DisneyScraps
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2010
- Messages
- 1,125
I am a regular Disney World visitor. I have lost count of my trips but it's over 30. Because of this we rarely have anything that we HAVE to do. We can take a really relaxed approach.
I have been planing in my head this trip for months but had not actually booked anything.
I wanted to do it really budget. The original plan was a times share through Sky Auction and that works better if you leave it last minute. We did this a few years ago, I got a 2 bedroom time share for around $350.00. We really liked it.
Of course there is nothing like staying at Disney so just for fun I decided to see how much the Pop is. It was going to run us 130.00 more. Good enough for me. I booked the Pop using a military discount for 5 days.
We are driving from NC and I have a hybrid so even with gas being so expensive it will be relatively cheap to get there. My family does not mind a road trip. It's a lot cheaper than flying and renting a car. I always rent a car when I fly.
We happened to use Disney's Magical Express when it was in it's infancy and they lost our luggage for 18 hours. I had a young child with me and it was really upsetting. It was such a terrible experience we dubbed it the Not So Magical Express. After being bitten like that I have just always rented a car for my trips. So flying always adds that extra expense.
Once I got the Pop squared away I started to think about restaurants. Disney is as much about the food and the ambience as it is about characters and rides.
The one restaurant that we had to do was Jiko. It's my favorite. That was the first ADR I made and then started to fill in the others. We are really flexible about which restaurants we go to. If I was set on doing Le Cellier or try to dine with Cindy at the Castle it would be different and I would be making them 6 months in advance like so many of you. My kid is now 10 and we have done the castle and the princesses many times. We are kind of over it.
I am quite glad because the food at that Castle is only so so in my opinion. I call it Cinderella's Royal Ripoff.
I am not a hater I just miss the old way where there was a real menu to order from.
So let me introduce myself and tell you about my family.
I am Lisa....chief planner for our group traveling with Disney Gracie this is her 19th time she would be proud to tell you. She knows enough about Disney to be a tour guide. My darling boyfriend Jay is completing our group.
When I met Jay he kind of made fun of this Disney obsession that I have. He had never been which I found shocking since he grew up in California and lived in Florida twice.
Who doesn't go to Disney even once?
He is obviously a Freak!
After hearing me and my daughter talk about it over and over he got a little more interested and two summers ago he went with us. It didn't take long to convert him.
Here is my favorite picture from that trip.
The kid in the picture is completely Disney but the man....He refused matching tee shirts, scoffed at my Disney wardrobe but notice the lanyard. He fits right in now and for fun....notice the person behind my daughter left shoulder.
Bless her heart!
Here we are at Victoria and Alberts for my birthday dinner on that trip. YUM!
and....just because I am that kind of a Mom, here is my daughter on the drive home. I call this one "Disney I am DONE"
We leave in 4 days.
The plan is to head out as early as possible Friday. It's my daughter last day of school and she has to make an appearance to get her report card. We already know what is on it because they did awards Friday night. This one is going to cost me once we get to The World of Disney I am sure! Jay has to work but he will be putting in a brief appearance. I hope to be on the road by 11am.
We are driving straight to Florida to my sisters house. We will spend Friday and Saturday nights with her and then head to Orlando Sunday sometime. Disney is going to be calling to me but she has never met my Jay and it's important that he meet her since she is one of my favorite people on this planet. The fact that they haven't met until now is complete madness. When we were in Florida last time they were in Washington.
That was some bad planing!
Today I am making lists and checking them twice. Doing laundry, I am going to start to pack tomorrow.
We are a creative crafty family and we decided that we needed some kind of awesome hat. We made paper bag hats for St Pats day that were amazing, it was fun making them and we got so many compliments. We start to think about doing something like that. I personally love the idea but Jay didn't think they would hold up well with sweating in the June heat.
So.........
We hatched a plan to alter some old sets of ears that we have. I liked the idea of having some that are totally custom. I am going to be working on that tomorrow. Nothing like doing that stuff last minute!
My daughter is going through her pins. She is an avid pin trader and has hundreds of them. I started that when she was 4 as something for her to do to keep her busy while we waited for shows and in lines. She has morphed into a pin trading crazy who would rather trade pins than ride rides.
With very little planing we are set to go!
I have been planing in my head this trip for months but had not actually booked anything.
I wanted to do it really budget. The original plan was a times share through Sky Auction and that works better if you leave it last minute. We did this a few years ago, I got a 2 bedroom time share for around $350.00. We really liked it.
Of course there is nothing like staying at Disney so just for fun I decided to see how much the Pop is. It was going to run us 130.00 more. Good enough for me. I booked the Pop using a military discount for 5 days.
We are driving from NC and I have a hybrid so even with gas being so expensive it will be relatively cheap to get there. My family does not mind a road trip. It's a lot cheaper than flying and renting a car. I always rent a car when I fly.
We happened to use Disney's Magical Express when it was in it's infancy and they lost our luggage for 18 hours. I had a young child with me and it was really upsetting. It was such a terrible experience we dubbed it the Not So Magical Express. After being bitten like that I have just always rented a car for my trips. So flying always adds that extra expense.
Once I got the Pop squared away I started to think about restaurants. Disney is as much about the food and the ambience as it is about characters and rides.
The one restaurant that we had to do was Jiko. It's my favorite. That was the first ADR I made and then started to fill in the others. We are really flexible about which restaurants we go to. If I was set on doing Le Cellier or try to dine with Cindy at the Castle it would be different and I would be making them 6 months in advance like so many of you. My kid is now 10 and we have done the castle and the princesses many times. We are kind of over it.
I am quite glad because the food at that Castle is only so so in my opinion. I call it Cinderella's Royal Ripoff.
I am not a hater I just miss the old way where there was a real menu to order from.
So let me introduce myself and tell you about my family.
I am Lisa....chief planner for our group traveling with Disney Gracie this is her 19th time she would be proud to tell you. She knows enough about Disney to be a tour guide. My darling boyfriend Jay is completing our group.
When I met Jay he kind of made fun of this Disney obsession that I have. He had never been which I found shocking since he grew up in California and lived in Florida twice.
Who doesn't go to Disney even once?
He is obviously a Freak!
After hearing me and my daughter talk about it over and over he got a little more interested and two summers ago he went with us. It didn't take long to convert him.
Here is my favorite picture from that trip.
The kid in the picture is completely Disney but the man....He refused matching tee shirts, scoffed at my Disney wardrobe but notice the lanyard. He fits right in now and for fun....notice the person behind my daughter left shoulder.
Bless her heart!
Here we are at Victoria and Alberts for my birthday dinner on that trip. YUM!
and....just because I am that kind of a Mom, here is my daughter on the drive home. I call this one "Disney I am DONE"
We leave in 4 days.
The plan is to head out as early as possible Friday. It's my daughter last day of school and she has to make an appearance to get her report card. We already know what is on it because they did awards Friday night. This one is going to cost me once we get to The World of Disney I am sure! Jay has to work but he will be putting in a brief appearance. I hope to be on the road by 11am.
We are driving straight to Florida to my sisters house. We will spend Friday and Saturday nights with her and then head to Orlando Sunday sometime. Disney is going to be calling to me but she has never met my Jay and it's important that he meet her since she is one of my favorite people on this planet. The fact that they haven't met until now is complete madness. When we were in Florida last time they were in Washington.
That was some bad planing!
Today I am making lists and checking them twice. Doing laundry, I am going to start to pack tomorrow.
We are a creative crafty family and we decided that we needed some kind of awesome hat. We made paper bag hats for St Pats day that were amazing, it was fun making them and we got so many compliments. We start to think about doing something like that. I personally love the idea but Jay didn't think they would hold up well with sweating in the June heat.
So.........
We hatched a plan to alter some old sets of ears that we have. I liked the idea of having some that are totally custom. I am going to be working on that tomorrow. Nothing like doing that stuff last minute!
My daughter is going through her pins. She is an avid pin trader and has hundreds of them. I started that when she was 4 as something for her to do to keep her busy while we waited for shows and in lines. She has morphed into a pin trading crazy who would rather trade pins than ride rides.
With very little planing we are set to go!
we have already been to the beach once this year so I know that I have one good one. I have about 8 others and I like to take 2 with me on a trip in case one doesn't dry over night. There is nothing ickier than putting on a semi damp bathing suit.
