The Maine-iacs are coming!

[snowman]

Maine-iacs do Disney – Watch out Mickey, here we come!

Howdy all. I’ve never done a pre-trip report before but have enjoyed reading everybody else’s, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

Show dates – August 26th – September 2nd, 2007 – Once we picked dates we booked airfare to get it locked in. The dates have not changed since the original booking.

Venue – Wilderness Lodge (venue has changed 3 times though).
As we have for our last two trips, we booked with Dreams Unlimited Travel. Sue Ellen is wonderful….and oh so patient. We started out booked into Port Orleans – French Quarter, but even in the beginning I had no real intention of staying there. It was my birthday dag-nab-it and I wanted a Deluxe. Carl and I were sold on Wilderness Lodge from the word go. I just needed to convince the girlfriend. “But honey, its only $551.00 more and the beds are queen, just like we have at home. Besides, its sooo much closer to Magic Kingdom”. It worked. About 2 weeks after we paid off PO-FQ, she told me to upgrade to WL if we could (oh yes we can).
When free dining first came out there was no availability at WL, so we were (temporarily) rerouted to the Contemporary. Not my favorite, but its still a deluxe so I can work with it. Fortunately just a couple of weeks ago there became availability at WL, with the free dining. Woohoo, back to Wilderness Lodge for us!

The Prologue:

This is our first trip in 4 ½ years. DSO and I went for the first time in Aug, 99 to scope it out before we took Carl for his birthday in 2000. The last time we were there was Jan, 2003 for DSO’s 30th birthday.

Last time we went we stayed at Port Orleans – French Quarter and loved it. We have also done AS-Movies (99), Dixie Landings (2000). I just knew this trip had to step it up a notch.

We decided shortly before Christmas to go to Disney in 2007. We knew Carl would be, shall we say, a bit irate if we went to WDW w/o him, since we left him home when we did a Carnival Cruise in Feb, 2005. Since he’ll be in the 8th grade and competing for a spot a prestigious semi-private high school, we didn’t want to take him out of school for a 3rd Disney trip. And he wanted his friend Dustin to go who will be a freshman in the fall, so we wouldn’t want to take him out of school either.

Since going during school breaks was mandatory we had to decide what price point we were willing to pay and if we wanted to battle crowds for vacations. Well, my birthday is Sept 1st and I’ll be turning 40. The trip for the big 4-OH was supposed to be my choice and was going to be an Alaskan Cruise. But, I hated the Carnival Cruise soooo much that I scrapped that idea and agreed on Disney.

Next up – Introductions

 

[sharonW]

Its sounding good so far Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

Gosh you sound just like me. I hated the Carnival cruise we went on. It was awful. The swells were do bad all I could think of was the movie Posiedon adventure. My mom wants to take an Alaskan cruise but were going to Disney in September instead.

And happy early birthday! My daughter and I both have one in September also. We'll be at the Poly from the 8th-18th.

Waiting for more!

 

[snowman]

Thanks for the kind words.

Me – Michelle – turning 40 on this trip. Although since Carl was born nearly everybody except DSO calls me Tia. I am a compulsive planner (friends even ask me to help them plan their trips). I am guilty of planning time to be spontaneous on our trips.

DSO – Darla – girly-girl extraordinaire, always cries when she sees Cinderella’s Castle. Her dad passed away unexpectedly this spring, so this time Cindy’s will cause even more tears because it was the very first movie he ever took her to go see when she was a little girl. (And she gets to have breakfast there even).

DNephew – Carl – making his third trip to see The Mouse. He fancies himself a bit of an expert now (what 13 year old doesn’t?). He is the boy-man of the family and speaks of this trip like it is his last shot to be a kid. He says his must do’s include Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan & Snow White, along with Rock n Roller Coaster, Mission: Space and Expedition Everest. Oh yea, and Disney Quest (“Tia, you promised we could go this time”). He can still suspend reality to believe that “cartoons are real” and that the Post Card he got couldn’t really be from Stitch because “Stitch’s handwriting wouldn’t be that good”. He wants new mouse ears and to get all of the character pictures (but doesn’t need autographs this year).

DANephew – Dustin – 14 yo first timer, Carl’s best friend. Normally we wouldn’t even consider taking someone else’s child to Disney, but Dustin isn’t just any child. He thinks of himself as our adopted nephew and spends large amounts of time in our home. He and Carl get along like brothers – meaning sometimes its great, sometimes they get on each other’s nerves, but they always have each other’s back. Dustin doesn’t much care what we do, he’s just excited to be going. “Tia, I really can’t believe I’m going to Disney!”


Next up – Is there anything to eat? (AKA - how to feed the locusts)