Turning 41 @ WDW! And we can pay off in a year

[ITmickey]

Hello all,
This is still a pre trip, but it will be short. We'll sail for the World two weeks from now.

This trip is financially irresponsable. Professionally inconvenient. Stressfull, because of both factors (Some of you may know the guilt of overeating, right?). But since we have not gone yet, I decided to postpone the guilt for after we return

But hey, what can beat turning 41 yo in WDW? So, this was the reasoning for this trip. But reality is, we just wanted to do it

It all started by watching all this advertising for a travel outlet, with supposedly great prices. Great prices that anyone with internet and a little research can get. Or DISers with pin codes, for the matter.

So, why go to such event? I guess we just like interacting and dealing with people instead of WDW reservation system. Or maybe we just were bored during a weekend. Anyway, we went. And thus the paying and the planning and the money exchanging began.

Before going any further into this, a disclaimer. I'm not a native speaker of the language, so please excuse me if the writing style or grammar or whatever is incorrect. I'll put my flamming suite regarding this particular matter from now on, and won't remove it until finished. You can tell I've been reading the DIS boards a lot, right?

Now, the cast

DW: 41 stay at home wife. Strong character, but fun and tender.Goofy is her favorite character.

I always have her support regarding job 'inconveniences' (read my description) and even understands that a guy needs his space and time. Just not much time and no female presence in his space Actually she's very understanding and was converted to a Disney fan by me


Me: 40 yo. Information technology consultant. Thus the name ITMickey. The consultant job gives me just the amount of uncertainty, change and inestability that I need, and that otherwise my DW would have to provide, wich doesn't seem like a good idea. I also like goofying (sp?) around

also tagging alone in this trip is mother, 73, but just a big child in her heart.

I'll tell you a little more about us next time, it has gotten very late trying to procrastinate monday. I hope you continue reading this!

 

[skierrob]

Happy birthday!!!! I just celebrated my 41st bday in July at wdw also!!! Hope you have a great trip!

 

[ITmickey]

Happy birthday!!!! I just celebrated my 41st bday in July at wdw also!!! Hope you have a great trip!

Thanks, skierrob! Hopefully I will

 

[ITmickey]

Well, this is part of the reasons of the title.

Here in Mexico, we are very used to live our present, spread across monthly payments, with '0% Interest Rate'. So, in said travel outlet, we found a package, with free dinning, airplane and suitable monthly payments, so we just went for it.

I have gone to WDW sometimes as a kid and others as an adult, but DW's first trip to WDW was with me, when I proposed
Then we got married at WDW wedding pavillion , so of course it holds a special place in our heart, as to most in this boards. So we decided that any amount of money spent (without going into starvation) was worth it, for the memories

Now, it is professionally inconvenient, because I'll be leaving for this holiday, just in the middle of a project delivery. I didn't plan it this way, it just seemed that by this date, it should be already finished (we bought the package three months ago), but no, just like the energizer bunny, it just keeps on going. But since neither the client nor my company would pay the penalties for cancelling/postponing the trip, here we go

Well, this is beginning to look more like an autobiography than a pre-trip report, so I'll move along to more interesting stuff

 

[ITmickey]

Ok, back to the trip.

How?
We will be flying by American Airlanes (yes, i know we have travelled with them before) at 9 am, with a stop in Miami, and then on to Orlando!

There are directt flights out of Mexico city to Orlando with other airlines, but it would cost almost twice as much than this flight (you see, I'm not that irresponsable after all)

We chose to have a layover of three hours in Miami, since we have to go to baggage claim, then thru immigration, customs, and the whole terminal. I mean, the arrivals gate is waaaaay to far from all the above! And since my mother is 73, kind of big, and not very good for long (or short) sprints, we better have a steady pace

Also, no ME tags for us since Disney has discontinued sending them to international visitors (aside fron Canada, meesa thinks) so we'll have to go to baggage claim again when arriving to Orlando. No pre-shopping at Disney Store or Nasa Store in the airport this time

(hey, look at that 3d effect... and the rocket is impressive too!)

Where
We'll be staying at Coronado Springs Resort, for 11 nights.

We stayed there the first part of our wedding trip, and we just loved it. Yes, it is spread out, yes, its a convention hotel, but we just loved it. And much cheaper than the Widerness Lodge, which we also love. We didn't even think about the Poly this time (no wedding splurge!) And, we do like pepper market, and no, we don't find it confusing

When
Arriving in september 5th and leaving the 16th midday. We were hoping to find some kind of celebration in the Mexico Pavillion due to the celebration of our Independence day, on 15th evening, but seems they'll have something until the 16th, which is the official day (here in Mexico we begin to celebarte on the evening of the 15th) So no 'Grito de Independencia' or 'Grito de Dolores' for us this year.

However, we will be celebrating my birthay on September the 9th (hope everyone is taking note )

Next post will show our addr's and planned park days!

 

[ITmickey]

Let me start by saying that we used touringplans and easywdw to find out the best parks for each day. And we are not going to any of the best parks any single day

Since we don't go often enough to WDW, it is very important for use to catch most of the parades, fireworks and/or shows, so our schedule was built around that. We have never gone in September, so hopefully it will be as quiet as most people here say.

Day 1: Arrival and dinner @ Raglan Road. No ADR since we don't know for sure what time we'll be arriving
Day 2: Hollywood Studios, dinner @ Sci-Fi
Day 3: Animal Kingdom, then visit to Boardwalk and dinner @ Captain's Grill
Day 4: Magic Kingdom, dinner @ Tony's. Lady and the tramp is one of our favorite Disney Movies
Day 5: Epcot, breakfast @ Chef Mickey's, dinner @ Biergarten
Day 6: Animal Kingdom, dinner @ Boma
Day 7: Magic Kingdom, no ADR for that day (Can you say 'freedom of choice')
Day 8: Shopping day, EMH for Hollywood studios. Breakfast @ Kona
Day 9: Epcot, lunch @Chefs de France, then MNSSHP
Day 10: Not decided yet. (Another little space for spontaneity )
Day 11: Epcot, dinner @ Rose & Crown
Day 12: Sad return to home

Oh, food also had a little bit to do with our planning

Next: Choosing footwear for rain, durability and flat feet

 

[ITmickey]

Ok, so once we got our ADRs (of course with some changes in between) was time to choose proper footwear to endure the rain, and added comfort. (usually wear snickers or 'trail' walk shoes')

So we had a look at the (in)famous crocs. After trying some models that were confy on the foot but not on the eye, we finally found a model, based on fabric, that looks almost as a normal shoe (loafers), so we settled for that. I just browsed and they are the 'Santa Cruz' model. Mother got 'Crockband'. We've been walking on those some days to get used to them. Sadly in my case, even when they are comfier than snickers, my flat feet still hurt after standing for a while . So foot rub and lotion are already in the suitcase for those sore feet I'll have starting day 2.

We are also still trying to decide what to wear at mnsshp, but we are lacking the creativity to make up something that is not a pain to travel with. Help regarding this is appreciated

 

[ITmickey]

So we are almost at the one week mark, and finally decided about what to wear for mnsshp on september the 13th!

DW custom is inspired by 'La Catrina' (Elegant death), which is a mexican traditional form of representing death, specially for day of the death. I'll by going as La Catrina's husband There are now more modern verson of the makeup, for example this one:

Of course that is pro-makeup, however DW hopes to accomplish something close.

She is now making her dress, by adding the flowers and laces to a corset-like blouse she has. Will post pictures when she's done, and the trial makeup.

DW also loves to collect pressed pennies, and she has some from our past trips. So, we made a list, pictures included, of the coins she would like to add to the collection, and the locations to find them. We just copy-pasted images from one of those pressed pennies sites. The idea is to bring the list with us to the parks, to identify them when we see them. Here's a little sample

We have now started choosing our clothing and started packing (actually, as I write this right now my DW loudly realized she hadn't packed her swimming suit

So, we have one more weekend to exchange some more money, buy last minute stuff, and pack all the little things that we always seem to forget behind us