wdwgirl goes on safari...May 14-19 with tons of pics and video: final update, p. 18

[wdwgirl03]

OK, I'm cracking. I've been reading other people's PTRs debating whether or not to do my own...well, I decided I will because I'm just TOOOOO darn excited!

So if you are reading this, (and excuse me for my lame attempt at a clever title...LOL! ).

My family and I were in Disney World right after Christmas and I wrote a trip report for that. You can check it out here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1677326


A bit of background...I hope this isn't too boring, but it does set up WHY we are going on this trip!
Now normally, we don't go back to Disney so soon after a trip, but go back to December 30, 2007, the day we were scheduled to leave the cold, snowy Wisconsin weather for sunny, warm (or not so warm on that trip...) Florida. We were at the airport all ready to go. Shortly before we were scheduled to board, someone made an announcement saying that our flight was cancelled. WHAT?!?!? The reason? Apparently a flight attendant called in sick. So we were told to head back down to the counter to HOPEFULLY reschedule our flight. Seeing that it was right after Christmas and it's such a busy time to travel, I wasn't counting on anything.

The good news is that we DID get put on a later flight that day, only arriving at Saratoga Springs 12 hours late...but the even better news is that we were given FREE FLIGHT VOUCHERS for the inconvenience. Being the Disney freak that I am, I immediately start thinking about another trip! When we got home, my dad starting playing around with dates we could go. We didn't think getting a hotel would be too hard, but the flight vouchers had a lot of restrictions and you could only choose from limited seats. We became DVC members in 2006 (our "home" is Saratoga Springs) so our hope is that we get to stay at as many of those resorts as possible. When my dad called there weren't many rooms available, but they did have some openings at Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Lodge. He booked at AKL and was fortunate enough to also get 3 seats on the plane. Sooo...the plans are as follows:

The dates: May 14-May 19, 2008
The resort: Animal Kingdom Lodge

Stay tuned for more!

 

[wdwgirl03]

The cast:

Me: My name is Sarah. I just turned 23 a couple weeks ago, though I seem to get a lot of comments from people who think I'm in high school . Finished student teaching in January in a second grade class which I LOVED, and am now doing some subbing . Oh yeah, and trying to find a full-time job for next year. I love everything Disney and just can't get enough!

Dad: A lawyer. Is currently in between jobs and sort of loving it. haha He's the one who does most of the planning as far as making reservations, etc. Loves

Claire: My 20-year old sister. As of yet, she isn't officially coming with us, but my dad and I are working on that. We're thinking that if we just go and buy her a ticket for the Pirate and Princess Party she'll have to come along.

Unfortunately, the two other members of my family will not be coming. My other sister will still be in school, and as much as she wants to come along it won't work out. My mom isn't coming either...she's not a big fan of traveling and after WDW earlier this year and our trip to Arizona (just got back on Monday...might include a mini TR of that in here...more reason to keep reading ) she doesn't really want to go. So, it'll just be the three of us...hopefully! If you have any ideas for how to convince Claire to come along, I'm open to suggestions!

Here's the three of us from our trip in October 2006 (Claire, Dad, me):

UP NEXT: The plans!

 

[Native NYer]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Can't wait to read more!

Yay, my first comment! Thanks for stopping in!

 

[ariel2007]

Yes you decided to do a pre-trippie too. Cant wait to hear about more of your plans.

 

[wdwgirl03]

OK, so I got my sister to finally make a decision about coming along. We've been talking about this since January, but for some reason she's been noncommittal about going even though she'll have just finished school. I told her that we wanted to buy tickets for the Pirate and Princess Party and she said that we should get her one! WOOT!

So here are some of the plans we've got so far...since we're Disney veterans we usually don't decide what park(s) we're going to go to until the night before and also since we were just there...we can go at a leisurely pace.

May 14: Flight out of Milwaukee to Orlando
Magical Express bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge

May 16: Pirate and Princess Party!!!

May 17 (or one of the other days): Sea World...we've only been to Sea World once and that was when I was 10 years old. I've been wanting to go back for a while now and this will be a good opportunity to go (since my other sister, the one who's not coming, isn't really interested). We'll probably do a one-day car rental for this trip.

May 19: Come home

I really hope that the P&PP tickets are still available for May 16! Otherwise I'll be pretty bummed, as it's the only one during the dates we'll be there.

I'll keep everyone posted as things become more official!

As a side note, I have to brag for my sister Emma. She's a senior in high school and therefore making her college decisions. Well, sadly she got waitlisted from the school that Claire and I go/went to, BUT...the other day she got a call saying that they were reviewing the waiting list and took her name off because they were going to offer her admission to the College Of Business at Marquette! She got her official acceptance letter today. I know this has nothing to do with this trip, but I'm having a proud sister moment. Guess that "legacy" bit helped a little...

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yes you decided to do a pre-trippie too. Cant wait to hear about more of your plans.

Yup, I was reading a whole bunch of pre-trippies and got inspired to do my own. And maybe it will help the time pass by faster. hehe I hope some more people actually read it!

 

[wdwgirl03]

We ordered our Pirate and Princess Party tickets today...I'm excited!! But we will not be getting them in the mail...we were able to get a discount with our DVC membership so we will have to pick them up at will call at one of the parks.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hello everyone! As I mentioned my family just returned from Arizona. It was my first time going there...it was a lot of fun! We mainly went for Brewers Spring Training, but also to escape the Wisconsin weather (it's been a LOOOONG winter!). This was a common sight MANY times this year:

It is a good thing we left last Thursday otherwise we would've had our second cancelled flight in 3 months because we got another foot of snow. Here's some pictures from our trip.

TPC Scottsdale...we visited to see if we could find my dad's name on the hole-in-one plaque-which we did!

Home of Brewers spring training...

I loved how they even had the famous sausage races at the spring training games! Only in Milwaukee, I tell ya.

We spent some time in Old Scottsdale before the Brewers-Giants game...it was a cute little shopping area!

Scottsdale Stadium, the Giants' spring training home.

Camelback Mountain...this picture doesn't really do it justice, but there's no question how this mountain got its name. This is the camel's "head."

The reigning National League Rookie of the Year, Ryan Braun! He made my sister's day when she got his autograph.

This is what is was like every day we were there: sunny, warm, not a single cloud in the sky. We didn't want to leave! (photo from the Brewers-Diamondbacks game).

 

[Bloodhound]

Happy April Fools Day

 

[wdwgirl03]

So after a Disney trip one thing I like to do is make a scrapbook. Normally it takes me quite a while to finish an album because I've had school to worry about and sometimes it's hard to get motivated to do a page, but since I'm done with my student teaching and had a lot of time on my hands in January-February, I was able to finish pretty quickly. Enjoy!

In other news, I started looking at the Sea World website to see all of the attractions they have there so I can pick out what I want to do when we go there! I'm excited!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hello again! Sorry this isn't too exciting right now...anyway, my dad, Claire, and I went to the Brewers home opener today vs. the Giants. The good news is the Crew won 13-4! When we got home our Magical Express information packet had arrived. It's getting closer...only 40 days to go!

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Joining in on your PTR! Sounds like your dad, sis and you will have a great time!!! Looking forward to more

 

[wdwgirl03]

Joining in on your PTR! Sounds like your dad, sis and you will have a great time!!! Looking forward to more

Hi Cheryl, thanks for joining! I'm really excited...my dad, sister, and I went on a trip in October '06 and we had a great time! I'm sort of bummed my other sister and mom can't come, but I know it'll still be tons of fun.

 

[wdwgirl03]

So as we get closer and closer to our trip, the more I think about what I want to do. Even though we've been to WDW so many times, it seems we always seem to do the same things. I always say I want to do some of the attractions we don't normally do, but we never get to them. Mostly because my youngest sister never wants to do them and especially when we were little...we couldn't get her upset! LOL. So here's a list of some attractions I HOPE to do on this trip (along with our favorites, of course!):

MAGIC KINGDOM
Because we have tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party on the 16th, I'm hoping we can get to some of these.

Tom Sawyer Island
We have not done this in AGES and after watching Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel shows...gotta do it.

Tiki Room
Another attraction that I always say I want to do but it never happens...plus, I'm guessing we won't have to worry about temperatures in the 30s like we did in January and it might be a nice way to escape the heat. hehe

Meet the Characters
Even though I'm 23 I still have fun getting pictures with the characters! I'm hoping to meet some pirates and princesses on this trip.

EPCOT
Fish-watch at The Seas with Nemo and Friends
I love animals and always want to spend some time in the aquariums...but, apparently everyone else in my family (except my dad!) thinks it's boring. This time I WILL convince my sister to do it!

Living with the Land
Didn't get to this on our last trip and I always enjoy it, especially seeing the greenhouses.

Innoventions
There's always interesting stuff in there...plus another indoor attraction if it gets too hot.

Journey Into Imagination
Because I love Figment.

 

[wdwgirl03]

MGM...I mean Hollywood Studios
The Great Movie Ride
To me, it's a classic. In January the line was too long for us so we skipped it. hehe

Block Party Bash
My dad and I saw this parade when we were in Disneyland...it's pretty cool. They had it at night so I didn't really get any decent picture from it.

Indiana Jones
For a while my sisters and I sort of went through a stage where all we wanted to do was the rides...we weren't really fans of the shows. So I have not seen this one in many years. I also might want to see Lights, Motors, Action again...that one was pretty cool too!

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground
I like taking goofy pictures and hey...this is a great place to do it! hehe What could be better than getting a picture on a giant ant?

And last but not least...
Toy Story Mania
I read on another Disney board that AP previews are going to be May 10-12 and there is a press event on the 16th, so I am crossing my fingers that we get a chance to try this out. That would make my trip!

Animal Kingdom
Finding Nemo the Musical
In January we went over to the AK with every intention of seeing this show. Well, while we were waiting for the Lion King Show, a nice cast member started talking to us and asked if we would like to be in the parade! Of course we said yes, so that meant we didn't get a chance to see the show...but being in the parade was definitely an awesome memory.

Rafiki's Planet Watch
Like I said, I love animals and we have never taken the train back there. I'd love to check it out!

Animal Trails
We never get a chance to spend a lot of time on the trails because SOME people think it's boring...

 

[wdwgirl03]

And finally, some "mouscellaneous" plans that I (we) hope to do...

Take lots of pictures!

Mini golf

Animal-watch at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (I am soooo excited for this!!)

Shop! (because you can't leave Disney World without a souvenir...or 10... )

 

[wdwgirl03]

Hi everyone...as it rains here in Milwaukee I'm busy thinking about Disney World! 36 days to go!

Just a little update/addition to our trip. We had been talking about making dinner reservations for our trip and decided on Tony's. We thought it would be cool to eat there on the day we're going to the Pirate and Princess Party. Unfortunately, it sounds like a lot of other people have that plan and it was all booked. BUT...we did make ADRs at Mama Melrose's at DHS instead for Thursday night. We've never been there before but all I know is that I love Italian food, so I'm excited.

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Your plans look great! I've always wanted to try the mini golf but that may be kind of boring doing that solo. Plus where is the competition!?!

Ohhh I'm excited about the previews for the new Toy Story mania. I'm hearing the official opening around the 19th?! Hopefully that is true, since I miss the AP preview by 2 days. Ugh!

Bummer you couldn't get a ressie at Tony's. You could look at is a good thing though, you wont have to deal with the crowded restraunt.

Wohoo for 36 more days!!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Your plans look great! I've always wanted to try the mini golf but that may be kind of boring doing that solo. Plus where is the competition!?!

Ohhh I'm excited about the previews for the new Toy Story mania. I'm hearing the official opening around the 19th?! Hopefully that is true, since I miss the AP preview by 2 days. Ugh!

Bummer you couldn't get a ressie at Tony's. You could look at is a good thing though, you wont have to deal with the crowded restraunt.

Wohoo for 36 more days!!!

Oh, you should definitely try the mini golf sometime...it's a lot of fun! If you do start out on the Winter course at Winter Summerland because a lot of the holes seem to funnel right into the hole (I think once I had about 4 holes-in-one! hehe) Maybe during your meet you could convince some of the others to go.

Let's cross our fingers we're lucky enough to try out Toy Story Mania!