Travels With a Disney Rookie - A May 2012 PTR!

[flyergrad09]

Hello everyone!

This is my (eep!) very first trip report! Keeping that in mind, please bear with me. I'm starting this a bit late, but school has taken over my life, so trip planning has been put on a back burner... UNTIL NOW!

Now, on to the good stuff!

The cast of characters:

Me!

I made my first trip to WDW when I was just 9 weeks old. Therefore, I blame my mother for my obsession. I am currently finishing my Master's in Library and Information Sciences, and I want to work in a public library in youth services once I graduate (and after this trip!). This trip is super special to me for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons why is because this trip will be my 10th to WDW. Yup, I'm finally entering the double digits!

Another reason why this trip is so special is because of who I'm traveling with:

My boyfriend, Matt!

Why yes, that is a mug with the preamble to the US Constitution spelled out in license plates!

He's an amazing boyfriend and we have the best time together. We're both nerds who love videogames and Muppets. But he has one major flaw...

HE'S NEVER BEEN TO WALT DISNEY WORLD.

Clearly, this problem needed to be fixed ASAP. Lucky for him, we have a lot to celebrate on this trip.

What we're celebrating:

1. I'm graduating on May 4th with my MLIS.

2. May 4th just happens to be the 25th anniversary of the first time I set foot (or you know, stroller wheel) in WDW.

3. Matt works in the insurance business and he has an exam he has to take for his job. That exam is in just a couple of days now, but he's been studying for it for months, so once it's over, that's DEFINITELY something to celebrate!

4. The last day of our trip is the one year anniversary of when we first messaged each other. FYI, we met online. (It works!)

5. One month after our trip is our one year anniversary BUT I will be missing it because I'll be on vacation with my family then. So we're celebrating a month early with this trip!

Our Travel Plans:

We will be staying at the All-Star Music from May 14-18. It's not as long as I would like, but we're pretty good at being budget-conscious (more on that later...)

Day by Day Breakdown

Monday, May 14
Leave home VERY early and fly into MCO
Land around 10 AM
Take DME to ASMu
Spend the rest of the day at DHS!

Tuesday, May 15
Spend the day at MK!

Wednesday, May 16
Spend the day at Epcot!

Thursday, May 17
Spend most of the day at AK!
Have dinner/shopping at DTD
Possible DisneyQuest extravaganza?

Friday, May 18
Pack up stuff
Spend a large chunk of the day at DHS
Head back to ASMu one last time
Fly home late at night

As of right now, we don't have any ADRs. I know what you're thinking... "WHAT?!? She's cray cray..." But, I have my reasons. First, this trip is not the most financially smart decision for me since I've been in grad school and not working (or at least not enough to make any significant money) for two years. Second, I like the flexibility of CS restaurants. I'm the type of person who has to eat ASAP when I get hungry. Third... I looked at so many restaurants, and I couldn't decide where I wanted to eat.

Our original plans had us leaving midday on Friday, but when I plugged all of our DHS rides into Ridemax, it kept telling me that there was no way to do everything that we wanted to do in the time that we had on that Monday, so after talking it over, we moved our flight and will be adding an extra day to our tickets when we're in the parks since they've already been shipped to us.

I think that's it for now... stay tuned for exciting Disney Rookie adventures!

My Disney History

Life Update 4/24!

Awww! My very first ADR!

Meeting a Childhood Hero, A Disneyversary, and Graduation!

 

[OrangeJuice]

Hey Flyergrad!
Joining in your TR. Your plan sounds great and your trip is coming up quick! The great thing about Disney World is that even without going into a table service restaurant you can still eat really well.

Looking forward to hear more about your trip

 

[flyergrad09]

So as I said before, this trip is super special to me because it's my tenth trip to WDW. SOOOO why not do a WDW timeline of my past trips! Who doesn't love looking at pictures from 20+ years ago?

My first trip - May 1987

I'm the one in the awesome bonnet. This is my mom and I with Dale. Obviously, I don't remember much from this trip, but I do know that we visited both parks (MK and Epcot) and that the women who worked in the China pavilion thought I was the cutest baby ever.

My second trip - November 1990

This trip was the first for my brother, who was six months old at the time. It's also the first trip I remember stuff from! I loooooved the Haunted Mansion, and the Mexico pavilion scared me, and I refused to go inside. I have no idea why, but my Grandma played the grown-up mind trick and old me that if I wouldn't go in, then I would have to go home, to which my aunt (yes, a grown-up) got all upset because she had spent all of that money on a ticket, which resulted in a glare from my Grandma! Haha, oh aunts...

My third trip - June 1998

Time jump! This trip was the first time I stayed on-site, and it was also the first time I got to experience one of my favorite things: TRIP PLANNING! My dad's parents, his two sisters, their husbands, and their kids all came with the five of us, totaling in 16 people! Since there were so many of us with such a wide range of ages, my aunt had us fill out surveys with the rides we were interested in ahead of time, and then by hand, she calculated out the most efficient way to see it all. (She's an engineer, can you tell? ) It's still my favorite WDW trip to this day. My aunt (not the engineer) and uncle are members of the DVC, so we got to stay at Old Key West on their points. My grandparents, our immediate family, and my dad's (engineer) sister and her family stayed in a 3 bedroom villa, and my aunt and uncle who are in the DVC stayed in a separate room that was right below ours. Talk about crazy! But we had so much fun! We also had a character meal (the one and only time I've been to one). At that point, character meals weren't as common as they are now. We did the character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, which sparked my intense love of the Grand Floridian. I've never stayed there, but as my friend Jackie and I say every time we pass it on the way to MK, "SOMEDAY!"

My fourth trip - December 2001/January 2002

This was my first trip in a large group setting and even better, my first time to WDW at Christmas! I loooooove WDW at this time of year. Christmas is so happy, and Disney is so happy, so when you combine the two, it's like INSANE HAPPINESS! Anyway, I was a freshman in high school, and my marching band came down for the Magic Music Days program. We marched in the afternoon parade at MK, and it was so much fun! It was also my first time eating at a Table Service restaurant (CRT... I know, I started off a little spoiled!). The picture is of me (far right) with three of my friends from high school, although I only hear from one of them now.

My fifth trip - December 2003/January 2004

Group picture! AAAH! This was basically a repeat of the previous trip, except that we marched in the pre-parade for Spectro, which was AMAAAAZING! Also, I got caught up in petty high school boy drama, which almost ruined the trip for me, but luckily things didn't turn south until the very long bus ride home, so at least WDW itself wasn't ruined. It was also on this trip that I realized that not everyone likes Disney, and that even some of my best friends were too cynical to enjoy it. Meh. I don't love them any less, but there's no way I'd do another Disney trip with them either. This is probably my least favorite trip.

My sixth trip - December 2007/January 2008

It's ANOTHER Christmas trip! This trip is probably my second favorite. We decided to go to Disney on December 23rd and we left on the 26th. I know, I know, insanity, right? But we had our reasons! My brother and sister were both in high school at this point, and both in marching band. But, they had also both been seriously sick (brother) or injured (sister) up until a couple of days ahead of time. So instead of not allowing them to go on the trip, my parents decided that they would take me with them and we would go on our own! The last time they had been there was almost 10 years earlier, so I got to help with a lot of advice and planning type things, which was fun. The only downside was that I was away at college, and when I came home for Christmas break, I didn't bring home any summer clothes since I wasn't expecting to go to Disney. And of course, this was a fairly warm December. But I made do in jeans and I was able to buy a pair of capris once we were in Florida, but we had a hard time finding shorts for me. Oh well. Still, the spontenaity and being able to see my siblings march in the parade was awesome. Oh, and they were both fine health-wise. Magic of Disney?

My seventh trip - December 2009

This was yet another spontaneous Christmas trip, although not as spontaneous as the first one. My friend Liz's dad runs a travel agency and is also very involved with the Rotary Youth Exchange program and does trips all over the country for the foreign exchange while they're living here for the year. I had chaperoned a trip in March of 2008 to the east coast (DC, NYC, and Boston) and since then he had formed a Disney trip too. This was the first official trip, and when he asked if I wanted to chaperone, I jumped at the chance! I had been really down prior to the trip because I had graduated from college in August of 2009 and I still couldn't find a job, plus at this point two of my grandparents had passed away (within two weeks of each other, and my grandpa passed the day before I was due to move home from school for good) and my other grandpa had been diagnosed with lung cancer and emphysema. He wound up passing away shortly after I got home from this trip. In any case, I was SERIOUSLY sad, so what better way to cheer up than go to Disney? Looking back, this trip probably saved me. I desperately needed it, which I knew at the time, but hindsight is always 20/20. It wasn't even a long trip; we only spent 2 days in the parks (MK and DHS), but for me, it was enough to pull me out of my slump.

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention this! The other girl in the picture above is my best friend Jackie. She's just as Disney Obsessed as I am, and she also chaperoned this trip with me. Actually, she chaperones all of the trips because she works for Liz's dad. She was going to do the DCP, but she had to back out because her dad was killed in a car accident and at that point her brother was still in high school, so Jackie basically took over the household at that point. But, she got to work at the Disney store at the local mall, and because of that, I have all sorts of Disney presents from her! She was also the person who got me into CRT in the previous high school trip, since I wasn't on the reservation originally. Ah, how times have changed.

My eighth trip - December 2010

IT'S ANOTHER CHRISTMAS TRIP! Same basic deal as the previous trip, but with a couple of small changes. First is that we added another chaperone! Our other best friend Brenda who is also a Disney freak! She loooooves Jasmine and she was my Disney coloring book partner in crime in our senior year of high school. (senior year doesn't count, right?) This trip marked the second time I ate at a TS restaurant. We had lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby and IT WAS DELICIOUS. I still get cravings for that chef salad sometimes... We also added a day to the trip so that we could go to Universal IoA to see WWoHP! WWoHP was amazing... the rest of Universal, not so much. I know there are people who love it, but honestly, if I didn't like HP so much, I wouldn't care. But to each their own.

My ninth trip - December 2011

Finally! We're up to the present day! This was another Rotary trip, but with a chaperone change. Brenda couldn't make this trip, but our friend Lucas could! By the way, Lucas was a student on the very first trip I chaperoned in 2008, so that made me feel nice and old since you have to be 21 to chaperone! We had the same itinerary as the year before, but this time our TS was Tony's, and while I love Lady and the Tramp, I'm not a big fan of Tony's. My dessert (tiramisu) was delicious, but my main meal wasn't great. In any case, this was a fun trip, AND we stayed on-site! We stayed at ASMu, which was a factor in my decision to book ASMu for this trip too.

*Whew* That was a lot, but I hope you enjoy reading my Disney history. It's pretty amazing when I look back at all of the trips I've been on, and even though it pales in comparison to a lot of people, I'm so grateful to have the opportunities that I have had! YAY DISNEY!

 

[flyergrad09]

Hey Flyergrad!
Joining in your TR. Your plan sounds great and your trip is coming up quick! The great thing about Disney World is that even without going into a table service restaurant you can still eat really well.

Looking forward to hear more about your trip

Thanks! I usually try to avoid the typical CS foods, so I'm excited to try to hunt up different food on this trip!

 

[flyergrad09]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and give you a brief update. Almost 2 weeks ago, I got my very first MickeyMail!

Confession: The Disneyland sweatshirt was just a little bit planned. Or a lot planned.

This was super exciting for me! I've never gotten MickeyMail before because the two other times I've stayed onsite, I wasn't the one doing the planning.

More on my life: I'm about 2 weeks away from graduation! YAY! I'm very much ready to be done with school... for good this time! No more "Hey I think I'll get a Masters degree..." because after the past two years, I think I learned my lesson. Now it's time for me to actually become a contributing member of society and make (and spend) some money! Which is a bit of a stress for me. Partially because I LOVE being in school. I know, I just said I was ready to be done, but really I'm ready to be done with all of the crazy hoops they make you jump through. I actually like the learning part. Also, I've been told that being an actual grown-up isn't fun. I guess it could be fun if you like what you do, but a part of me is really sad because now it really does feel like my childhood is ending permanently. This is what being in school for 21 years does to a person's mental state, fyi. It's basically like being brainwashed.

ANYWAY... back to the point! The point is that since I'm rapidly approaching graduation, that means that I have a million and twelve things to do, and none of them are fun. So to ease my pain, I've been watching Disney movies and listening to Disney music!

I look less gross here because this was the day I had graduation pictures taken, although I wiped off my makeup as soon as they were over. At least my hair still looks nice!

Thank goodness we have an AMAAAAAZING library that's chock full of Disney music and movies! Just today I picked up Fantasia, Fantasia 2000, and Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. Before that, I had Ratatouille, Cars 2, and Lilo & Stitch. With the exception of the Fantasias, these were all Disney movies I had never seen, but because they're Disney movies, I can work on school stuff while watching them because let's be real, most Disney movies are not too plot-heavy.

Side note: I still haven't seen Lilo & Stitch because the library copy was broken! I put it in my DVD player and it wouldn't load! It also wouldn't give me the disc back, which gave me a mild heart attack. Luckily, I followed Gibbs' advice and unplugged it, then plugged it back in again. Not the first time NCIS has saved me IRL!

This isn't so brief anymore. Whoops. I am a rambler and very chatty, like most women in my family. Family gatherings are INTENSE.

Oh, and life also decided to throw me a little speedbump the day our MickeyMail arrived. Since we used Matt's card to pay for the trip, all of our trip stuff is being sent to his apartment. So the day I went over there to get our DME stuff and have dinner with him, I turned into a parking spot and all of the sudden I felt/heard this giant SNAP! from my steering wheel. Not a good sound, let me tell you.

So I stopped turning and drove down to the end of the parking lot where there were lots of empty spaces in a row and I wouldn't risk hitting another car in case my steering wheel no longer worked properly while turning. Luckily, Matt's dad is a mechanic, so he called his dad and his dad said that it sounded like my power steering had gone out. Lovely. I need Gertie (my car) to last me at least until I have a full time job and have started to pay off student loans because there's no way I can handle student loans and a car loan all at once.

Naturally, I start to panic. I mean, I'm unemployed and have been throughout ALL of grad school (assistantships are a myth, I swear) and I just spent a decent amount of money on a frivolous but much needed WDW trip! I don't exactly have a ton of extra money right now (or ever).

Side note: Yes, I named my car. She is Gertie because she came from New Jersey, where College Roommate Jen lived, and before me, she belonged to Jen's dad. In the movie Jersey Girl, the little girl is named Gertie. Thus, my car is Gertie.

The next day, my dad and I took Gertie in to Firestone. When I explained what happened, the guy asked if my horn worked. How often do you use your horn?!? I had no idea, so he went out and checked. Nope, it was dead. Also, my cruise control was dead. For a brief moment, I had a "OMG EVERYTHING IS BROKEN AND I JUST SPENT ALL OF MY MONEY ON DISNEY AND NOW I WON'T HAVE A CAR" attack, but then the guy told me that my clockspring was most likely broken.

I didn't even know that cars had a clockspring, or what a clockspring was, but all I could think of was The Great Mouse Detective. Anyway, apparently it's this thing in your steering wheel that keeps the wiring for your horn separated on a wheel like thing and the wiring for your cruise control separate too. Thankfully, my dad stepped in and footed the bill, at least until I have a job. But the best part is that between coupons and the discount for using his Firestone credit card, he saved me almost $200 off of my bill!

So, crisis averted, and I could go back to stressing over school and trying to not daydream about WDW so much.

One more thing before I go... I promise this is REALLY the last thing!

Matt is seriously the greatest guy ever. He's never been to WDW, but he's totally supportive of my insanity. Multiple times a day, I send him texts that are along the lines of "OMG 3 WEEKS AND 4 DAYS UNTIL WE'RE IN DISNEY. LET'S QUIT SCHOOL AND WORK AND GO RIGHT NOW." Not once has he called me a wackadoodle, even though he probably should have. He even went along with my insane color coded ride list where we ranked the attractions we wanted to do.

Also, I feel pretty comfortable sharing this since no one I know IRL is also on here... but on Easter he got coffee with my sister and I, and he told us that he knows that someday when we get married, Disney is going to be involved in some way! He actually suggested getting married on a Disney cruise! I THINK I HAVE A KEEPER!

Okay, now I'm really done, I swear. I'm hoping that I'll post another time before we leave, but considering school has already claimed my firstborn child, I make no promises.

 

[flyergrad09]

Hi everyone!

I know I just updated a couple of days ago, but I was so excited about this, I just had to update again!

At dinner last night, Matt and I were talking about how it would be so much fun to do this trip with a bigger budget and be able to stay longer, eat at more TS places, etc. Eventually, we decided that it would be fun to try one TS restaurant while we're down there. Initially we were looking at the Sci-Fi Dine In, but of course they had absolutely nothing open on the days and meals we were looking at. We knew we wanted to try somewhere at DHS since that's the park we're spending two days at, so our other choices were 50's Prime Time, Hollywood & Vine, Brown Derby, and Mama Melrose's. I've already been to Brown Derby, we didn't want to do a character meal, and while I've heard that Mama Melrose's is good, I wanted to try something that wasn't Italian food since we eat Italian food a lot. SOOOOO...

I booked my very first ever ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe!

All of the other times I've been to WDW have been because of someone else's planning, so this was the first time I booked an ADR all by myself. I feel so accomplished. AND I'M SO EXCITED! I've heard great things about it... now I just need to figure out what deliciousness I want to eat! It's going to be our last meal in the parks too, so it's got to be a good decision!

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm in! I had to smile reading your posts, because I could just tell how excited you are about this trip!

We have a trip planned for a few weeks after yours, and it will be my daughters' tenth trip, too!

50's Prime Time is a great one---Lots of fun!

 

[jessa07]

Just posting to say congrats on your MLIS! I'm a LIS girl too, finishing mine up at Syracuse in December! And we will be at WDW at the same time!

 

[Megablocks]

Joining in!

My boyfriend has the "never been to Disney" flaw, too. I'm dying to take him!

I'm glad everything's okay with your car, that would have totally freaked me out, too.

I'm excited for you to eat at 50's PTC - it's such a fun place!

 

[flyergrad09]

I'm in! I had to smile reading your posts, because I could just tell how excited you are about this trip!

We have a trip planned for a few weeks after yours, and it will be my daughters' tenth trip, too!

50's Prime Time is a great one---Lots of fun!

Aww, thanks! I can't believe it's taken me this long to get to ten trips, but my parents can't believe that they're not at ten trips!

Just posting to say congrats on your MLIS! I'm a LIS girl too, finishing mine up at Syracuse in December! And we will be at WDW at the same time!

Oooh! Early congrats to you! My DBF started his Master's at Syracuse a couple of years ago, but he realized that it wasn't for him. Are you thinking of public, academic, school, or special libraries?

Joining in!

My boyfriend has the "never been to Disney" flaw, too. I'm dying to take him!

I'm glad everything's okay with your car, that would have totally freaked me out, too.

I'm excited for you to eat at 50's PTC - it's such a fun place!

The "never been to Disney" flaw is definitely treatable, that's the way I look at it.

I'm so excited for 50's PTC! I read in another TR that someone got put in the time out corner for texting at the table, and DBF is hopelessly addicted to his iphone, so I'm hoping they catch him!

 

[flyergrad09]

Hi everyone!

Life has been so crazy lately! It's been so hard for me to not think about our trip, especially when it's so close, but I've had a ridiculous amount of school stuff to get done. It hasn't been all work and no play, though! Last Saturday, I had the chance to meet one of my childhood heroes... MARC BROWN!

For anyone who doesn't know, Marc Brown is the author/illustrator of the Arthur books. He was seriously the nicest guy! And he was so funny! I think he looks like a Muppet. My best friend Jackie (on the left) and my sister Katie (on the right) went with me to meet him. He also signed books for all of us! Here's mine:

Today is an important day for two reasons. First, 25 years ago today, I visited Walt Disney World for the very first time! Here's a picture of that glorious day:

That's my grandma. I see a resemblance, don't you?

The second reason why today is important is because today I'm graduating with my Masters' in Library & Information Science!

10 days until WDW!!

 

[MHTeacher]

How great to get to meet Marc Brown! I always loved the "Arthur" books! Last week at school, our elementary students had Jerry Pallotta visit for their author day.

Congratulations on your graduation day!

 

[Megablocks]

So cool you got to meet Marc Brown! I remember reading all his books in elementary school. That's a really good picture of you guys.

Congratulations on graduating!! That's awesome!