KayleeUK
Still here.....
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1999
- Messages
- 23,260
The Punkin Trip Oct/Nov 2008 Pre Trip Report
(called this as DS cannot pronounce the word Pumpkin
)
Cast :
Alan DH age 36 Many trips to the world, does not get excited about it until we have arrived at the airport.
Me age 34 Many trips to the world and always excited and planning.
Joseph DS age 2 Second trip to the world, first trip age 10 months. Cant wait to go to Mickeys house.
Accommodation
Planning started for this trip back in December 2007 when we booked our accommodation a Boardwalk Villas (BWV) for 19 nights. Originally I wanted to split our stay between the Villas at Wilderness Lodge (VWL) and the Beach Club Villas (BCV). Last trip we stayed at BWV for the whole time which was great. We had a lovely room overlooking the Luna Pool area, previous trips we have had Boardwalk View rooms but they can be a little noisy late at night and I didnt want Joseph to be woken up or me! As this is our home resort we booked the BWV at 11 months out and then hoped to change to VWL and BCV at 7 months. As March rolled around I called DVC to try and change our reservation. I was out of luck. They could only guarantee odd dates and with us having Joseph I did not want to be chopping and changing resorts if the waitlist didnt come through. So I decided we would just stick with our reservation being at the Boardwalk.
It is a great resort and I am sure Joseph will love the pool again and this time he may get more out of the Community Hall activities. The location between Epcot and the Studios is great as we usually walk to these parks. So although we were not able to get the first choice I know we will be happy with our stay at the Boardwalk.
Flights
As usual our flights are with Virgin, we managed to get miles and money flights which was a bonus. We are flying from Gatwick and as we are travelling up from the West Country we have booked in to the Hilton for the night before the flight. So our holiday will start a day early! Hopefully that evening we will be able to take a look at the planes which Joseph should enjoy.
Tickets
We decided that apart from Disney we would visit Seaworld this year. We havent been here for a few years but thought that Joseph would enjoy seeing the animals. Universal and Islands of Adventure have been ruled out again until Joseph is a little older. Our dates cross both the Mickeys Not so Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) so we have decided to do both of these. Joseph has picked his Halloween costume as Woody ( the lovely Susan has managed to get him an outfit in the DisneyStore.com sale) and thinks that I will be Jessie and DH will be Buzz we shall see (I hope I will be able to find myself a Jessie T-shirt and that will do) I loved the Christmas Party it was lovely to see it snowing on Main Street. So I am sure we will have a wonderful time again.
So we brought 21 day Disney Ultimate Tickets, 1 day pass to Seaworld and tickets to the Halloween and Christmas parties.
Friends
On our last trip we were lucky to spend it with so many friends. The lovely Sue (Florida Sun) and her daughters trip overlapped ours and we spent lots of time with them. Unfortunately they will not be with us this year and will be missed. Carolyn (2disneywego) our friend from Vermont joined us for a few days last year and we had a lovely time, this year Carolyn is bringing her husband Robert down, so we have lots of things planned with them. We have made arrangements with our friends Mike and Di who live in Orlando to meet up with them for a few days and hopefully have a couple of DIS Meets planned with Jo(wils) and family and Deb and Matt (UKDeb).
Dining
Last year we had the dining plan and although it was great to have all of the food costs covered, we did find it far too much food and even had credits left at the end of our trip. So we have decided against it for this trip.
We have made many ADRs mainly because we like to have one sit down meal a day and with Joseph only being 2 we want to be able to eat at sensible times.
Character Meals feature in our plans as Joseph loved these last trip and I have a feeling he will like them even more this year. He already talks about having dinner with Mickey. Chef Mickeys, Donalds Breakfastauras, Cape May Café, Ohana will feature for some of our breakfast meals and Le Cellier, Hollywood and Vine, Garden Grill and Liberty Tree Tavern are some of our evening meals.
During our trip the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is on and I am sure we will spend a lot of time strolling around World Showcase and tasting the delights on offer.
We will be eating off site for only about 4 nights which suits us, not sure where yet our friends will sort this out for us.
I am looking forward to having a Lapu Lapu but I am not sure how I will get away with it as Joseph loves pineapple!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here we are just over 5 weeks until we leave, I hope to be more prompt with my trip reports this year than I have been in the past.
Joseph is very much into Cars at the moment so I am hoping there is lots of merchandise available and he cant wait to meet Lightning and Mater. We have a Disney Bear book that we got on our last trip which follows Mickey spending a day at the Magic Kingdom and we have been reading that and pointing out the rides, he currently seems keen to go on them all. I am trying not to focus on the Mountains as he will be too small for them. We have watched some of the rides and parades on Youtube to get him use to them. He is looking forward to going on Goofys Barnstormer with Daddy. I showed him a video on Youtube of a little girl being taken through Minnies house by Minnie Mouse herself, unfortunately Joseph thinks Minnie is going to be doing this with him. Maybe watching these videos isnt a good idea!
We have the DIS Girlie Meet next weekend and then after that I will be so excited about our trip. I am going to make Joseph a countdown chart which will have pictures of the characters we are going to meet to highten the excitement even more.
Sue (Florida Sun) does a brilliant Mickey Mouse voice so I am going to get her to call Joseph the weekend before we leave and talk to him about the trip.
Update :- 19th September 2008
When I got home from work today we had a lovely UPS envelope with the Magical Express infomation in
(called this as DS cannot pronounce the word Pumpkin
)Cast :
Alan DH age 36 Many trips to the world, does not get excited about it until we have arrived at the airport.
Me age 34 Many trips to the world and always excited and planning.
Joseph DS age 2 Second trip to the world, first trip age 10 months. Cant wait to go to Mickeys house.
Accommodation
Planning started for this trip back in December 2007 when we booked our accommodation a Boardwalk Villas (BWV) for 19 nights. Originally I wanted to split our stay between the Villas at Wilderness Lodge (VWL) and the Beach Club Villas (BCV). Last trip we stayed at BWV for the whole time which was great. We had a lovely room overlooking the Luna Pool area, previous trips we have had Boardwalk View rooms but they can be a little noisy late at night and I didnt want Joseph to be woken up or me! As this is our home resort we booked the BWV at 11 months out and then hoped to change to VWL and BCV at 7 months. As March rolled around I called DVC to try and change our reservation. I was out of luck. They could only guarantee odd dates and with us having Joseph I did not want to be chopping and changing resorts if the waitlist didnt come through. So I decided we would just stick with our reservation being at the Boardwalk.
It is a great resort and I am sure Joseph will love the pool again and this time he may get more out of the Community Hall activities. The location between Epcot and the Studios is great as we usually walk to these parks. So although we were not able to get the first choice I know we will be happy with our stay at the Boardwalk.
Flights
As usual our flights are with Virgin, we managed to get miles and money flights which was a bonus. We are flying from Gatwick and as we are travelling up from the West Country we have booked in to the Hilton for the night before the flight. So our holiday will start a day early! Hopefully that evening we will be able to take a look at the planes which Joseph should enjoy.
Tickets
We decided that apart from Disney we would visit Seaworld this year. We havent been here for a few years but thought that Joseph would enjoy seeing the animals. Universal and Islands of Adventure have been ruled out again until Joseph is a little older. Our dates cross both the Mickeys Not so Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) so we have decided to do both of these. Joseph has picked his Halloween costume as Woody ( the lovely Susan has managed to get him an outfit in the DisneyStore.com sale) and thinks that I will be Jessie and DH will be Buzz we shall see (I hope I will be able to find myself a Jessie T-shirt and that will do) I loved the Christmas Party it was lovely to see it snowing on Main Street. So I am sure we will have a wonderful time again.
So we brought 21 day Disney Ultimate Tickets, 1 day pass to Seaworld and tickets to the Halloween and Christmas parties.
Friends
On our last trip we were lucky to spend it with so many friends. The lovely Sue (Florida Sun) and her daughters trip overlapped ours and we spent lots of time with them. Unfortunately they will not be with us this year and will be missed. Carolyn (2disneywego) our friend from Vermont joined us for a few days last year and we had a lovely time, this year Carolyn is bringing her husband Robert down, so we have lots of things planned with them. We have made arrangements with our friends Mike and Di who live in Orlando to meet up with them for a few days and hopefully have a couple of DIS Meets planned with Jo(wils) and family and Deb and Matt (UKDeb).
Dining
Last year we had the dining plan and although it was great to have all of the food costs covered, we did find it far too much food and even had credits left at the end of our trip. So we have decided against it for this trip.
We have made many ADRs mainly because we like to have one sit down meal a day and with Joseph only being 2 we want to be able to eat at sensible times.
Character Meals feature in our plans as Joseph loved these last trip and I have a feeling he will like them even more this year. He already talks about having dinner with Mickey. Chef Mickeys, Donalds Breakfastauras, Cape May Café, Ohana will feature for some of our breakfast meals and Le Cellier, Hollywood and Vine, Garden Grill and Liberty Tree Tavern are some of our evening meals.
During our trip the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is on and I am sure we will spend a lot of time strolling around World Showcase and tasting the delights on offer.
We will be eating off site for only about 4 nights which suits us, not sure where yet our friends will sort this out for us.
I am looking forward to having a Lapu Lapu but I am not sure how I will get away with it as Joseph loves pineapple!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here we are just over 5 weeks until we leave, I hope to be more prompt with my trip reports this year than I have been in the past.
Joseph is very much into Cars at the moment so I am hoping there is lots of merchandise available and he cant wait to meet Lightning and Mater. We have a Disney Bear book that we got on our last trip which follows Mickey spending a day at the Magic Kingdom and we have been reading that and pointing out the rides, he currently seems keen to go on them all. I am trying not to focus on the Mountains as he will be too small for them. We have watched some of the rides and parades on Youtube to get him use to them. He is looking forward to going on Goofys Barnstormer with Daddy. I showed him a video on Youtube of a little girl being taken through Minnies house by Minnie Mouse herself, unfortunately Joseph thinks Minnie is going to be doing this with him. Maybe watching these videos isnt a good idea!
We have the DIS Girlie Meet next weekend and then after that I will be so excited about our trip. I am going to make Joseph a countdown chart which will have pictures of the characters we are going to meet to highten the excitement even more.
Sue (Florida Sun) does a brilliant Mickey Mouse voice so I am going to get her to call Joseph the weekend before we leave and talk to him about the trip.
Update :- 19th September 2008
When I got home from work today we had a lovely UPS envelope with the Magical Express infomation in
I hope you all have a fab time and I can't wait to hear all about it
yep i want to hear that too !!!
Brilliant start hon, only wish we could be there with you, but Im still doing the lottery in case - you never know.
I can't wait until we see each other again. Maybe this time I'll actually get my trip report down on paper too, instead of little scraps of paper scattered everywhere.
