We Eat, Drink, and Run Disney!<---- Not even close! BIG DEVELOPMENTS New Title Needed

[MrsZ]

We've never done breakfast at Tusker House but we love lunch there! I think you'll enjoy it and the characters are fun in their safari gear!
Ahhh! This makes me super excited about eating here! I can't wait

San Angel is one of the restaurants at the very top of my list of restaurants that I want to try on our next trip!
I find it so funny that people either love it or hate it. I'll never understand it. But I'm glad you're giving it a rave review. I'm glad we are definitely going to try it this year.

I'm with you on the princesses. I really want to do a princess meal on our next trip. I don't think I can justify the price/2 credits for CRT without kids but Akerhaus seems like a good alternate!
The two credits here make me leery too, but I'm on the fence again about this one since writing that post. More to come

We did the Cape May Clam Bake dinner on our last trip. The food was all good but we weren't particularly impressed. The Beach Club was gorgeous, as is the whole boardwalk area so I enjoyed seeing it, however I think we would have enjoyed breakfast better.
Ya know... again I started thinking more and more about this restaurant choice and I don't know if it is the best idea.

Thank you so much for all of the feedback! Greatly appreciated my dear!

Hi, I came across your PTR today and I wanted to follow along . I just decided a couple days ago that I'm going to run the ToT 10 miler next year too! I just started running this year. I did a 5k earlier this year and I have another one coming up in a couple weeks. But I've never run a longer distance so I've got a lot of work to do! I'm going to try the Jeff Galloway training plans too. We haven't gotten any further in planning the trip since I just made the decision. My husband requested a MNSSHP so we'll probably do that the night before the race.

I look forward to hearing more about your trip and your running

That's great!!! Maybe our pace is about the same and I'll have someone to run with me! It is alot of work but there is nothing like that feeling of crossing the finish line. I'm going to be using the jeff galloway training plan for the TOT10M too. I'm hoping that once I start training I can post on here so that I can have not only myself but other DISers holding me accountable!

Joining in...just ran the ToT this year...my first long race ever! While I wont be running next years ToT ...have plans for PHM 2015 though!

That's awesome! Great job!!! I too may also have plans for the PHM in 2015

 

[MrsZ]

UGH! I need to be talked off of a planning ledge! I'm all over the place lately and it is because usual planning OCD is completely thrown off.

Here are my current gripes about planning....

1.) We are at the 11 month mark and I haven't booked my room!!!! - For those of you who don't know, DH and I always rent DVC points when we stay in Disney. Eventually once we save up more $$ we will eventually buy into DVC but for now we are stuck renting. When renting points you have the opportunity to book your resort 11 months out. The family that i've rented points from for YEARS usually asks for a deposit before they rent out the points. (completely understandable) Right now with the holidays and the looming items needing to be done at the house we just can't do it. DH and I both decided that instead of Christmas gifts this year we would go all out on the trip so we decided to book the room after the holidays. Great for budgeting, terrible for planning!

2.) The official date and host resort for next years TOT10M isn't out yet! CURSES!

3.) I'm second guessing some of my ADR choices and I'm adding new ones. This isn't as big of a deal because I have until the 180 day mark to figure it out but I'm just feeling completely off my planning game!

Anyone else have trips like this? I felt awful because when DH and I did our first DCL trip I was off my planning game too... I had just started a new job and there were family things going on. Planning took a back seat and we missed out on so much. I felt like a bad Disney wife. Don't get my wrong our trip was still magical and we knew what to expect the next time around but I'm and OCD Disney Planner!!!!! That just doesn't happen to us!

Can someone please remind me that by waiting a few more months to book I'll still be just fine either everything?

xoxo

Mrs Z

 

[tankgirl427]

UGH! I need to be talked off of a planning ledge! I'm all over the place lately and it is because usual planning OCD is completely thrown off.

Here are my current gripes about planning....

1.) We are at the 11 month mark and I haven't booked my room!!!! - For those of you who don't know, DH and I always rent DVC points when we stay in Disney. Eventually once we save up more $$ we will eventually buy into DVC but for now we are stuck renting. When renting points you have the opportunity to book your resort 11 months out. The family that i've rented points from for YEARS usually asks for a deposit before they rent out the points. (completely understandable) Right now with the holidays and the looming items needing to be done at the house we just can't do it. DH and I both decided that instead of Christmas gifts this year we would go all out on the trip so we decided to book the room after the holidays. Great for budgeting, terrible for planning!

2.) The official date and host resort for next years TOT10M isn't out yet! CURSES!

3.) I'm second guessing some of my ADR choices and I'm adding new ones. This isn't as big of a deal because I have until the 180 day mark to figure it out but I'm just feeling completely off my planning game!

Anyone else have trips like this? I felt awful because when DH and I did our first DCL trip I was off my planning game too... I had just started a new job and there were family things going on. Planning took a back seat and we missed out on so much. I felt like a bad Disney wife. Don't get my wrong our trip was still magical and we knew what to expect the next time around but I'm and OCD Disney Planner!!!!! That just doesn't happen to us!

Can someone please remind me that by waiting a few more months to book I'll still be just fine either everything?

xoxo

Mrs Z

Here's my thoughts:
1 & 2) Look at what hotels were host hotels this year, I think it was pretty much the same the year before and probably will be the same next year. If you do DVC and stay at BWV, BC, YC you can walk to the start area or take the bus. If you stay at BLT and the Contemporary isn't a host hotel, I'm sure you can take the monorail to some other Deluxe hotel that is a host. I think at this year's TOT they probably put somewhere when the 2014 run will be.

3)Just make reservations at 180 days and then tweak. Maybe make a list of must do's, would like to do's, and don't care whether you go or not?

I've done Tusker House for breakfast, its fun, especially if you had preordered PP+ so you don't have to pay for the photo. I went to Askerhus for breakfast only, so I can't help you with dinner. I think I *might* try Cape May Cafe for the seafood dinner in January, but things change with me. All the other places I haven't tried. Sorry! I also like Crystal Palace prepark opening. I like seeing Eeyore and the Pooh's puffed toast is awesome! Plus an almost empty Main St!

 

[MrsZ]

Here's my thoughts:
1 & 2) Look at what hotels were host hotels this year, I think it was pretty much the same the year before and probably will be the same next year. If you do DVC and stay at BWV, BC, YC you can walk to the start area or take the bus. If you stay at BLT and the Contemporary isn't a host hotel, I'm sure you can take the monorail to some other Deluxe hotel that is a host. I think at this year's TOT they probably put somewhere when the 2014 run will be.

3)Just make reservations at 180 days and then tweak. Maybe make a list of must do's, would like to do's, and don't care whether you go or not?

I've done Tusker House for breakfast, its fun, especially if you had preordered PP+ so you don't have to pay for the photo. I went to Askerhus for breakfast only, so I can't help you with dinner. I think I *might* try Cape May Cafe for the seafood dinner in January, but things change with me. All the other places I haven't tried. Sorry! I also like Crystal Palace prepark opening. I like seeing Eeyore and the Pooh's puffed toast is awesome! Plus an almost empty Main St!

Thank you! I needed the virtual slap about the face telling me to snap out of it. I'm going to throw the question out there on FB and see if any of my FB friends who ran in the TOT10M this year saw it posted. I'm hoping to stay at BWV but I know how quickly it will book up that weekend. I looked on the run Disney website and OKW was a host resort. I LOVE OKW! So I guess I'll wait and see what happens when I go to rent points.

I'm currently looking into some other restaurants now. Worst case scenario we do some of our old reliable places.

 

[Chaitali]

I can't help too much with the planning angst as we've only rented DVC points once. If you're renting from a family you know, do you think they'd let you delay the deposit this one time if you ask? As far as the date, there is already a ToT 10 miler discussion for 2014 on the WISH board, event sub-board. I think someone posted on there that it's planned for the first weekend in October again but it's not guaranteed as Disney could change the date. There were a couple people on there also pondering the DVC issue.

I'm flirting with the idea of staying at the Swan or Dolphin because of the combination of the great location and cheaper rate.

I'm pretty slow right now and wouldn't want to hold anyone back. Hopefully I can get my pace up by next October and if so, it would be great to run together! But even if not, it would be cool to have someone to hang out with right before going into the corrals too. My husband will be coming with me for the trip and to cheer me on, but he won't be running.

 

[MrsZ]

I can't help too much with the planning angst as we've only rented DVC points once. If you're renting from a family you know, do you think they'd let you delay the deposit this one time if you ask? As far as the date, there is already a ToT 10 miler discussion for 2014 on the WISH board, event sub-board. I think someone posted on there that it's planned for the first weekend in October again but it's not guaranteed as Disney could change the date. There were a couple people on there also pondering the DVC issue.

I'm flirting with the idea of staying at the Swan or Dolphin because of the combination of the great location and cheaper rate.

I'm pretty slow right now and wouldn't want to hold anyone back. Hopefully I can get my pace up by next October and if so, it would be great to run together! But even if not, it would be cool to have someone to hang out with right before going into the corrals too. My husband will be coming with me for the trip and to cheer me on, but he won't be running.

It's tough with DVC. I wouldn't want to ask them to waive the deposit fee. I've had such a good relationship with them and I understand why they do what they do when it comes to renting. I'm sure it'll all work out. I'm just so OCD with my planning. I feel like such a slacker

I bet you're just as fast as me! I'm not that quick. I usually do an 11-12 minute mile. And Disney runs are fun! i am looking forward to getting pictures along the way My DH will be there to cheer me on as well... but he also will not be running! It would be so nice to have someone to hang with before the race!

 

[momabaarjo]

If you have your heart set on DVC BW don't stress too much. When we were looking at places to stay for ToT there was still availability in July, so it is possible you still might be able to rent points for that time frame at BW!

BTW I love BWV...we rented points there during Christmas 2011-2012. I love love love love BW!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I've totally felt the same way when it comes to planning a Disney trip! We here on the Dis get so caught up in all the details and getting everything PERFECT that it's easy to stress ourselves out!

What I always have to do is remind myself to take a step back and think about the fact that we're going to Disney World cheer2! No matter where we stay, what we eat, how many rides we go on or characters we meet, we're going to have a magical time! It may sound silly but for me, I find it's so easy to get caught up in all the planning and lose sight of those basics.

For the ADRs, I found that other than those CRAZY ones (BOG/Ohana etc), you can pretty much find availability after the 180 day mark. I changed ours constantly for our most recent trip. I would make whatever ADRs you want at the 180 day mark and not stress it. If you think you want to eat somewhere, make the reservation! If you change your mind in a month, there's no problem with that!

 

[Chaitali]

I bet you're just as fast as me! I'm not that quick. I usually do an 11-12 minute mile. And Disney runs are fun! i am looking forward to getting pictures along the way My DH will be there to cheer me on as well... but he also will not be running! It would be so nice to have someone to hang with before the race!

Nope, not that fast yet I'm currently at about 15 minutes per mile. But I'm starting early so hopefully I can work on both getting to that longer distance and improving my speed by next October. I want to be able to stop for some photos and not have to worry about getting swept!

I have my next 5k race on November 16th, so less than 2 weeks. It's a night race too, which should be interesting. But we'll have the opposite weather problem here. I'm worried about it being too cold, not too hot...

Hope the planning is going better!

 

[MrsZ]

O-M-G! I swear I didn't fall off the face of the earth!

I wanted to jump on here and give some updates on what's been going on and why I haven't been on the DIS nearly enough as I want to! Listing here in no particular order are the reasons i've been rather quiet....

1.) DH got a new job!!!!
DH is an electrician who has worked in the trade for over 10 years. He is amazing at what he does and is VERY smart. This time last year he was taking a course to get his masters license and passed the test on the first try! (That brilliant man of mine!) After getting his masters he was wondering what the next step in his career was. He thought about starting his own business but it takes a lot to do that. He wanted to try his hand at getting more into the business management side of the trade. He found a job listed online for a company that shall remain nameless. (What I can tell you is that it is a company i'm sure most of you have heard of and it is a government run company which equals AMAZING benefits!) After 1 interview my man was offered the job of head facilities coordinator! Now.... DH will need to retire the tools and I need to take him shopping for new clothes.... think suit and tie! So the past couple of weeks have been getting DH comfortable with the idea and building him up every time he starts to worry about leaving the trade.

2.) I am getting old.....
I have a huge complex about my age. Yea yea I know I'm not that old however some women are worried about their weight or appearance, I'm worried about hitting the big 3-0. I hadn't said anything to anyone about the fact that my eye sight was starting to get fuzzy. I honestly didn't think it was that bad... just was having a hard time seeing far away. It wasn't until I had a medical assistant extern in my office doing a mock physical exam on me that I realized how bad it was. DAMN THAT EYE CHART! I went to the eye doctor after having to listen to the doctor tell me that I was being an idiot and lecturing me for a good hour on the fact that even working in the medical field as a manager means I need to set a good health and wellness example. DH needed an appointment as well (He has worn contacts for years) so off we went and now I need glasses. The silver lining is that I could soften the blow by getting some really cute librarian glasses


1467374_10202751318048139_1306788484_n by KZwicker21, on Flickr

And seeing this made me feel better

644528_660748853964702_940410076_n by KZwicker21, on Flickr

and lastly...

3.) Not to outshine DH but my boss threw my name in for a promotion at work!
I will be 100% honest and say that I love my job. I also love climbing the ladder. I get some sick thrill out of it. I also love setting my staff up to success as well. (I swear I missed my calling of being a motivational speaker) I had an hour and a half phone interview with the person who would be my boss if I get this position. She was already talking like a have a job and kind of offered me a dual role as her assistant because apparently I really impressed her over the phone. It was CRAZY! I have one more interview the first week in December where I would tour the facility they want me to take over and have me meet with more of the colleagues I would be interacting with. If all goes well they want me to make the transition before the end of the year.... WHOA! So my first thought after "Holy Moly!" was "what about my center?" My boss started laughing and said she would expect nothing less to come out of my mouth. So for the past two weeks I've been grooming my employees for new roles to not only help the center when I leave but also to grow their careers. There is a real satisfaction I get knowing that not only did my time in my center grow me professionally and personally but my staff have grown with me.

So that's where I've been! Giving DH multiple congratulatory dinners, becoming a true nerd, and working my tail off to get this promotion and help my staff! Clearly with all of this going on Disney planning has taken a back seat, however if all of these jobs fall into place and the finances look better than we thought a month ago I think DH and I will be able to book BWV and start getting really excited to start planning again!

I hope to have more Disney related goodies to share with you soon!

XOXO
Mrs Z

 

[Chaitali]

Congratulations on the promotion and the new job for your DH! And the glasses look very cute

 

[momabaarjo]

Congrats for all the great life updates...and trust me 3-0 was the hardest...after that they are easy cause you forget and have to stop and think how old you are!

 

[MrsZ]

OMG OMG OMG!!!!

So as you can probably notice, my ticker in my signature has DRASTICALLY CHANGED! So let me explain what has been going on and what prompted this change. (Oh and also introduce some new characters to our little adventure!)

The month of December was a whirlwind. I've taken on more responsibility at work, and DH has been working really hard at his new job. We have been like passing ships in the night during the week. I honestly don't know what happened to the month of December. Throw in that we decided to host Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our house and yeaaaaa....

Christmas eve went "ok". We had about 20 people over the house and with that many people there are bound to be some "dynamics" roaming around. Don't get me wrong, we had a lovely time and the friends and family that I was able to spend time with really warmed my heart DMIL and DFIL spent that night at our house and on Christmas Morning we had breakfast, opened gifts, and watched typical Christmas Morning programing.

This year was a hard one for DMIL. She was feeling a little down on Christmas Morning. DH and I were trying to think of something we could do to boost the morale a bit. We finished watching the Christmas Parade and while searching for something to watch we came across the show "Buying Alaska". DMIL wanted to watch it and kept talking about how she has wanted to go there FOREVERRRRR! DMIL has always talked about Alaska and every year something has come up and she hasn't been able to go. I grabbed my laptop and off to the DCL website we went.

I was surprised how easy it was to get DMIL and DFIL to commit to this! Apparently this was just the morale booster they needed! I contacted a friend of mine who works for a Disney Travel Agency and a few days later we were 100% booked!

Here are the details:

Leaving for Vancouver on 8/13, Departing 9/1

Who's going? Me!, DH, DMIL, and DFIL

We are super excited and we can't wait to experience this with the parental units!

So that's where I've been. I'm hoping work calms down a bit and I can keep up with this PTR. I need to get a new title for it however. Any Ideas??

xoxo
Mrs Z

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow so much has happened since I disappeared from the Dis!

First of all, congrats x 100000 to both you and your husband! That is ridiculously AMAZING and you both deserve praise and a celebration!

Second, OMG I'm jealous! I would LOVE to do a DCL to Alaska one day! It sounds like such a cool experience. I bet you guys are gonna love it & I really hope you do a TR about it because I can't wait to hear about it.

No ideas on the PTR title though. Creativity has never been my strong suit. DBF gave me a bear for Valentine's day and the only name I've come up with is bear...