Two trips are better than one! A June and September 2016 PTR-new trip report link

[cinderkelly]

Hi All!! To my first PTR! I'm so excited to begin as I've been dreaming of this trip for quite some time. Today just so happens to be my birthday to me!! And since it's a day of celebration, I can't think of a better time to get this here party started! Exactly one year and 3 months to the day we will be at Disney World! It's going to be a long road but I'm counting on ya'll to keep me sane during the wait, share your expertise, and understand when I obsess over planning and change my mind....multiple times! You'll see, it's pretty much a given that's going to happen!

Who's going? Just me and the hubs!! Bob and Kelly, that's us!


We got married in Breckenridge, Co on 5/5/06 and never took a honeymoon because the cost of paying for our own wedding and starting a business just tapped out the 'ol bank account. So since we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2016 we decided what better way to celebrate than have a Disneymoonaversary!

When? September 30-October 6 2016

Where? I'll get to that soon!

Just a little backstory about us...

Bob and I met in TX in massage therapy school. We've both been previously married and each have 2 kids from our first marriages and one little darling together. We were together for 5 years before we got married, each went through massage therapy school, moved to CO where I grew up, each went to cosmetology school, worked in the same salon and a year later got married, opened up our own salon/spa, then a year after that got the surprise of Kiya! She is now 7 and the apple of her Daddy's eye.

Whew! What a whirlwind these last 9 years have been! We plan on doing this trip up right with a lot of food and drinks, fun and "hopefully" some downtime, which is hard for me to do. This is only our second trip to DW, the hubs had NEVER been ( say what??? ) until I convinced him to do a combo DW/ Disney cruise trip in Sept. Of 2014 after we took the little one to DLR for her 5th birthday. I think I've got him hooked, he had no idea how great it was and now appreciates my Disnerdiness.


My favorites:
Park: MK
Attraction : BTMRR, Soarin
Character: the small but mighty Tinkerbell
Obsessive compulsive planner and changer of minds

Bob's favorites:
Park: MK
Attraction : ToT
Character: Sorcerer Mickey
Avid Disney watch and pin collector, hates to plan

And so we begin! 15 months of planning, obsessing, wishing and hopefully laughing along the way. Put on your ears and let's have some fun!

 

[cinderkelly]

the resort choice dilemma
The never ending wish list -food edition
Change is in the air
The never ending wish list - activity edition

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

You have a PTR!!

I only just realised!!

Well you can count on me to take this journey with you!! I'm here for you if you feel the need to change your plans multiply times! You can be safe in the knowledge that you wont be as crazy as me!!

Oh if you want to do links you see that little #number at the bottom right of your post? If you click on that and when the box opens if you highlight and copy the URL text then go to your links page and click edit and past the text. Then go back into edit (this is what I do there is probably an easier way to do it!) and starting in the middle of the wording write what you want to call that link, like Chapter One or intros etc, then delete the rest of the text then save changes and viola you should have a link!!

 

[cinderkelly]

You have a PTR!!

I only just realised!!

Well you can count on me to take this journey with you!! I'm here for you if you feel the need to change your plans multiply times! You can be safe in the knowledge that you wont be as crazy as me!!

Oh if you want to do links you see that little #number at the bottom right of your post? If you click on that and when the box opens if you highlight and copy the URL text then go to your links page and click edit and past the text. Then go back into edit (this is what I do there is probably an easier way to do it!) and starting in the middle of the wording write what you want to call that link, like Chapter One or intros etc, then delete the rest of the text then save changes and viola you should have a link!!

Omg THE Lu on my measley PTR!!! I may faint dead away! Thanks for the links tip, I'm still quite a noob at all this stuff so I'm counting on you and others to fill my PTR with amazingly funny gif's . I need to get cracka lackin' and write some more stuff!

 

[cinderkelly]

The Resort Choice Dilemma

So I'm horrible at making decisions. Just when I think I've made a choice I keep doing research and change my mind. My DH says to me "just pick a resort and I'm good." K, that's no help. At all. Easier said than done buddy.
I've always wanted to stay at a monorail resort. I love the monorail. The very first time I went to Disney we were in Orlando for something completely different and only went to Epcot for the day, I was 18 I think ( I've killed a few brain cells since then)
I saw the monorail and fell in love, then when I found out you could stay at a hotel and catch the monorail.....FROM RIGHT THERE AT YOUR VERY HOTEL that's all I thought about. That was it. Then I saw POFQ two years ago and really liked the vibe of the resort. New Orleans is one of our favorite places to visit. Plus it had a boat you could take to DTD! I love me a boat also, I guess I have this thing with transportation....
Except airplanes, that's another story

So when it came time to decide where to stay I was very torn, and of course I want DH to like where we stay also so I made him sit down and look at all of our choices with me. We looked at all the deluxe resorts because we figured hey it's our Disneymoonaversary so naturally we have to stay somewhere nice and to my great shock and amazement we both gasped when we saw this little beauty

( nope, not my photo)

Wilderness lodge wasn't even on my list! WTH? Living where we do we get "lodge feel" all the time! As soon as DH saw the little video about WL describing the Native American touches and totem poles and the waterfall that was it, his search was over. To see him all twitterpated over it made my heart sing so that was it. My monorail loving heart was a little crushed but it's ok 'cuz WL has a boat!!!!
I'm a little nervous about the proposed construction to be done but I'm going to roll with it for now. We'll see what happens if things get too ugly with construction. Whew, one decision made ( for now)
Wilderness Lodge for 6 whole nights sounds like Heaven on a stick, you know everything is better on a stick! Our longest stay at DW has been 2, count them 2 whole nights at AoA, so this is going to be awesome!​

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Omg THE Lu on my measley PTR!!! I may faint dead away! Thanks for the links tip, I'm still quite a noob at all this stuff so I'm counting on you and others to fill my PTR with amazingly funny gif's . I need to get cracka lackin' and write some more stuff!

You are so funny! I'm DIS famous!

I'm sure everyone feels that way when I post on their TRs! Oh no, not her again!

You want gifs? Maybe I can sort something out...

The Resort Choice Dilemma

A resort choice dilemma? What is one of those?
I feel your pain!

So I'm horrible at making decisions. Just when I think I've made a choice I keep doing research and change my mind.

I totally agree! Plus I blame the Dis...too much information and pretty pictures just makes it so much more confusing!!

My DH says to me "just pick a resort and I'm good." K, that's no help. At all. Easier said than done buddy.

Aren't they just super helpful

I saw the monorail and fell in love, then when I found out you could stay at a hotel and catch the monorail.....FROM RIGHT THERE AT YOUR VERY HOTEL that's all I thought about

Ahhhhh.... I know that feeling! That was what made me want to stay at CR so badly THE MONORAIL GOES THROUGH THE HOTEL?!?!? So cool!

Wilderness lodge wasn't even on my list! WTH?

Out of all the deluxe resorts WL and BW are the two that never really appealed to me!
But having watched some videos of WL I do actually really like the look of it! That lobby is so gorg! But I think if I was going to stay there I would go near Christmas time, it looks amazing with the holiday décor up!

I think you will love it!

you know everything is better on a stick!

 

[cinderkelly]

You are so funny! I'm DIS famous!

I'm sure everyone feels that way when I post on their TRs! Oh no, not her again!

No way Jose'! I love it!

Ahhhhh.... I know that feeling! That was what made me want to stay at CR so badly THE MONORAIL GOES THROUGH THE HOTEL?!?!? So cool!

I know!! I would love to stay at the the CR but DH is not jazzed about the feel of the resort. He wants the immersive theme experience!

Out of all the deluxe resorts WL and BW are the two that never really appealed to me!
But having watched some videos of WL I do actually really like the look of it! That lobby is so gorg! But I think if I was going to stay there I would go near Christmas time, it looks amazing with the holiday décor up!

I think you will love it!

I hope so! I just hope the proposed construction doesn't make a mess of the resort, otherwise I may need to convince him to switch....to the Poly!

 

[cinderkelly]

The Never Ending Wish List
Food Edition

I have an enormous food wish list for this trip! We are basically Disney restaurant newbie's, the only place (besides counter service) we've been to at DW is BOG, and that was for lunch, so kinda counts, but not really. I really enjoyed BOG but DH says he'd like to try some other places before we go back. I've been pouring over a LOT of dining reports, which only makes my list grow longer. At one point we had talked about doing the DP premium pkg but I'm afraid we'd spend the majority of our time eating and trying to do all the activities ( golf, tours, cirque Du Soleil, etc...) to make it worth it we then we would have zero park time. So we went with the DxDP to try to get in at least one signature restaurant a day.
Since the hubs says I can make all the ADR's my heart desires on this trip I'm going to load up!
So the food wish list in no particular order :​

Boma - Breakfast
Le Cellier -lunch or Dinner
Jiko - dinner
Biergarten -lunch or dinner
Narcoossee's - Dinner
Kona Cafe -breakfast
California Grill -dinner
Yak &Yeti -lunch
Flying Fish Cafe -dinner
Sci Fi Theater -lunch
50's Prime Time Cafe -lunch
The Boathouse - lunch or dinner
Morimoto Asia ( should be open by 10/2016, hoping they participate in the DP)
Whispering Canyon Cafe -B, L or dinner
Hoop De Do Musical Review -dinner
Ohana -Dinner
Via Napoli-lunch

Plus we are going during F&W !

Realistically there is NO WAY we are going to hit all of these so it will be interesting how it plays out.
ADR date 4/3/2016 it's a Sunday!!!!! I totally lucked out, now I don't have to convince DH that I need the day off of work to make ADR's!!! I'm going to need some coaching from the ADR Yoda @Elevationist

Hoping y'all will have some input and ideas to help me organize this list and give me some opinions on what you would eliminate or save for next time. I want to have a good variety but DH says he is good with seafood a few times since ya just can't get decent seafood in CO!
the narrowing it down is going to be the hardest!!​

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I saw on billies PTR that you had started your own and since you are so kind as to read my cruise PTR, I thought I'd pop over here and join the party! Can't wait to hear about everything! We went for our ten year anniversary last September. Great place to celebrate your anniversary!

Oooo, wilderness lodge! Great choice! We've never stayed there, but the pictures look AMAZING!

Just my opinion--but 50s is way more fun and has tastier food then sci fi. The atmosphere in sci fi is fun, but if I had to pick one, I'd do 50s.

I hope you do whispering canyon--it looks so fun!

 

[cinderkelly]

I saw on billies PTR that you had started your own and since you are so kind as to read my cruise PTR, I thought I'd pop over here and join the party! Can't wait to hear about everything! We went for our ten year anniversary last September. Great place to celebrate your anniversary!

Oooo, wilderness lodge! Great choice! We've never stayed there, but the pictures look AMAZING!

Just my opinion--but 50s is way more fun and has tastier food then sci fi. The atmosphere in sci fi is fun, but if I had to pick one, I'd do 50s.

I hope you do whispering canyon--it looks so fun!

Hi Lori! Thanks so much for joining in!

Thanks also for your opinion on 50's vs Sci Fi, it's so hard to make decisions!!

 

[Elevationist]

I'm here, I'm here! Reporting for duty!

Congrats on booking your Mommy/Daddy trip! You're going to LOVE it! And Wilderness Lodge, NICE! Swanky!

I'll help where I can with the ADRs and Dining stuffs! I've yet to spring for the DxDP (but plan on doing so on my 2017 trip), so I don't have a lot to offer on the Signatures restaurants, I'm afraid! I'll offer any nuggets of advice I've got, though!

And that's a might sexy ADR wishlist, lady!

 

[cinderkelly]

I'm here, I'm here! Reporting for duty!

Congrats on booking your Mommy/Daddy trip! You're going to LOVE it! And Wilderness Lodge, NICE! Swanky!

I'll help where I can with the ADRs and Dining stuffs! I've yet to spring for the DxDP (but plan on doing so on my 2017 trip), so I don't have a lot to offer on the Signatures restaurants, I'm afraid! I'll offer any nuggets of advice I've got, though!

And that's a might sexy ADR wishlist, lady!

Yea! Billie's here! Whoop whoop!

I know my ADR wishlist is slightly insane, we're going to try and conquer what we can. Springing for the DxDP might not save us a bunch of $$ but having the majority of our food "prepaid" feels like freedom to order what we want.

I'm so glad to have you along !

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Congratulations! When we got married, we did a small staycation to celebrate but didn't have a real honeymoon either. Three and a half years later, a 5 day Disney vacay fit the bill! Hope you have an amazing time

 

[cinderkelly]

Congratulations! When we got married, we did a small staycation to celebrate but didn't have a real honeymoon either. Three and a half years later, a 5 day Disney vacay fit the bill! Hope you have an amazing time

Aw thank you SOOO much!

 

[cinderkelly]

So I gave you all forewarning that I can change my mind a lot, right?
Well a change is in the air! DH and I talked a lot about the WL last night and the upcoming construction. Although none of the work is going to be done on the main lodge building they are going to have some things closed down that was a bit of a deal breaker for us. For those that don't know, they have plans to build more DVC units ( cabins perhaps) kind of like they did with the Poly, near or on the beach. Which means for 2 WHOLE years they have construction planned which includes closing the beach and bike and boat rental among a couple of other little things that would have little impact on our stay. That puts construction smack dab on our trip dates. But with this being a special trip we didn't want to have to go to another resort if we wanted to go out on a boating jaunt or something, or deal with construction noise or mess. I'm going to try really hard to incorporate resort time and I want my resort to be in full swing, not half swing!

SOOO were switching to the Poly!!!!

I get my boat and my monorail!!!!
We are booking a standard view because upgrading to a LV is like $1200 more, ouch! Do you know how many cocktails I can have for $1200? Plus 2 of my ADR wish list places are here

I don't know a whole lot about specific buildings at the Poly to request so if anyone has any input I sure would appreciate it!

​

 

[Elevationist]

SOOO were switching to the Poly!!!!

Now THAT is some super exciting stuff!!!

 

[cinderkelly]

Now THAT is some super exciting stuff!!!

I know, right?? I'm super excited!!!!!

 

[ursalita]

Hi Kelly! Just catching up on the DIS and noticed you have a PTR going. I'm so in!!

Congrats on your late honeymoon. It sounds perfect.

Wilderness lodge wasn't even on my list! WTH? Living where we do we get "lodge feel" all the time! As soon as DH saw the little video about WL describing the Native American touches and totem poles and the waterfall that was it, his search was over. To see him all twitterpated over it made my heart sing so that was it. My monorail loving heart was a little crushed but it's ok 'cuz WL has a boat!!!!
I'm a little nervous about the proposed construction to be done but I'm going to roll with it for now.

So I quoted this message because I was going to tell you how much I LOVE WL. We stayed there 3x and absolutely loved it and the boat to MK. I think our family fell in love with Disney on the first boat ride from WL to MK so it will always have a special place in my heart. I was so surprised when I saw they were going to refurbish the pool because it seemed like they just did that.

So we went with the DxDP to try to get in at least one signature restaurant a day.

If I was going to do a trip just me and DH we would do the DxDP. All those signature restaurants is going to be so great.

SOOO were switching to the Poly!!!!
I get my boat and my monorail!!!!

I'm so excited for you. The WL is an affordable deluxe but the Poly is an absolute dream!! Congrats! I hope to stay there someday.

Looking forward to reading about all your plans.

 

[cinderkelly]

Hi Kelly! Just catching up on the DIS and noticed you have a PTR going. I'm so in!!

Congrats on your late honeymoon. It sounds perfect.

Hi Colleen! Thanks for joining in, I'm so happy to have you here!

So I quoted this message because I was going to tell you how much I LOVE WL. We stayed there 3x and absolutely loved it and the boat to MK. I think our family fell in love with Disney on the first boat ride from WL to MK so it will always have a special place in my heart. I was so surprised when I saw they were going to refurbish the pool because it seemed like they just did that.

WL looks amazing, and we were really excited to stay there but after I kept reading about all the work to be done the next couple of years it just wasn't ideal for us. They are building more DVC units and are re-doing the "quiet pool" near the villas but are also closing the beach access and bike and boat rental. Surprisingly it was my DH that pulled the plug and suggested we move! He said he wanted to stay somewhere where we didn't have to deal with any construction at all, so we made the switch and I'm so excited! I'm not so sure we could afford the Poly if the whole family was going. I'm sure we will get to WL someday, it really is amazing how affordable it is for a deluxe resort.

If I was going to do a trip just me and DH we would do the DxDP. All those signature restaurants is going to be so great.

i cant wait to see how it all works out!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

SOOO were switching to the Poly!!!!

Woohoo!!

We are booking a standard view because upgrading to a LV is like $1200 more, ouch! Do you know how many cocktails I can have for $1200? Plus 2 of my ADR wish list places are here

Yikes! That would be a lot of cocktails!!

I don't know a whole lot about specific buildings at the Poly to request so if anyone has any input I sure would appreciate it!

I pulled this from http://www.disboards.com/threads/al...resort-and-villas-thread-spring-2015.3398524/ its a really good thread with loads of info on which longhouse to go for.

When I was going standard view my to choices were Fiji, Tuvalu and Samoa:

What longhouse should I request if I want ...to be close to the Great Ceremonial House?
Samoa, Rarotonga, Niue, Figi

to be near the Lava Pool?
Niue, Samoa, Rarotonga

to be near the Oasis Pool?
Samoa, Rarotonga, Niue, Hawaii (club level only)

have a view of the monorail?
Aotearoa (request monorail side)

Hope some of that helps!