The Rum's Not Gone. We've Got It Right Here: A Pre-Trip.

[ILGoofy]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes. My dates are probably going to be September 16-23 or thereabouts. I'll start writing a pre-trip report once I actually make the reservation. I'm shooting for POFQ. I originally wanted POR, but since it's so big and spread out, and I'm alone, I might feel a little better (safer) at POFQ. I've taken a lot of vacations solo but it never occurred to me to try Disney until a couple months ago.

 

[punkin413]

*I heart parentheses. Sometimes I parenthesize my parentheses. (It's (kind of) sad. (See?))

me too!!!!! (and i'm not trying to be a copy cat.) i also love exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

don't worry about starting a pre-trippie too soon.....it's never too soon! i have one started for april so now i don't feel so bad!

the stuff you wrote about your grandparents brought a little tear to my eye. so sweet...

can't wait to read more!

 

[Tink-ing]

Chapter Four: The Other Who-oo. Ooo-oo.

Might I introduce my one of my oldest and dearest partners-in-crime. For this trip. And, mostly, for otherwise.

Missy a.k.a. Maylisser a.k.a. Dube ~ She is also 28. We have known each other for about 15 years now.

...hang on. I must go die for a second. We are getting OLD...(er)...(ish)...

Ok. I'm back.

Missy and I are alike where it counts and she is my complete opposite in many ways. I believe that is why we get along so well. She is a bit more outgoing than I am. She's known more for jumping into things while I sit back and observe first. She's known more for speaking her mind and I tend to hold my tongue (a blessing and a curse...on both parts). She's the type of friend who, mostly gently, pushes me to do things I would never otherwise do.

Missy is the person who I did all of the 'bad' things with in high school, if by 'bad' one means 'drinking'. (Other than that we were actually good, theatre and chorus loving teens.) She actually saved my life once, after a night of a tad too much imbibing. (Who knew an entire fifth of blackberry brandy and going swimming was too much? ) We have an inside alcohol-related joke for "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. Because we're going to Disney, this will likely come up numerous times on the trip, so lemme give you the short and sweet of it (I've tried to keep this from being too icky for y'all):

After 3 too many shots with Senor Cuervo and the room doing that annoying thing where it spins on its own axis, Missy and I both ended up, ah, one might say, recounting our drinks (or ZZUBing as others might say) in an upstairs bathroom. At the same time. She squished between a jacuzzi tub and the porcelain god. Me sobbing by the sink. My BF at the time (who after a 4-year hiatus is my current BF of 2 years) took it upon himself to watch over us. And torture us. Teach us a 'lesson' as it were. By playing the Aladdin soundtrack. LOUDLY. "A Whole New World" just happened to crescendo as our revisits with the evening's liquid refreshments also crescendoed. The 'whole new memories' associated with that song have never left us.

And I've never drank tequila again.

But back to it...

Missy is the kind of friend who understands that life sometimes gets in the way of things and always picks up the phone after a 3-month lapse in communication and says, "You will NEVER guess what's happened to me now." She's sweet and kind and gives so much of herself to the people she loves...AND to people that don't deserve it. She's a cat mommy, like me. She is currently looking for her Prince Charming. She's met plenty of the Prince Charmingless'. If I could grant her one wish, it would be for her to find her 'Happily Ever After' man. (And maybe for the Red Sox to win the Series again. She's a die-hard fan. I, however, could care less.)

Missy enjoys Disney, though maybe not as much as me. She does, however, enjoy Cap'n Jack Sparrow as much as yours truly. She's allowing me to do most-to-all of the of planning for the trip with this one caveat: She wants to visit with the Yeti. Multiple times. Many multiple times. (I have not yet ridden Everest, so I'm more than happy to oblige. It was a mere dirt pile behind the 'Pardon Our Appearances' fences the last time I was there.) So we will be getting our Yeti on. I told her maybe she should get the Yeti's number while we're there. Maybe he's single. Maybe he's a Prince in Yet's clothing.

She's been to Disney twice, once with the band in HS and, most recently, last year with her sister and niece and nephew. She is the enabler of us staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. She didn't want to 'deny' me my first stay at a Deluxe by booking into Pop Century.

Missy sometimes forgets how wonderful of a person she is and thinks she deserves less somehow. I take it upon myself to remind her all the time how utterly remarkable she is.

We all go through "stuff" in life. As long as we learn from it, we needn't necessarily regret it. It is our actions that form us.

 

[Tink-ing]

me too!!!!! (and i'm not trying to be a copy cat.) i also love exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't say?

don't worry about starting a pre-trippie too soon.....it's never too soon! i have one started for april so now i don't feel so bad!

Yes! You do! And everyone here should go read that one too! (Shameless plug por tu.) I actually started reading it yesterday. AND I want to read the one from last year.

the stuff you wrote about your grandparents brought a little tear to my eye. so sweet...

I have a penchant for bringing on the sap. Especially when it comes to my grandparents and Disney.

In my eyes they gave me a very precious gift, a ticket, if you will. It's not a Park Hopper. Not an Annual Pass. But a Lifelong Pass. To a place where I can go and relive all the fun we had, even when they aren't with us any more. To a place where I can go and shrug the mantle of the world off of my shoulders and not need an excuse to just smile. And as much as I might plan and re-plan and get all commando while I'm there, I can say that there are very few places or times in my life where/when I can breathe quite as easy as I can in the World. And I thank them for that.

 

[punkin413]

In my eyes they gave me a very precious gift, a ticket, if you will. It's not a Park Hopper. Not an Annual Pass. But a Lifelong Pass. To a place where I can go and relive all the fun we had, even when they aren't with us any more. To a place where I can go and shrug the mantle of the world off of my shoulders and not need an excuse to just smile. And as much as I might plan and re-plan and get all commando while I'm there, I can say that there are very few places or times in my life where/when I can breathe quite as easy as I can in the World. And I thank them for that.

 

[Tink-ing]

This isn't a chapter, so to speak, but I'm just really excited and have to share.

A few months ago, my digital cameral was stolen out of my car. (Long story which I won't bore you with.) I've been lost without it. Well, my BF was initially going to buy me a new iPod-ready car stereo for my birthday this weekend, but I nixed that after the place tried to charge us $300 for the stereo (which was only $120) and installation. Sooo...instead...I got this:

I can't wait to start using it. I love to take pictures and have always wanted to get into photography. Eventually I'd like to get a DSLR, preferably a Nikon. I figured I could use a little more point-and-shoot practice and so I got this pretty little red thang as an intro to using the Nikon brand.

And I'm a total nerd. I was reading the instruction manual on the train ride in this morning, marking the settings I wanted to try out that I'd never bothered using on my old Sony.

I also lucked out in terms of memory. Nikon's are known for being a little bit slower than other cameras in terms of 'recovery time' between shots, while it's recording the image to the memory card. However, I was able to get a 2G 'advanced' memory card for only $29.99 (the 1G regular one was $24.99). The 'advanced' part means that it will actually help the camera with the recording process, shortening the delay.

We're going to King Richard's Faire (a Renaissance faire) this Sunday and I can't wait to use it! Since i likely won't be able to post another trip-related update until next week, I might just have to throw up a picture or two from the Faire, just to see how the new camera works.

Have a great weekend readers!

Since I've now introduced the Cast, I'd like to get a very tentative and general trip itinerary up. Look for it soon on a thread near you! (umm...this one )

 

[MA pigletfan]

hey!!! I HAVE THE SAME CAMERA! Although i bought it in the brown shade..and may i say that i LOVE it oh so much! Seriously, it takes the BEST pictures. And i totally studied the manual before taking it on its first "trip" to DC ( which was a nice test before our WDW trip in June)...
Have fun at ye olde Faire...looking forward to the pictures!

 

[Hedy]

This isn't a chapter, so to speak, but I'm just really excited and have to share.

A few months ago, my digital cameral was stolen out of my car. (Long story which I won't bore you with.) I've been lost without it. Well, my BF was initially going to buy me a new iPod-ready car stereo for my birthday this weekend, but I nixed that after the place tried to charge us $300 for the stereo (which was only $120) and installation. Sooo...instead...I got this:

I can't wait to start using it. I love to take pictures and have always wanted to get into photography. Eventually I'd like to get a DSLR, preferably a Nikon. I figured I could use a little more point-and-shoot practice and so I got this pretty little red thang as an intro to using the Nikon brand.

And I'm a total nerd. I was reading the instruction manual on the train ride in this morning, marking the settings I wanted to try out that I'd never bothered using on my old Sony.

I also lucked out in terms of memory. Nikon's are known for being a little bit slower than other cameras in terms of 'recovery time' between shots, while it's recording the image to the memory card. However, I was able to get a 2G 'advanced' memory card for only $29.99 (the 1G regular one was $24.99). The 'advanced' part means that it will actually help the camera with the recording process, shortening the delay.

We're going to King Richard's Faire (a Renaissance faire) this Sunday and I can't wait to use it! Since i likely won't be able to post another trip-related update until next week, I might just have to throw up a picture or two from the Faire, just to see how the new camera works.

Have a great weekend readers!

Since I've now introduced the Cast, I'd like to get a very tentative and general trip itinerary up. Look for it soon on a thread near you! (umm...this one )

Love the new camera! Where were you looking for a new stereo? (I'm in SEish MA and looking.)

 

[Tink-ing]

Love the new camera! Where were you looking for a new stereo? (I'm in SEish MA and looking.)

I'll PM you the details of what I found and what I had to deal with. I don't want to be flaming any particular retailer here on the boards or stray too off topic.

 

[samc]

just subbin for now.........I'll go back and read in the morning......looks like you're off to a great start!!

 

[Tink-ing]

just subbin for now.........I'll go back and read in the morning......looks like you're off to a great start!!

Welcome samc. And Roll Tide! (Even though I've never seen a Bama game. There's probably a lawyer on the West Coast spinning in his chair, with YooHoo shooting out his nose right about now.)

Hello folks. I haven't forgotten about you. Not one bit. I promise this hasn't become an 'unfinished TR' before it's even become a TR. Although maybe I should look into that. Do 3 at once even. Apparently it makes one somewhat of a celebrity on these here boards.

I *wish* I was posting here rather than doing the stuff I'm doing at work. Apparently Satan up and moved his Home of Hotness from Hades to the 3rd floor of a 40-story office building in the middle of Boston.

Weekend was fun but the beginning of this week has been a bit hectic (and it's only Tuesday) and the rest of the week into next promises more of the same. I'm going to do my best to get you an update sometime before Friday. I hope. And I'd like to share with you some of the pics taken at the Faire this weekend with the new hot red thang I posted about above.

Including the pic of the Liger.
The 600+ lb liger.
Who is in the Guiness Book of World Records.
And who should probably belong to the Peeps thread.
To get rid of a little bit of that extra girth.
And who doesn't know it yet but is going to be abducted and transported to his new abode in Fall River, MA (read: my house).
I'm just sayin'.

So, sorry, nothing new and exciting just yet, but it's coming. Really.

Hang tight.

84ish hours 'til the weekend.

 

[MA pigletfan]

oooooooooooh suspense!

 

[samc]

Welcome samc. And Roll Tide! (Even though I've never seen a Bama game. There's probably a lawyer on the West Coast spinning in his chair, with YooHoo shooting out his nose right about now.)

caught up and in for the ride.......I have a feeling it's going to be a fun 11(ish) months!!!

 

[Tink-ing]

Hello folks! Sorry to have been MIA for so long, but life has been, well...life, as of late. Thankfully, though, things seem to be evening out a bit which hopefully means two things:

1. Maintaining my sanity.
2. More updates to this here pre-trippie.

I think I'm more excited about #2, because at some point #1 is going to go anyway, right?

Before I give you more info on our trip, I believe in my last update I promised some pictures of a rather large feline, taken with the new red hot thang (my camera's nickname...yes, I gave my camera a nickname...perhaps #1 is a moot point?)

Every year we head up to King Richard's Faire, a renaissance faire in Carver, MA. As part of the 'King's Zoo' they have a 'big cat' show, which is put on by a group called T.I.G.E.R.S (The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species). This guy below is part of their family. His name is Hercules and he is a liger, more specifically, he is the world's largest liger, as recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records.

Meet Herc:

All 600+ pounds of him. He's more than nine feet long.

But he's just a big baby that loves his baby bottle (filled with vitamin D whole milk).

Who apparently moonlights as one of the Thundercats (check out those glowing eyes!)

The pictures didn't come out as well as I would've liked. We were in a really shady area, further back and I'm still learning the settings, but well, he's a pretty impressive boy, regardless.

So, there's your liger fix for the day.

Now back to a quick update on our regularly scheduled program...

I gave you some Who's for our trip, now a little more on the When and a couple of the Why's for the When.

The approximate dates of our trip are 9/18/08 - 9/25/08, a Thursday to Thursday. The dates are still tentative, but we're probably going to try to fly out midweek to save on airfare by flying out of Providence, RI (T.F. Green) on Southwest.

I heart Southwest. If they had the headrest TVs (like Jet Blue), I'd probably try to live on Southwest. I've always had excellent customer service and gotten great deals. For example, the summer of 2002 (when unfortunately the travel market was still down in the proverbial dumps) a friend and I flew roundtrip to Los Angeles for $200. Total.

Now granted, I know we likely won't be seeing those kind of deals next fall, but still, in our area, you can't beat a Southwest deal.

In terms of timing, none of my past trips have been in the fall. I've been in May/June, July, August, January and February. But I've never been in the Fall or for the holidays. Right now because of my job, the holidays are still out, so that left the Fall...and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party...and the Food and Wine Festival.

Because we're going to be gone for a week and staying at the AKL, we really wanted to try to stick to the Value Season in terms of costs, which means we'll likely miss F&WF, but we've still got Halloween with Mickey! I'm so excited about MNSSHP and the Boo to You parade and a late night at the MK in costume!

So there is the basic When. If you're going to be traveling around the same time, chime in and let me know. Maybe we can meet in 'real' life!

Seriously, next time I'll have a more entertaining update, but I didn't want to leave this languishing for too long and, well, I had a liger to share!

Happy Monday to all and to all a good rest of the week.

 

[ILGoofy]

I booked on Friday for September 16-23 at POFQ. I really wanted to stay at AKL, but I'm going solo and could barely rationalize the cost of a moderate, let alone a deluxe. Now it's time for me to get all OCD on planning.

 

[Tink-ing]

Chapter: The One Which Nikki Is Too Lazy to Number Correctly

I’ve given you some of the Who. (Remember it’s the Who, not THE WHO, although by all means feel free to enjoy them while reading this little pre-trippie.)

I’ve offered up a little bit of the When with some Why thrown in.
So now, how about some Where. Not to be confused with somewhere, as in over the rainbow.

Obviously, the “big” answer to “Where?” and the answer that I’m assuming you already know otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this after pilfering all of the lime green Mickey paint samples from your local Home Depot and triple-checking your 304 sheet Excel minute-by-minute trip planning workbook is, of course…

The Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL.
My happiest place.
1,200+ miles from my everyday place.
And yes, that is much, much too far.

The actual Where? that I’m concerned with sharing with you today, however, is where we’ll be resting our pretty little heads while enjoying all the World has to offer.

In nine trips to the World (and one trip to the Land which I was barely able to enjoy – another story for another time, that one is), I have never once stayed at a Deluxe Disney resort. For any number of reasons – at age seven one is rarely allowed to make the accommodation decisions, considering how one’s criteria is ‘will it have a pool and can I jump on the beds’? At 12 I was really much more concerned with being able to get my bangs to do “the wave” because that was the perfect accessory for my farmer jeans shorts and coordinating scrunchies. As a babysitter/nanny at 16, well, I was at the mercy of the family. And as an adult, I’ve been at the mercy of my finances. (Aren’t well all? I’m going to have part of my check direct deposited to the Mouse from here on out, I think.)

At seven, we stayed at the Buena Vista Palace, by Downtown Disney, which at the time was still the Disney Village Marketplace. I remember being excited that it had a Mickey phone. And a pool. Go figure.

At 12, we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which was still pretty new and wasn’t getting the much maligned views I’ve been seeing as of late. We stayed in Trinidad North, and while we were (apparently) light years from Old Port Royale, I can’t remember caring.

When I went at 16, as a babysitter/nanny, we drove down in an RV and stayed somewhere in Kissimmee. Let’s just say that that was an interesting trip that I’ll be sure to share with you at some point.

And as an adult I’ve stayed at a number of resorts, including:
*All Star Music (Rock Inn – or as we referred to it on that night we came back a little tipsy from PI “the one across the lot from the giant tennis balls”)
*Pop Century (Where I had the best non-Preferred location ever in the 70’s building – if I think of it I’ll get a map, circle it and scan it on here for all of you)
*the Swan (I can’t remember if this was pre or post-renovation)
*the Dolphin (Definitely pre-renovation)
*the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World (Bea-U-tiful, great service, big rooms, literally across the street from the SW parking lot)
*the Amerisuites Convention Center :shudder:: Where toilets don’t flush and staff don’t care.)
*the Sheraton Safari (Thin walls. VERY thin walls. As this is a family-friendly thread, let me just say it like this – I knew what the gentleman next door to me had for dinner, when he called his family, that he had a hacking cough, and exactly what he ordered off of pay-per-view. Bleh.)

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “Um, self? Aren’t the Swan and the Dolphin deluxe resorts?” Yes, technically, they are. However, while they are beautiful resorts, despite being one of my favorite locations to stay at while in the World in terms of proximity, and although I have not a single complaint about them, they are still a little un-Disney. When I say Deluxe Disney, I’m talking the Poly and the Contemporary (my two “dream-stay” resorts), the Yacht & Beach Club, the Boardwalk, etc.

And in this trip’s case, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

In the past, most of my trips have been solo or semi-solo or mostly-solo, so I couldn’t really justify the cost of staying at a Deluxe. Or even a moderate. So it was mostly values. And that worked just fine for me. I was just happy to be there.

I think I’d be willing to sleep in a broom closet to be at Disney.

Or even have Mel HappyHaunt’s “upgraded” view at the Wilderness Lodge.

Also, during the time most of my trips were taken, I was working for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which, when I could get them, meant $69/night stays at the Swan and Dolphin, or the Swolphin, as some have so affectionately named it. (In case you’re a DIS/Disney newbie, the Swolphin is owned by Starwood, a.k.a. their more commonly known counterparts, the Westin and Sheraton, respectively.

But this time, I’ve got a traveling partner. So I thought to myself, “Let’s go ALL OUT BABY! Let’s stay at a MODERATE!!! WOOHOO! WE ARE LIVIN’ LARGE!”
And I was more than fine with that and very excited about it. There was only one problem.

Missy.

Last year she stayed at the AKL with her sister. In a Savannah view room. On the Concierge level. And had gotten royally and rightfully spoiled. I swear to you, they probably should just hand you a tiara with that kind of stay.

So when we were deciding where we’d be temporarily livin’ in the World, and after my explaining to her the difference between the Values, Moderates and Deluxes and that, in no uncertain terms, we’d both have to sell our kidneys on the black market a la ‘Turistas’ (baaaad move, don’t see it) to stay like she’d stayed with her sister last year, we compromised:

Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Standard room/view.
Prayers and ritual sacrifices to the Goddess of the Free Upgrade.

Actually, the conversation went more like this, post-resort level description and reveal of what it would cost to repeat her stay from last year:

Missy: I don’t think we need to pay that much for concierge. We can bring our own nips and cheese and crackers and do our own concierge.
Me: True. And we can always hope for an upgrade. I mean, we can see the aminals (yes, I said aminals) from the public spaces if not.
(At this point I was still pretty sure she was going to cut it down to a moderate for the price.)
Missy: So what do you want to do?
Me: I don’t know. (LIE) I haven’t stayed at a Deluxe resort really, so I’m not sure if it’s really worth the price if we aren’t going to be in the room that much.
Missy: Wait. You’ve never stayed at one of the nicer places?
Me: No.
Missy: Really? Well who am I to deny you your first stay? Let’s stay at the Lodge!
Me: (Nothing – my mouth was hanging open at the thought that I was really, REALLY going to stay at the AKL.)
Missy: Nik?
Me: Yes! I mean, yes. That’s awesome. It’s a plan. Let’s do that. I’m so excited!
Missy: Nik…Um…Are you doing the running man right now?
Me: Um, no?
Missy: Liar.

See the thing of it is, we can both afford it, it was more a matter of did we want to afford it. I did. At first I wasn’t so sure she did. But I was happy to be wrong. For the first time ever. Because I am never wrong.

Mostly.

And that, my friends is how we came to the decision to stay at the AKL, and I couldn’t be more excited!

To be in that atmosphere!

To be so close to the aminals!

To be so close to the zebra domes! (Which I’ve never had before…GASP!)

 

[Hedy]

Sounds like fun! My brother and SIL adore AKL, so hopefull you'll love it.

And I'm salivating a bit at the $69 Swolphin rooms.

 

[DL55]

You'll like the AKL. We had a standard room but we just had to cross the elevator lobby to go out on an observation deck. Unless you like to go out on your balcony in your PJs it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Tink-ing]

And I'm salivating a bit at the $69 Swolphin rooms.

I have to say it was the best benefit. I think with taxes and fees it actually totaled about $88/nt. I stayed on 3 or 4 separate occasions and always had a great stay.

It's true that the Disney 'magic' is a lot more subtle and they aren't quite as upgrade-happy, but I have to say, the service was great and they always went above and beyond in terms of meeting my needs/requests. And I'm not just saying that because I worked for them. I stayed at a lot of different Starwood properties and believe me, there were some doozies (unclean coffee pot, no soap and dirty sheets - and that was just one hotel!), but the Swolphin always got it right.

And, as a side note, I'd love to stay there again if only to be within a hop, skip and a jump of the new Mandara Spa. Looks gorgeous and I'm hoping to somehow work it into our trip.

Unless you like to go out on your balcony in your PJs it shouldn't be too bad.

If I did that, I don't think I'd see any animals. I think I'd scare them all away. They'd be hiding in the trees, all stealthy, saying to each other, "Is she gone yet?"

 

[MA pigletfan]

Hi Stranger..just wanted to check in. ...haven't seen you over on the Peeps thread in a while....