed to be able to fix it, then, couldn't, then took 2 months before they said we could come get it, then, lost the key to it, etc. We had to involve the Better Business Bureau before we got our car (and money to replace the key) and paperwork explaining what they'd done.

---

After a trip to WDW about 2 years ago, we had a problem with a torn airline identifying sticker while passing through customs. Although we brought it to the attention of the baggage handlers while leaving customs they said it wouldn't matter and told us to put it on the belt. Of course, it did matter, and the bag got lost. We'd had some weird conversations with the airport employee in Orlando when he was checking us in. It didn't make sense at the time, but, once we had to figure out how to find the missing bag in the computer system we figured out that he had crossed our names and made a bit of a mess of our check-in making it hard to indicate the bag as lost. The next day we got a call that the airline was bringing the bag. Then, we got a call saying that they hadn't been able to locate it. Turns out, the bag had an old Star Alliance Gold tag of my DW's on it and thus they'd called her to deliver the bag to her, but, they hadn't connected it to the missing bag report.

---

Last year I went to a conference in Washington, D.C. and my DW came along for a brief vacation. On the day we headed home, several other people successfully flew home without encountering any problems. We had booked a connecting flight for some reason and encountered more weather problems than I would have believed possible. First, as we taxied to take-off in D.C., the plane suddenly powered down and the pilot came on to explain that there was lightening above us and we had to stop and turn off all power. We sat for about 90 minutes. Then, we took our flight and after landing, before we made it to the gate, we powered down and had to wait while lightening passed overhead. We'd missed our connecting flight and were rebooked on the next one. Once that flight boarded, we had to stop and wait for a storm to pass. Then, we flew home, landed and then waited on the runway for 2 hours for lightening to pass overhead before we could deplane. In the end, we could have driven home in the time it took to fly.

---

We have had other travel problems, but, minor ones in comparison. But, there is still a fear that there is a curse travelling with us and we have friends who've refused to travel with us.

So, if a blizzard hits WDW just before Christmas you'll be able to blame it on us.
 
QSDP $29.99/night
- 2 Quick Service Meals
- 2 Snacks
- 1 Resort Mug

- Resort Mug is essentially useless to me...I don't like Coke products and I don't like high-fructose corn syrup which is used in the US for just about everything...before you mention the diet drinks, I'll add that I'm teetering on the allergy edge with aspartame...splenda's okay, but, coke zero and sprite zero have both and diet coke and diet minute maid lemonade have aspartame only. Before they took the cream away from the resorts in favour of coffee creamer (ugh!) I could have used a mug for tea or hot chocolate, but, tea with coffee creamer is an icky concept I don't even want to contemplate. (I will occasionally use a resort mug if I have it, but, I'd happily drink water if I didn't have it.)

- 2 snacks...I generally find a way to use WDW snacks, but, the "savoury/healthy" options seem to keep getting cut, so, I basically consider these extras that aren't worth considering in my calculations.

- 2 Quick Service meals...hmmmn...let's see:
AK -- I can only eat at Pizzafari:
Cheese Pizza $7.99
Chocolate Milk $1.99
Dessert -- they used to let me get the side salad, but, that seems to be harder to get and I don't even see it on the current menu -- so, I'd probably end up with kids grapes ~$.99
Total (inc. tax): $11.68
(And realistically, I'd have likely been happier eating a PB sandwich and nuts that I brought with me.)

DS -- I have yet to find a QS that I like here

EP -- Sunshine Seasons
Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad $7.49 (generally good)
Fancy Dessert (up to) $3.99
Chocolate Milk $1.99
Total (inc. tax): $14.35

MK -- Columbia Harbour House
Anchors Aweigh Sandwich $8.09
Chocolate Milk $1.99
Dessert -- the yogurt has aspartame and the cakes are too sweet -- so, I'd probably end up with kids grapes ~$.99
Total (inc. tax): $11.79

Average (for me) QS Meal Price: $12.61
Thus, Average price for 2 QS Meals: $25.22 (and it comes with a bunch of food I don't really want and is low on protein -- hence the chocolate milks)

The math doesn't work! You have to have VERY different tastes from me in order for the QSDP to be worthwhile.
 
Right there with you on the QSP. It just doesn't match my eating habits/food allergies.
 
DDP $39.99/night
- 1 Quick Service Meal
- 1 Snacks
- 1 Table Service Meal

From my earlier post:
Average (for me) QS Meal Price: $12.61

1 snack...I generally find a way to use WDW snacks, but, the "savoury/healthy" options seem to keep getting cut, so, I basically consider it an extras that isn't worth considering in my calculations.

Meaning that the value of my meal needs to reach $27.38 in order to make it worth paying for the price of the plan. Divide out tax and I need to order $25.83 in food.

Depending where you eat and what you order this isn't too difficult. I mean, a drink, a fancy entree and a dessert can easily add up to that at Disney restaurants. But, as I've already indicated the drinks and desserts don't excite me too much.

Looking at what we've already talked about:
Boma Dinner: $30.88 (worthwhile)
Boma Breakfast: $18.99 (DDP costs $7 extra)
Sanaa Lunch: $14.99 (for Vegetarian Sampler) plus extras that I would order only if on the DDP (probably not going to be worthwhile)

The math quickly leads up to an explanation for why people start ordering the most expensive item on the menu and why they focus on getting dinner ADRs. But, overall, it might work out to be worthwhile if you are willing to eat according to the right combination of food.

Personally, I'm not a huge dessert fan -- I enjoy a good dessert, but, not the QS ones and not at quite the rate intended. Plus, although Boma is worthwhile (I'm starting to get scared off by others' reports) and although most of the breakfasts have good food, the prices are high and the food quality doesn't seem to properly match the prices. (We've been surprised places though -- for instance it took me years to try Sci Fi because it's reported to be not great and a "stick to burgers" place, but, I discovered accidentally that it has one of the few decent vegetarian protein options in the basic TS repertoire.

I like many of the signature restaurants, but, without the inclusion of an appetizer that means that my entree, drink and dessert need to have a value of $51.66. As a vegetarian, that rarely happens.

So, the DDP is probably worthwhile for some people, but, in its current configuration it's unlikely to be worthwhile for me.
 
DxDP $71.99/night
- 3 Table Service Meals
- 2 Snacks
- 1 Resort Mug

From my earlier post:
Average (for me) QS Meal Price: $12.61. Thus, this plan isn't likely to be worthwhile if I got QS meals. So, even though they list it as 3 meals anywhere, I only think of it as 3 TS credits.

2 snacks...The Resort Mug...(see earlier posts)

Meaning that the value of my meal needs to reach $23.99 in order to make it worth paying for the price of the plan. Divide out tax and I need to order $22.53 in food (or $45.06 for a signature meal).

The first thing I notice here, is that the cost per meal is LOWER than with the basic dining plan. AND, I get to order an appetizer again. Wow!

So, just after it was first announced, we booked a bounce-back free dining trip (bouncing back from our first free dining trip -- I doubt we'll do another free dining trip again, but, it was fun to do twice) and upgraded it to deluxe dining. With the free dining discount, our food worked out such that we were basically paying for one regular meal and getting a free signature meal daily. It was great! We went to lots of restaurants that we'd always wanted to try and ate really good food everyday.

But, there was TOO much food! It sounded like eating 2 meals (TS breakfast or lunch and Signature Dinner) and 2 snacks per day wasn't that much, but, when it came to eating all of that food we were stuffed and couldn't get around to using the snacks.

We talked about it afterward and decided that the only dining plan that makes economic sense is the deluxe one. But, how do we deal with the quantity of food? (And of course, there's also the fact that Disney has now convinced people (us?) to spend more money on food than they would have otherwise.) Well, we decided that the DxDP would be worth considering if we were to have a 2 night DVC stay since it would mean 6 credits over 3 days and one signature meal per day for 3 days is a much more reasonable amount of food.

Hmmn...we're going to be at AKV for 2 nights and SSR for 3 nights...hmmn...it's my birthday, should we splurge?
 
The Deluxe Dining plan intrigues me.....Think of all the room service you can have ....:cloud9:
 
Apparently, I had more Pre-Trip stuff to say than I realized because I'm not done and we're leaving in less than 12 hours!
 
Well, we’re actually in Orlando, pulling away from the airport so I hope it’s the final plan. But, we always leave ourselves room to change as we wish. For me, part of the fun of Disney is the intricacy and complications of planning. Then, if I have a detailed plan, I get to decide which steps to follow and which ones to skip or change.

Saturday:
Get up EARLY!
Direct Flight to Orlando
ME to AKV – Jambo
Check-in
Bus to AK Guest Relations to get my birthday fun card! (Yay, Disney’s giving me a birthday present – I’m thinking sweatshirt and baseball cap.)
Lunch at Sanaa
Swimming & Animal Watching
Dinner at Jiko

Sunday:
Sleep in and enjoy the early morning animal viewing from our room.
Late breakfast at Boma
Enjoy animals, more swimming and other AKV activities.
Dinner at Narcoosee’s (we should be there for both Wishes and EWP)

Monday (Crazy Theme Park Day & Resort Moving):
Pack and give our bags to bell services asking them to transfer them to SSR (and try to remember to do the online check-in before leaving AKV).
Head to AK for rope drop (8:00 EMH).
At AK: Kilimanjaro Safari, Lion King, Dinosaur, DinoLand Fun Games, walking tours and anything else that seems exciting at the time.
Lunch at the Wave.
Walk to MK.
At MK: HM, Space Mtn, TTA, Hall of Presidents, Princess Tiana’s Riverboat if possible and anything else that seems exciting at the time. (My DW wants Splash Mtn to be on the high likelihood list, but, I figure trying to get on both Space and Splash could be tough given our arrival time.)
Depending upon when we decide we’ve had enough of MK we’ll either skip EP, or head there next.
At EP (if we go): Kim Possible, Soarin’ depending on time, Holiday Stories, new Innoventions stuff and whatever else seems exciting at the time.
Head to DHS for the evening EMH.
At DHS: Stand in line for a LONG time, possibly more than once in order to do TSM.
Late, Late, head to SSR.

Tuesday:
Sleep in a bit.
Late breakfast at Kona.
If we’re lucky, we’ll stop in to meet ConcKahuna.

Tuesday & Wednesday:
Hoping to see other things we haven’t done yet, wander around DTD a bit, spend a few hours at Blizzard Beach, play a round of mini-golf somewhere, eat at Earl of Sandwich, swim at SSRs assorted pools, etc.

Thursday:
Up early to head home with a stopover in my Dad’s city and a possible lunch with him enroute.



As for all of the food choices, you may have guessed from the number of reservations that we got conned into the DxDP. Not only that, but, for those of you who can count, we’ve got an extra meal in there.

My DW loves Jiko and I used to love the Grains, Peas & Barley meal, but, all of their current vegetarian offerings are full of cooked tomatoes which I’m not a fan of. So, I might just pay OOP for that meal and order one or 2 appetizers and get a soup (with snack credit) at Mara. But, I’ve heard good things about the Halibut at Jiko and think I should consider trying it. In which case, it would probably make more sense for us to pay OOP for my DW at lunch at Sanaa (where she isn’t too excited by the menu) and for one of our Boma breakfasts. But, are we going to have too much food???

On Disney property now, so, signing off from typing. I’ll post this once we have a room and internet access.
 
This PTR is one of the most interesting I've read in a while. I just keep coming back to read it. I really hope you and your DW have a lot of fun while in Disney! Come back to us with a TR :teeth: We're all very excited
 
2GirlsMama said:
I hope you have a really great time! I am looking forward to reading about your trip.
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Thanks!

Hydani said:
This PTR is one of the most interesting I've read in a while. I just keep coming back to read it. I really hope you and your DW have a lot of fun while in Disney! Come back to us with a TR :teeth: We're all very excited
Click to expand...

Thanks -- I'm glad you're enjoying it!
 
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