Mrs Hobbes
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,069
The Story so far...
March 2008
This was a key month in our holiday planning, 11 months to our preferred trip date so we could now book at our home resort AKV and book flights. However frustratingly we couldnt book our flights until 24th April because we had to wait for Grumpys pay bonus. We did however decide to make a 2-week reservation at AKV so that we had something in place even though we may have needed to move the dates slightly once we confirmed our flights. You may also notice under my avatar that this is also the month that I discovered the dis
April 2008
Pay Day! We finally booked our flights and it began to feel like we were actually going. The miles plus money flights for the dates that we wanted were sold out but by moving our dates by a couple of days we got what we wanted, 2 adults and 2 children return for £1319.20.
We were more than happy with this price and we were able to move our accommodation to suit our flights. WDW here we come!!
For the next few months (and this still hasnt changed) Grumpy and I cannot get enough Disney. We are like information sponges, reading as much as we could find and researching everything. I am a Virgo and a born planner but luckily Grumpy shares my passion. It was so great to have another holiday to plan so soon after coming back from the world. No post holiday blues for us
Grumpy and I kept ourselves busy thinking about what we wanted to do on our next trip. We made lists and collected tip bits of information to store away in our Disney folder. We love to organise things and our girls love it too! We must have watched our Disney planning DVDs and our DVC membership DVD 100s of time. At family meal times we chat non stop about the holiday and we help the girls to make lists of all the things that they want to see when we get there. We are all just too excited for words!!
Once we had a list of all the things our DDs thought they might like and the things we knew theyd like too we began to try and pin down our itinerary. Grumpy and I used the Unofficial Guides crowd calendars to try and earmark the parks that we wanted to do on each day and then we started to narrow down our dining choices. Both our DDs and Grumpy are picky eaters so it is great being able to browse through the dining menus on dis to make decisions about where would be good to eat. From our previous trip we found that we love character meals because it meant that we didnt have to queue to meet characters in the parks. I just dont know how I will wait for August to make our ADRs.
After some great reviews on the dis we decided to subscribe to ridemax and TGM. I admit I am an information junkie!! We used a lot of the information we found on these sites to start creating our touring plans. Yes we like to attack the parks in a military fashion and I have no problem being given a timed schedule (I know Im weird!!) Ridemax couldnt give us schedules for February yet as it doesnt make plans that far in advance but by choosing what we consider to be similar days we generated plans that we will tweak nearer the time.
So with our touring plans in place there is not much else to do except wait. We have 3 burning questions will there be a P&PP party in February next year and if so when and will we get the dining we want
The weeks seem to creep by and then to make it worse Disney announce changes to the Reservation system and I find out that horror of horrors I will only be able to book CRT and CM in August; the rest will have to wait
August 2008
The day for booking CRT and CM looms closer. I have heard the rumours that CRT breakfast sells out within minutes of opening so I make a few practise calls and thanks to some great TGM advice I feel like Ive got it down pat.
The day arrives and I start calling at 11.55am, I was out for the day with friends who we had visiting and they kindly offered to ring on their mobiles too. They are really good friends! So the 3 of us are sat in the car dialling Disney to see who gets through first (its madness but I know youll all understand!) Finally we get through and I gabble my request to the CM to be told, sure its available and I can book that for you I just need your reservation number.
My what . I dont have that with me (I cant believe how stupid Ive been)
I hang up and luckily we are only 10minutes from my house so we race back, I grab the reservation number and try again sure that Ive ruined our chances of securing this coveted breakfast. However when I get though again they still have the time available that we want HURRAY! I make the booking and we get in to CM as well. It is a happy day and I am dancing around like a mad thing
September 2008
A quiet planning month really, with the ADRS for CRT and CM in place there is little more that we can do but wait. Grumpy is keeping himself busy making the girls WDW journals (more about these later) and I have just started a new term at school so for once Disney isnt the only thing on my mind (I know it is hard to believe!)
Towards the end of the month Grumpys auntie comes to stay with us for just over a week. She lives around 200 miles away and has come down for a family wedding. We are sat there one evening chatting about Disney and our planning yes we will bend the ear of anyone who will listen! When it suddenly dawns on me that I havent checked to see if there are any dining updates. I knew that it was expected that we would be able to make dining reservations from October 16th but you just never know with these things. So anyway I have a very quick check on the pc and discover that the dining adrs have been brought forward and we could have started making them a week ago!! Panic stations!! Our excel itinerary is open, the number found and within minutes I am on hold with Disney. To be honest I feel a bit sick, thinking Im not going to be able to get what we wanted. Then I hear the cheery voice of a lovely CM and she helps me through my endless requests. I am on the phone with her for an hour but by the end of it our reservations have been made and we got everything we wanted More on these later
Coming up our detailed itinerary plans now come on I know you are excited!!
March 2008
This was a key month in our holiday planning, 11 months to our preferred trip date so we could now book at our home resort AKV and book flights. However frustratingly we couldnt book our flights until 24th April because we had to wait for Grumpys pay bonus. We did however decide to make a 2-week reservation at AKV so that we had something in place even though we may have needed to move the dates slightly once we confirmed our flights. You may also notice under my avatar that this is also the month that I discovered the dis
April 2008
Pay Day! We finally booked our flights and it began to feel like we were actually going. The miles plus money flights for the dates that we wanted were sold out but by moving our dates by a couple of days we got what we wanted, 2 adults and 2 children return for £1319.20.
We were more than happy with this price and we were able to move our accommodation to suit our flights. WDW here we come!! For the next few months (and this still hasnt changed) Grumpy and I cannot get enough Disney. We are like information sponges, reading as much as we could find and researching everything. I am a Virgo and a born planner but luckily Grumpy shares my passion. It was so great to have another holiday to plan so soon after coming back from the world. No post holiday blues for us
Grumpy and I kept ourselves busy thinking about what we wanted to do on our next trip. We made lists and collected tip bits of information to store away in our Disney folder. We love to organise things and our girls love it too! We must have watched our Disney planning DVDs and our DVC membership DVD 100s of time. At family meal times we chat non stop about the holiday and we help the girls to make lists of all the things that they want to see when we get there. We are all just too excited for words!!
Once we had a list of all the things our DDs thought they might like and the things we knew theyd like too we began to try and pin down our itinerary. Grumpy and I used the Unofficial Guides crowd calendars to try and earmark the parks that we wanted to do on each day and then we started to narrow down our dining choices. Both our DDs and Grumpy are picky eaters so it is great being able to browse through the dining menus on dis to make decisions about where would be good to eat. From our previous trip we found that we love character meals because it meant that we didnt have to queue to meet characters in the parks. I just dont know how I will wait for August to make our ADRs.
After some great reviews on the dis we decided to subscribe to ridemax and TGM. I admit I am an information junkie!! We used a lot of the information we found on these sites to start creating our touring plans. Yes we like to attack the parks in a military fashion and I have no problem being given a timed schedule (I know Im weird!!) Ridemax couldnt give us schedules for February yet as it doesnt make plans that far in advance but by choosing what we consider to be similar days we generated plans that we will tweak nearer the time.
So with our touring plans in place there is not much else to do except wait. We have 3 burning questions will there be a P&PP party in February next year and if so when and will we get the dining we want
The weeks seem to creep by and then to make it worse Disney announce changes to the Reservation system and I find out that horror of horrors I will only be able to book CRT and CM in August; the rest will have to wait
August 2008
The day for booking CRT and CM looms closer. I have heard the rumours that CRT breakfast sells out within minutes of opening so I make a few practise calls and thanks to some great TGM advice I feel like Ive got it down pat.
The day arrives and I start calling at 11.55am, I was out for the day with friends who we had visiting and they kindly offered to ring on their mobiles too. They are really good friends! So the 3 of us are sat in the car dialling Disney to see who gets through first (its madness but I know youll all understand!) Finally we get through and I gabble my request to the CM to be told, sure its available and I can book that for you I just need your reservation number.
My what . I dont have that with me (I cant believe how stupid Ive been)
I hang up and luckily we are only 10minutes from my house so we race back, I grab the reservation number and try again sure that Ive ruined our chances of securing this coveted breakfast. However when I get though again they still have the time available that we want HURRAY! I make the booking and we get in to CM as well. It is a happy day and I am dancing around like a mad thing
September 2008
A quiet planning month really, with the ADRS for CRT and CM in place there is little more that we can do but wait. Grumpy is keeping himself busy making the girls WDW journals (more about these later) and I have just started a new term at school so for once Disney isnt the only thing on my mind (I know it is hard to believe!)
Towards the end of the month Grumpys auntie comes to stay with us for just over a week. She lives around 200 miles away and has come down for a family wedding. We are sat there one evening chatting about Disney and our planning yes we will bend the ear of anyone who will listen! When it suddenly dawns on me that I havent checked to see if there are any dining updates. I knew that it was expected that we would be able to make dining reservations from October 16th but you just never know with these things. So anyway I have a very quick check on the pc and discover that the dining adrs have been brought forward and we could have started making them a week ago!! Panic stations!! Our excel itinerary is open, the number found and within minutes I am on hold with Disney. To be honest I feel a bit sick, thinking Im not going to be able to get what we wanted. Then I hear the cheery voice of a lovely CM and she helps me through my endless requests. I am on the phone with her for an hour but by the end of it our reservations have been made and we got everything we wanted
More on these later Coming up our detailed itinerary plans now come on I know you are excited!!
lucky you were able to go home for the ressie number !
well done on getting CRT
