Update 4-26 Things I've never done! "Keep your pants on!" 17 day May 13-29 PTR!

[SnowandMittens]

Hello all you lovely Dis-ers and welcome to…

The DO OVER! 16 nights in May PTR!

It will include Flower and Garden Festival, it will include Star Wars Weekends, and it will also include my Dbf (Ryan) and I desperately trying to get the magic back from Disney World. We had been 3 times alone as a couple, and this last time....

I surprised my then 9 year old sister with a trip to Disney World this past September, and let’s just say that the trip grew from her, myself, and my Dbf to a 6 person fiasco. My mom tagged along, and other than complaining about getting up at the crack of dawn (8:00am was just too early.) She was fine. My little sister, who liked to proclaim “I hate that ride.” after EVERYTHING, fine.

My sister (21) and her boyfriend however, are Disney magic suckers. They’re like Dementors except they complained, whined, fought me on all of the decisions and hotel choices, and effectively pretty much made our trip miserable.

So how did this 16 night vacation become a reality?

Finally, after almost a week of the horrible evil awful trip of September (Now known as the Surprise! Disney World Sucked! Trip) Ryan and I took the last day to ourselves and decided to go to Hollywood Studios to, oh I don’t know, NOT COMPLAIN!

Everything was back as it should be, we were having a blast, riding on TOT with no wait, screaming our heads off. We got our butts over to Magic Kingdom and spent the day sucking down dole whips and people watching and as we were leaving the park for the last time, Ryan grabs my hand and very seriously says, “We have to make this right next time. We have to do it again.” I almost cried as we were walking towards the exit on Main Street. Save for the last day, we didn’t have any fun AT ALL and now we were leaving. We got through the exit gates and just before we left the park Ryan said “You didn’t say goodbye to the castle.”

Saying goodbye to the castle was something I did at the end of every trip and normally ended with me crying and Ryan promising another trip.

“I don’t need to tell it goodbye, this wasn’t a good trip. I’ll just say hello when we come back for our do-over.”

So the idea was born.

 

[SnowandMittens]

THE CAST:

Me, Ro.
I’m 23, and a double major in Creative Writing and Interpersonal Communications. Currently I work in the Credit Card department of a large company. I’m the person you talk to when you’re calling for your balance or due date. I love my job and like to daydream that I’m at the Disney call center myself, making lovely ADRs for everyone. One of the women I work next to used to work AT the Disney call center, and is just as much of a nut as I am about DW, so I’m having fun hashing out Dining Reservations and Rehabs with her.

I am working on getting through school and am currently working on a book deal with a friend of mine that goes to school in Chicago. I am obviously VERY Disney obsessed, and am planning on doing a semester with the College Program my senior year and then moving to FL to work for Disney. My ambition is to be part of the opening team for China.

Ryan, also Ry. (You say RyRo together and we sound like some variety of Ramen noodles.)
He’s 24 (almost 25!) and recently got accepted into the Fire Fighters Academy. I’m proud as heck of him and think he’s doing something super noble with his life. He’s also cross training as an EMT and has already agreed to move to FL with me. He’s a normally quiet guy and my mom likes to point out he’s just a touch like Niles from Fraiser. He and I constantly have Hidden Mickey battles and when we watched Princess and the Frog the other night, he was pausing it every two seconds to look for them in the lily pads in the swamp scenes. He’s an uber Disney nerd although he’d never tell you that.

We’ve been dating for five years and normally take a trip ever Jan for our anniversary. This time, as mentioned above, we wanted to take a small trip of our own in May.

Until the magic words were said… “Why don’t we just get some Annual Passes.”

After that, I was planning on surprising him with a trip in August, but with the Fire Fighting Academy getting in the way (Attendance is something they really take seriously.) I told him about the surprise trip and he said we should just extend the trip in May.

I get 2 weeks paid vacation from work, so we got some tickets from SW and POOF! I kept adding on a night here or there and we ended up with 16.

Alright, now I know that any good PTR has it’s photos, and here is a photo of Ryan and I.

 

[mickeyphile]

Hi Ro,

Just came across your PTR and am subscribing. You certainly are a very good writer and I am looking forward to following your journey. Please post regularly.

BTW, very cute picture of you and Ryan. You both seem very grounded and focused. Good for you!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Wow. 16 nights. That's awesome! I wish I could stay for that long.

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[MHTeacher]

WOW--16 nights. I don't know what I'd do with all that time, but it sure would be fun trying to figure it out!

 

[SnowandMittens]

Hi Ro,

Just came across your PTR and am subscribing. You certainly are a very good writer and I am looking forward to following your journey. Please post regularly.

BTW, very cute picture of you and Ryan. You both seem very grounded and focused. Good for you!

Aww, thanks! I've had a couple of rough years in college... mono (which at the time they thought was Lupus, and that made our DW trip at the time fun ) and some other things, but I feel like finally I'm on track.

Wow. 16 nights. That's awesome! I wish I could stay for that long.

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Yay! I'm excited I'm going that long too!

WOW--16 nights. I don't know what I'd do with all that time, but it sure would be fun trying to figure it out!

It's exhausting.. I'm still calling the hotline for ADRs and other things as we change our mind!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

hello! I'm here! I'm glad you folks are doing a "do-over" trip! It should be fun! Can't wait to hear more!! 16 nights?!?!? sounds like sooooo much fun!!

*keala*

 

[SnowandMittens]

Where:

Well, POP Century!

Ry and I have stayed at POP Century, Port Orleans French Quarter, and Saratoga Springs before. Believe it or not, the Dementor sister who kept talking about how much cheaper Universal is was the one who got the pin code upgrade. AHHHHH!

So looking at the budget for this reDOKulious trip we assumed that since we are both still going to school and therefore semi poor (I swear, my entire collage alcohol budget goes towards Disney Vacations. Should I spend $20 and go out or save towards a hotel room…) so a Value resort it was!

We never really considered staying off site, but I did do a little poking around and decided that if we ever DID have to do this, there are some pretty nice places. Disney purist that I am, we decided that POP was better anyway because renting a rental car for two young people like ourselves is EXPENSIVE!

Last time we stayed in POP I had requested a room in the 50’s, top floor, king bed. Well on check in all of those were ignored to the point of us staying somewhere in the 80’s, middle floor, staring at the top of a tree that had annoying birds in it. This time….

I’m making NO room requests!

Dah DUM DAAAAAAA!

I’ve decided that we are going to have to make that teeeeeny tiny sleeping space on the double bed work out, and the other bed was for eating and throwing my Vera Bradley Hipster on.

Omg, did you read that!

Vera. Bradley. Hipster.

I was on disboards on that fateful St. Patty’s day (if I was a proper college student, I’d be eating the traditional irish breakfast on the bar right off of campus, drinking green beer with my green eggs and ham, and walking to class slightly tipsy.) was on Disboards and saw the sale link to the bag I’ve been saving up for.

So I ran over to the website and got this little beauty…

Isn’t she lovely! So the sale plus a coupon a Diser was so nice to include, she came to $15.72 and with the $8.00 for shipping, I had my hipster for less than $25.00


HELLZ YA!

I’m such a nerd that I’ve been packing and repacking the darn thing to see what it will hold. Ry came in the room to see me putting Disney pins in one pouch, water bottles in another, and asked me what I was doing. Bah, big eye roll from the guy. I’ll see how thankful HE is when I’m the one carrying all this stuff around when he needs it!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

Awww! I'm so sorry you didn't get your requests last time!! You're making me nervous now! lol!

I love your Hipster! We FINALLY have a Vera Bradley store here in Hawaii and I STILL have not checked it out! I've looked online and seen some really cute things!! But I already have a park bag...hmmm....should i go check out the store?! Maybe I shall!!

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[SnowandMittens]

Okay, so you’ve probably been wondering WHY this PRT is called “Keep your pants on!”

Well, it started with our last trip… I was having a melt down at the Ticket and Transportation center because we were heading to our LeCellier dinner from Magic Kingdom. I know all of you can appreciate how hard it was for me to get a dinner reservation for 6 at 7:30 for dinner.

We were on the way to do a monorail transfer when we reach the bottom of the ramp, my Draco Malfoy of a sister (Who normally would eat about a bicycle seat size of steak a day if she had a choice) says “Ugggghh! I don’t WANT to go all the way to Epcot for dinner. Why can’t we just eat somewhere closer?”

Um, duh, free dining. Probably no reservations. And this is LE CELLIER!!!! As in THE reservation that you wake up at 7 am 180 days out from the vacation to book. HELLO!!!

I didn’t say this, but I explained (Ry later said I was a little snappy… but I was pretty PO’d by that point. It’d been nothing but bickering all day with her) very nicely that it was free dining, yadda, yadda, LeCellier is a steak house, she loves steak. She would marry this steak. She would have steak babies with this steak…

So what does my charming sister do?

“I’m tired. I just want to go back to the hotel and eat some cereal.”

BAHHHHHHH!

So I said, “Fine, you and your boyfriend can go back to the hotel, and the four of us will go to dinner.”

I planned on grabbing two unsuspecting Disers and making them sit with us, FYI. I’d never waste a table for two. Besides, LeCellier gets so many walk ups, probably not a big deal.

She goes, “No, I don’t want to go alone.” Um, that’s what a boyfriend is for. “I want mom to go with me.”

Well, my sister has Juvenile Arthritis (and takes steroids, which is probably adding to her pissy attitude) and my mom gets all concerned looking and says “Oh, I’d better go with her!”

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! My 7 am adr is WASTED! But there is still me, still the BF and still my 10 year old sister, who then says, “I want to go with Mom.”

You got it. She wants her mom and nothing… no bribes of Disney hats or pins or light up thingys changes her mind.

I’m about in tears at this point. We are standing at the monorail transfer, we’re going to be late for the reservation, and now FOUR out of SIX people are trying to bail on the most important dinner.

I tearfully explain to them why this is so important, see if she can wait until after dinner to go back to the hotel, see if my mom can stay for dinner and then go back to the hotel, try to bribe my baby sister with light up things, and I’m crushed at this point.

My evil Death Eater sister says…

“Oh for God’s sake, Ro. Keep your pants on you drama queen. You’re such a baby.”

This promptly caused me to burst into tears, I told them to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the trip if they were going to be big (we’ll clean it up with Orbit) doo doo link lickers to me and I told my mom to forget about it and stomped onto the ramp for the other monorail.

Ry, being the awesomeness that he is, followed me and hugged me the entire ride over to Epcot.

We got to LeCellier, told them four people disappeared by a mysterious case of food poisoning, and were seated at a table for two.

Ry, trying his best to cheer me up, tells me to keep my pants on.

Our waiter, who happened to be serving us a bread basket at the time (I think his name was Frank?) looked at us curiously, having overheard that and said quite seriously.

“Well sir, I’m sure we’d accommodate a beautiful young lady taking her pants off, but please, just keep yours on for dinner.”

He smirked and left and promptly Ry and I burst into laughter and for the rest of that trip, “Keep your pants on!” became a running joke.

Side Note: I was in the bathroom at the grocery store the other day and in the stall down from me was a woman and her son (probably 3 or 4). She was using the bathroom, and I guess he must have needed to as well, because all of a sudden she yells “Keep your pants on!” and I had to hold my laughter in best I could until they left.

 

[jenniferkeala808]

awww! I wanted to cry reading your last post!! I would've been upset also! Us DISers know how HARD it is to get Le Cellier ADRs!! I'm sorry you had to go through that but I'm glad your BF was there to comfort you. That's why I don't like going with other people on trips. I like doing my own thing and sometimes people just don't "get it." right?? Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Whoa, 16 nights?! Awesome! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey, can I join!? Your last post was heartbreaking! I totally get it! It's just so hard to explain how important some things are to people who just don't get it. Glad you were still able to have dinner at Le Cellier, though.

So funny about the hipster! I have to say, I've heard talk of this bag on the DIS before and really had no interest. We have been quite successful using our $3 orange sling bag from Old Navy, circa 2006....but I can NOT resist a great sale! So I bought two and am so excited to try it out for our next trip. The only problem I see with it is DH won't wear it. We took turns with the orange sling bag....


Can't wait to hear more!

 

[MHTeacher]

Ahhhhh, so now the title makes complete sense! I love it!

Love your new hipster. Since I have two teenaged daughters, VB is quite the thing at my house. We have a hipster in Daisy Daisy, Puccini, Medallion, Capri Blue, Rasberry Fizz, and Cupcakes Pink. I have a different style bag (the Bowler) in the pattern you purchased your hipster in--Yellow Bird--I love that pattern!

 

[SnowandMittens]

Just a super quick update before work.

Ugh, working 4 ten hour shifts starts to hit you by day two.

Today is the day that WE PAID OUR TRIP IN FULL.

And let me tell you, it was SAD watching all that money come out of my savings account . I finally understood what my mom meant when she said spending money made her sick.

So the only thing left to do is pay $140.00 when we get down there for the last two nights and buy some APs!

I'll have a real update tonight along with ADRs!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

congrats on being paid in full!! woohoo! I know that feeling of draining my account! Oh well!! It's for a good cause!! Can't wait to hear more plans!

 

[SnowandMittens]

awww! I wanted to cry reading your last post!! I would've been upset also! Us DISers know how HARD it is to get Le Cellier ADRs!! I'm sorry you had to go through that but I'm glad your BF was there to comfort you. That's why I don't like going with other people on trips. I like doing my own thing and sometimes people just don't "get it." right?? Can't wait to hear more!!

Ha, I was ready to strangle someone! We ended up having a good dinner anyway, and when we were watching Illuminations, he said this was the first time he’d felt happy the whole trip!!!

Whoa, 16 nights?! Awesome! Can't wait to hear more of your plans.

Yay! Thanks for hopping aboard!

Hey, can I join!? Your last post was heartbreaking! I totally get it! It's just so hard to explain how important some things are to people who just don't get it. Glad you were still able to have dinner at Le Cellier, though.

So funny about the hipster! I have to say, I've heard talk of this bag on the DIS before and really had no interest. We have been quite successful using our $3 orange sling bag from Old Navy, circa 2006....but I can NOT resist a great sale! So I bought two and am so excited to try it out for our next trip. The only problem I see with it is DH won't wear it. We took turns with the orange sling bag....


Can't wait to hear more!

I know, that’s what the Dbf said, but I told him if I carried the bag for the whole trip, that means that he gets to buy me a treat!

Ahhhhh, so now the title makes complete sense! I love it!

Love your new hipster. Since I have two teenaged daughters, VB is quite the thing at my house. We have a hipster in Daisy Daisy, Puccini, Medallion, Capri Blue, Rasberry Fizz, and Cupcakes Pink. I have a different style bag (the Bowler) in the pattern you purchased your hipster in--Yellow Bird--I love that pattern!

I really love it, and totally didn’t expect to! I think I wouldn’t buy another one unless I could get it on sale… I normally only spend about $20.00 on a purse, but if I keep falling in love with these bags, I may get addicted before the next sale!

 

[SnowandMittens]

Okie dokie folks… we have….
DUM DA DAHHHHHHH!
The ADR list.

13th 1900 Park Fare - Dinner
14th LeCellier (I GOT THE ADR TODAY!!!!) - Dinner
15th Boma- Dinner
16th Biergarten- Dinner
17th Les Chefs de Franc- Dinner
18th Ohana- Dinner
19th San Angel Inn- Dinner
20th Yak and Yeti- Dinner
21st Sci-Fi Dine In- Dinner
22nd Teppan Edo- Dinner
23rd Hoop de Doo! - Dinner
24th Open night… whatever the Dbf decides to do!
25th Raglan Road- Dinner
26th Sanaa- Dinner
27th Kona- Dinner
28th T-Rex Café- Dinner
29th Crystal Palace Breakfast

 

[princess_momma]

Hey!! I'm here and loving your trip report! I'm so glad you and your guy are going back for a re-do trip! Sometimes its just hard to vacation with other people, even if it is your family!!

Your adr's look SOOOOO good!! Man you are going to ba a happy girl eating all that stuff for so long! I wish I could stay as long as you are going to! That's so awesome!

 

[MHTeacher]

Hey, we're doing Teppan Edo on the 22nd for dinner as well! Maybe we'll see you there!