The trip that started with a lost $300 bet

[sailors_wfe]

Alright, you'll have to bear with me as this is my first trip report, but I've decided to get all this down while it's still fresh.
Cast:
Me 28 y.o. disney nut and planner who has been in love with all things Disney as long as I can remember (I still haven't gotten over my parents leaving me at home with my grandma while they went to WDW when I was 3 )
DH 28 yo navy guy.. greatest DH in the world(most of the time ) who tollerates my love of Disney and each trip tells me this is our last for a "few years"

DBIL 38 yo who is making his 2nd trip down to the world... also along for the ride are his wife who is SLIGHTLY into disney and their 10yo DS who is an overall great kid.

This trip came about last Oct after DH bet DBIL as to who could loose the most weight in an amount of time... needless to say, DH lost the $300 bet right before we left for WDW. While at Disney that trip we bought into DVC and I already had a trip planned for Jan for my first solo trip (i'm seeing a trend with this dangerous DVC thing LOL) Anyway, on the way home DH came up with the geneous idea of taking DBIL and family on a trip to Disney instead of paying him the $300... of course I don't argue that they are getting the better deal b/c I'm getting another trip to Disney out of the whole thing So we throw the idea out to them... set a Sept date and start making plans. Then before I get reservations made we change to May sooner trip then expected.. yay!! Made reservations for May 4-9 at OKW in a 2br and ask for imput from them for dinning or any planning they want.. no imput except that we eat at Bomas.. ok, can do that one of my new fav places to eat
Then DH decides we need to do the dinning plan... but they can't pay for DP so DH graciously offers to pay for their portion and ours So now I have more ADR's to make and more planning to do... then Disney changes around the EMH parks for the week and I have more shuffling around to do. We're finally ready to leave... about 5 hours earlier then we normally leave for the 12 hr drive down
More pics coming once I get them put on the computer

 

[jcc0621]

This sounds like it's gonna be a good one

 

[Lady Lallie]

I agree! I am here for the ride!

 

[sailors_wfe]

This sounds like it's gonna be a good one

I agree! I am here for the ride!

Glad to see someone's following along for the trip gotta warn you guys though, I tend to ramble a bit anyway... on with the show......

 

[dreamer17555]

Sound like fun! I'm in

-Becca-

 

[sailors_wfe]

Let's see... where was I...oh yeah, start of our trip.... before I start let me say that DH and I had looked at pics of OKW online the day before we were due to leave and weren't too excited about the decor... and he's the competitive type and was afraid his bro wouldn't be impressed... but I said, who cares, we're going to be in Disney and they're getting a free trip outta the deal
Anywhoo... Saturday morning arrived and DH and I packed up our car and the doggy to head to my parents to drop off the "granddoggy' and get some sleep before heading out. Dog was dropped off ahead of schedule and we had nothing to do for a few hours, so I settled into some work and went out and got my nails done while DH went to visit with the rest of his family (lives near my parents.. so it's an easy trip to go visit them when we are in town) I finally went to catch a nap since I do most of the night driving... managed to sleep for about 2 hrs (remember the commercial with the kids that are too excited to sleep... yup, that's me ) so we head out of town around 7:30ish... again, ahead of schedule DH drives the first 2 hours then I take over. We're waiting for DBIL to call to let us know they are stopping for the night so we can meet up with them in the morning. Turns out they stopped about 3 hrs from Orlando.. just inside the FL border. It's our tradition for me to drive the night shift and then usually hit the FL welcome area around 6am and switch drivers... well, this time we were running way early so I drove to the hotel to wake up the "gang" at 5 am by 6 we were on the road and ready for some Waffle House (another tradition )... finally made it to OKW by 9 and our room was ready!! we were in room 4913 which was all the way in the back of the property... a good thing for that since they had started remodeling the rooms recently and they started with the back, so ours was nice and "fresh" and wonderful!!!!
Once we'd unloaded the cars and freshened up a bit we were off to Shades of Green to get park tickets for DBIL and family... then off to a park for the day. So by 11am we'd been on the road all night, checked into the hotel, gotten park tickets and were on our way to Animal Kingdom (per TGM) to enjoy our "bonus" day in my schedule. Walked up to the turnstyles and there was "Wes Palm" at the entrance.. check one of my "Must Do's" off the list on the first day

The park was crazy busy, but at the same time not really too bad for lines (this would become a theme for us) we got FP for everest and went to have lunch at the new Yak & Yetti Counter Service. Took everyone some time to figure out the DP but we managed to figure it out and placed our orders. Overall we decided not to come back here... no one enjoyed their lunch, but hey, it was our first day Off to catch the new Nemo Show (my fav show in the park ) and then ride EE with our FP then Dinosaur with a 20 min wait (longest wait of the whole trip) then we did It's Tough to be a Bug and headed out of the park (too many people there for me )
Off to do some grocery shopping then hit MK for EMH.. managed to get lost going to WalMart but we wound up at the Publix and spent way too much on groceries that we didn't even eat half of . Once we were done shopping and unloading groceries we headed to MK to catch a few rides before bed... managed POTC as a walk on... FP for Big Thunder Mtn and rode Splash Mtn (just missing the fireworks from the top of the mtn) then went and rode BTM and headed outta there before the masses Overall GREAT first day... strangely I'm not at all tired at 11pm considering I had about 2 hrs of sleep since yesterday

ETA: going to keep track of our spending for this trip as best I can remember so I'll have a record
Day 1: Gas for trip down $65.00; Dinning OOP- $0 (DBIL paid for b-fast)
Lunch @ Y&Y CS- 62.68 + tax used 4 CS credits
Dinner @ Pecos Bill's- 67.85 + tax... used 5 CS credits
Total Pd for dinning plan- $949
total used Day 1- $130.53

 

[jcc0621]

OMG - I would have been passed out from exhaustion after driving all night. I would have never made it to a park..You get a big for accomplishing that...

 

[sailors_wfe]

OMG - I would have been passed out from exhaustion after driving all night. I would have never made it to a park..You get a big for accomplishing that...

LOL.. normally I'm done by 4:30/5:00 and ready to crash that's why I didn't plan anything for our first day... oddly enough, this is the first trip that I wasn't at all tired the entire trip (well.. until the last day ) But hey, I've been working in running to my mornings every day since March.. trying to run a 5k (in Disney of course) and I think that had a HUGE impact on my energy levels

 

[sailors_wfe]

Thought I would go ahead and do day 2 while it's still all fresh in my head.. then I'm going to go back and add the photos I have on my camera.

Plan for the day- EPCOT open till close (highly unusual for us to do only 1 park a day) having lunch at Beaches & Cream (for DH and so we can move the cars and park at the beach club instead of EPCOT parking) then Dinner for DH and me and Le Cellier and for DBIL at Garden Grill (ha ha couldn't get ADR's for a party of 5@ LeCellier )

Day starts out GREAT... I managed to get up at 5:30am and go for anice quiet run (discovered it's easier to run at disney..,. must be that Pixie Dust ) everyone up and out the door by 7:50 (I thought this was going to be a problem all week,, nope ) Get to EPCOT and are first in line. It seems to be Jenn's (DSIL) mission for the week to get her son to be the center of attention at all the parks... so I had told them about family of the day and that stuff, so she was determined Jack (DN) would be picked... well, they picked a kid right next to us (too cute,, CM asked for his whole name, he said his REAL name was Luke Skywalker ) Anyway, he opened the turnstyles and we went up to wait in front of the Fountains to be let in... I saw a lone Dream Team member standing behind the ropes off to the side (toward Soarin) so I headed over there to stand and talked to him for a bit... after about 10 mins of conversation he dissapears and we get a new CM to talk to before the countdown... then the Dream Team member (Billy... I think) comes back and introduces us to a Soarin CM (Jessica) and tells us we're the family of the day for Soarin and we would get to ride alone on the first ride of the day how cool is that... considering it was Jack's desire to be the first person on a ride for the day, our trip was starting out great Jenn was telling everyone who would listen that yesterday had been our "bonus" day and we'd done 2 parks and done all this stuff.. so she was happy (a good thing in itself as she doesn't impress easily) and now we were FOD on Soarin for their first time on the ride. We took some pics with Jessica

and got on the ride (front row center of course) Went off to get FP for Soarin later and headed off to do Turtle Talk with Crush... right on schedule They didn't want to explore the Seas any when the show was over so we all walked over to Test Track to get FP and then ride Mission Space (orange of course... but Josh chickened out ) we then went over and did Journey into the Imagination (I love Figment) and left to move the car and have early lunch (11:15 ish). Beaches & Cream is Dylan's Favorite place to eat on property and we hadn't made it back since 2003, so that was a top priority for me to get in this trip... plus it made moving the car easy since I wanted to walk out of International Gateway after Illuminations tonight instead of out of the front of the park (i'd discovered this tip during my solo trip when Anne's_ Family suggested it) Beaches and Cream was GREAT... I was the only one that got ice cream.. tried talking the gang into the Kitchen Sink (2 were served while we were there ) but no go... then we walked over to EPCOT to explore World Showcase. Jack had to do a picture in each country for school, so they were running through the countries while we wanted to explore.. so we split up to meet back up for illuminations after dinner. Dylan and I explored the countries slightly.. riding Malestorm (where we caught back up with DBIL and fam)... saw Mushu in China (or Japan, I can never remember) tasted Sake in Japan and did a hunt for Miyuki the candy lady... until we discovered that she's only there certain days so one "must do" saved for next trip.. we decided to not use our FP's (this would also be a theme for us.. I think DH is getting to old for this stuff ) and instead rode The Land which was a first for us and was really cool (DH is STILL talking about the shrimp that could eat a small baby ) then went to dinner at Le Celliar. We weren't expecting anything good out of this dinner as we had listened to the Podcast on the trip down and Kevin's review of Le Celliar hadn't been good. I must say, this place FAR exceeded my expectations.. best steak I've had in years. Here's a shot of DH shortly after our Pretzel Bread arrived

and then of course, one of my filet

Anyway.. I got the Filet, DH got the NY Strip and we also ordered a bowl of Cheddar Cheese Soup and I ordered a side of the Cream Cheese Potatoes.. then DH got the Moose (pics to follow)

and I got the Creme Brule... dessert wasn't as good as main course.. but wow.... also had my first 'Random Disser" meeting here... sitting next to us was a great couple that came up to me and noticed my LGMH... I'm SOOO bad with names.. but if she happens to read this, hello and it really was great meeting someone from the boards randomly.
After dinner we called DBIL and found that they had a spot steaked out behind Rose and Crown (GREAT spot!) so kudos to them... we sat there while they explored... then watched Illuminations and walked leisurly out of the park. What a great first full day at Disney

$ spent--
Souviners (read pins for our new hobby--yes, I've crossed over to the "dark" side and have started a pin collection ) $21.25

A. Beverages-- Sake- $9.99; Italian Margarita-$8.99 Drinks at Le Cel- $10.16

Dinning- B&C pd OOP-47.53 + tax and tip (didn't keep track very well)
LeCellier- $90.24 +tax and tip and OOP $12.00
Garden Grill- $86.97 + tax and tip

Total covered by DP= $177.21

 

[jcc0621]

Great update. You hit EPCOT like we usually do. All day DS is only 4 so it is not his favorite park, so we usually only do one day at EPCOT and are there from opening to close. Last year we did take a break mid-day which worked out great

 

[Lady Lallie]

That is so great that you got to be Family of the Day for Soarin'! What a neat thing!
I'm glad you liked Le Cellier, I have decieded to keep our ressie there despite not great reviews since the menu change.
I can't wait to see pics.

 

[sailors_wfe]

Great update. You hit EPCOT like we usually do. All day DS is only 4 so it is not his favorite park, so we usually only do one day at EPCOT and are there from opening to close. Last year we did take a break mid-day which worked out great

Normally we take each park 1/2 day at a time.. it just worked out this way, and went great.. we did have a slight "Melt down" with DN shortly after starting the WS.. but hey, then we split up and all was great

That is so great that you got to be Family of the Day for Soarin'! What a neat thing!
I'm glad you liked Le Cellier, I have decieded to keep our ressie there despite not great reviews since the menu change.
I can't wait to see pics.

Yeah!! We've never won any kind of family of the day stuff, so that was REALLY neat.. I was quite happy to enjoy Le Celliar as much as we did.. it's definitely getting put on the next longer trip (where I can manage ADR's 180 days out ) The Filet really was the best one I've had in years.. just make sure you know how you want it cooked... normally when I order a Medium steak it's overdone, so I usually order a Medium Rare... well, Le C. actually cooks steaks like you order them, so mine was really rare in the center.. DH wouldn't even try any (more for me )
I started reading your PTR and am loving it!!! You're going to have such a great "honeymoon"

 

[Lady Lallie]

Yeah!! We've never won any kind of family of the day stuff, so that was REALLY neat.. I was quite happy to enjoy Le Celliar as much as we did.. it's definitely getting put on the next longer trip (where I can manage ADR's 180 days out ) The Filet really was the best one I've had in years.. just make sure you know how you want it cooked... normally when I order a Medium steak it's overdone, so I usually order a Medium Rare... well, Le C. actually cooks steaks like you order them, so mine was really rare in the center.. DH wouldn't even try any (more for me )
I started reading your PTR and am loving it!!! You're going to have such a great "honeymoon"

Aww! Thanks for reading my PTR. We have fun over there.

 

[sailors_wfe]

Well.. 3rd day is up already... trying to get all this down while I remember
Original plan for the day: Hollywood Studios in the am with Animal Kingdom for a few hours before dinner at Bomas (the ONLY request I heard from the In Laws-- keep this in mind for later ) and then whatever after dinner.
During our EPCOT meltdown yesterday afternoon we (DH and I) decided that since we'd "done" AK already and still had another morning there later in the week that we'd scrap that part and spend the afternoon relaxing by the pool before dinner.. sounds great, right? oh, and then we'd go to Downtown Disney after dinner for some shopping. (I think DH was on a mission to spend as much money as possible this trip... who was I to argue )

So we head to DHS on time this morning... wait for them to open the gates and let us in... head off to Rock-N-Rollercoaster
.. get FastPasses and walk on... DH, DSIL and DN ride TOT while DBIL and I wait and people watch (This is the most time I've ever spent alone with DBIL.. and I managed not to kill him!!! ) Went over and did Star Tours and Muppet Vision before lunch at Pizza Planet ( no lunch for me..yuck) Tried to get into the Indy Show at 11:40 (i think) but it was packed... so DH DBIL and DN went to ride RNR while DSIL and I went to do Walt- One Man's Dream ( I really just needed some Me time at my fav attraction, but they wouldn't let me off by myself) and then we wondered around until 12:15 then went to get seats for indy. Couldn't get Josh on the phone so we went in and got great seats (3rd row center).. they showed up about 3 mins before show started. DBIL managed to get into the show and was goofy enough to get his own "acting" part where he had to die on stage

Then we were off, headed back for our "relaxing" afternoon. So everyone headed off to the pool... really, I just headed out to the gift shop to pick up our pics from Buzz Lightyear and do some shopping.. I don't do pools very often then I headed back to the room to do some "Work" on the laptop before heading out to dinner.
Jenn decided to dress up for dinner (I think this is where I should have seen a problem... it's Bomas but I did get a little dressy too) So we get to Bomas and our table is almost immediately ready.. sit down to order drinks(keep in mind this is 5:45.. PRIME dinner time) and get our food. Here's me enjoying my Mo-Gee-Toe in memory of Bawb from the Podcast team

I talk about which chef is working just out of curiosity and the CM instantly thinks I'm a CM .. this backfires later when she tries to charge us on our room card for the meal .. Anywhoo... half way through the meal Jenn loudly asks "Is there anywhere on property where children aren't all over the place" Umm.. it's DISNEY.. and YOU have a kid yourself we nicely explain that there isn't really anywhere except V&A and I go on enjoying stuffing myself Next it's off to Downtown Disney for a RUSHED shopping experience (weren't there 10 minutes before inlaws were ready to leave) DH discovers his room key is missing.. so we're off back to drop them off at the room and then head over to AKL to find the key (at 10pm) finally back to the room and off to enjoy the jacuzzi tub before bed.

$ Spending
Lunch at Pizza Planet- $49.80 + tax (4 CS Credits)
Dinner at Boma's- $134.95 + tax, tip and 1 drink for me-$10~
Basin Bath Store- $35.00 ~ (I LOVE this store and stock up every time I'm down)
Total spent on DDP- $184.75 today

 

[ehstrojette]

86 was all you spend on gas on the way down?? what did you drive and how long did it take you? We are driving a van from TN I figured it would cost us 200 or so for gas

 

[erinsmom]

Subbing

 

[juliana_sd]

Sounds like fun, I'm in! That was very generous of you guys to pay for them