We're Only 1800km and 47 Days Away From Our F&W, MNSSHP, and Birthday Extravaganza!

[archdandy]

Hello and welcome to my second ever PTR!

​

I'm super excited to be able to share all our plans with you! Now on to the details:

Who

Me - I'm 23 years old and I currently work part time at a YMCA park as a housekeeper and part time as a customer service agent for a canadian company from home. This is my fourth trip to Disney World and I can't wait!

Favorite Movie: It switches a lot but right now it's Tangled
Favorite Character: Minnie
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite Park: I don't have a favorite, I love them all for different reasons
Favorite Snack: Peanut butter cups!
Favorite Restaurant: Yachstmans Steakhouse

DH - He is 26 years old and is currently in school part time for animal control officer and is a full time manager at a Cash Converters store. This will be his third trip to Disney World and I hope he never gets sick of it

Favorite Movie: Toy Story
Favorite Character: Goofy
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom/Hollywood Studios
Favorite Snack: Chocolate peanut butter cake from Sci-Fi
Favorite Restaurant: Yachstmans Steakhouse

What

A Disney vacation of course! We are so excited to be going down to take advantage of the F&W festival, MNSSHP and to celebrate my DH's birthday! We will be using the DDxP plan for the third time.

Where

We will be staying in the newly opened Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation!

When

\We managed to get ourselves a PIN for free dining so we are now booked for October 19-26 2012!

Why

This trip came about because we had been to Disney once before while F&W and MNSSHP were going on but it was our first trip and we didn't do either of those things I know, shame on us, right? Well I've been determined to go back in the fall ever since.

Now that you've learned all about us it's time to get this PTR started! Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and enjoy the ride!

 

[Trinity524]

I'm in! Let's get this party started! Love the Wendy pic!

 

[archdandy]

I'm in! Let's get this party started! Love the Wendy pic!

Hello and welcome! I can't wait to share the details of our trip with everyone.

 

[archdandy]

So our tax return finally arrived in the mail yesterday and I got online right away and started contacting people about possibly renting DVC points. Now I know that this is really late to be trying to get points for an October trip but both DH and I had our hearts set on AKL, Beach Club or BWV. Unfortunatley I've been informed that the only DVC resort available for all of October and November is Saratoga Springs.

So yeah, we're pretty upset about it. It kind of just takes our vision for this trip and smashes it into itty bitty pieces. But I'm trying to stay positive, after all it will still be a trip to Disney right? RIGHT?!

Right. Now we are faced with the challenge of deciding on another course of action. DH has informed me he doesn't really want to stay at Coronado Springs again for this trip. So that's out. Hmmm...okay so let's see what else I can cook up!

No matter what we are going to have to change our dates to fit in with the free dining promotion. We like to use the DDXP and it just isn't in our budget to pay full price for it a month after free dining has ended. We were going to do that if the chance to stay at a DVC resort came up because it would have been such a discounted price. So now our dates have been changed to the end of September into the beginning of October some time.

DH is really against staying at Value's and for the most part so am I. Buuuuut....I was looking at the updated pictures from the AoA resort and it kind of looked cool Not to mention it would save us some money. The only other option is to stay at one of the moderate resorts and Coronado is out, Riverside is out because I didn't enjoy it last time we were there, and that only leaves Carribean or French Quarter. Decisions, decisions...

Anyways we are going to be talking it over tonight and hopefully making a decision. I'll keep you posted!

 

[archdandy]

That's right! We made a decision last night on where we wanted to stay and it's going to be the Art of Animation resort! I'm super excited to be staying here and to top it off we are going to be staying in the Little Mermaid rooms a couple weeks after they open. It will be like we are part of history!

We called last night and paid a deposit. Our new dates will be September 23-30. Even though this is exciting there are still some things that I'm nervous about. We've only stayed in a value once before and it wasn't really to our tastes so I'm a bit worried we will get there and not like it. Also the heat.. My DH doesn't do well with the heat and we know it can get pretty hot in September still. Oh well. I guess we will just have to deal with these things.

So now that we are booked and its about a month earlier than we were planning going I have to get right on making my ADR decisions since we are well past the 180 day mark for our dates. I'll keep you posted!

++146 days++​

 

[archdandy]

I wanted to give you a guys a bit of our trip history while you wait for our ADR plans, oh so patiently! But first I wanted to mention a couple of things.

I haven't updated in a while because I just started training on Monday for my new job. Hopefully I'll be able to start updating more regularly now.

I also wanted to share with you all that I am going to be starting a weight loss plan and hopefully by the time we go to Disney I will have reached my goal of 46lbs lost. It's going to be a challenge but I think I can do it and I'm goign to let you guys in on the ride. I'm going to be using SparkPeople, so if anybody has an account on there and would like to be friends my username is archdandy040289.

Now on to the trip history!


My first trip to Disney was when I was about 11 years old. I don't remember much about it other than we didn't stay on property. I remember some snippits here and there but it all kind of blurs together.

My second trip and DH`s first was in the fall of 2010. My mom had offered to pay for our plane tickets if we wanted to come with her and my little brother. We had thought about it for a while and it wasn`t until about a month before that we decided we would go. DH was reluctant because he`s not a fan of amusemant parks and thought it would be all for kids.

We stayed at All Star Sports and my mom stayed at All Star Movies. They couldn`t get us in the same resort, but that was fine. We had a great trip. The moment DH stepped in to Magic Kingdom (it was our first park) he was in love. The first ride we went on was the Haunted Mansion and that sealed the deal for him.

There wasn`t a lot of planning involved with this trip and we ended up eating at a lot of counter service places. We did managed to snag a lunch time table at Coral Reef while we were in EPCOT though. And we were glad we did! That restaurant has an amazing view.

DH and I also went to Universal Studios even though it wasn`t planned. We didn`t think we would ever be back and so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and check out the Harry Potter stuff because we are both huge fans!

We also checked out the other parts of Universal as well.

We had a lot of fun but we didn`t think we would be back for a long time if ever.

Fast forward a couple months after getting back from this trip and we needed to start planning our honeymoon as were getting married in June 2011. We thought about all kinds of different places but it came down to us both wanting to go back to Disney!

We went in June 2011 (I know we are crazy for going in such hot weather and high crowds) and had an amazing time! This was the trip that cemented my love of planning. I joined the DIS a couple months before out trip and planned, planned, planned.

The resort we chose was the Coranado Springs and we stayed for a week. There were a couple different downers on this trip but it didn`t manage to ruin it at all. The first one was while we were on the plane I had noticed a couple of red spots on my face. I didn`t really think anything of it at first but when we got to the resort I noticed that more and more were popping up. Well by the second day we were there my whole face was swollen and red and it started to spread down my arm. We had to call the Disney doctor to come and check me out. He said I had an allergic reaction and it was probably to one of the makeup products used on me before the wedding.

I had a pre-trial before the wedding but they didnt use the fake eye lashes then so I am thinking thats what caused it. Anyways, $300 later and I had some antibiotics. The reaction cleared up within a day.

The next hiccup in this trip was when we thought we were to supposed to be leaving Saturday but found out that apparently our flight wasn`t until Sunday! The airline we flew with doesn`t even do Saturday flights! I don`t know how that happened but we ended up having to pay another $400 to stay another night at the Coronado. So all in all it turned out to be a very expensive trip but it was such a magical time!

Our most recent trip was in January 2012. We had both started school in the fall of 2011 and we had been having a stressful time. We had a death in the family and neither of us were adjusting well to being in school. So we decided we just had to get away, and naturally it was to Disney!

We stayed for a week in January at Port Orleans Riverside. This trip was okay. We still had fun and it was still Disney but something about it just seemed off. Maybe it was because it was so cold! Nothing too exciting happened on this trip. We did all of the parks and had a lot of excellent meals!

If you want to read about it you can read my current TR in my siggy.

So those are all of our trips up to date. I have most of our ADR`s picked out, we are just finalizing one or two of them. I`ll let you guys know soon!

++139 Days!++​

 

[archdandy]

F-I-N-A-L-LY​

We managed to pick our last ADR so now I can present to you our ADR's for our trip! So without further ado, here they are:

Raglan Road - This is a first for us although we have planned to eat here on our last two trips and just never got around to it. This time I am determined to eat here.

Rainforest Cafe in AK - This exact location is new to us but on our last trip we ate at the one in DTD and we loved it.

Maya Grill - This is also not new to us. We ate here a couple of times on our Disneymoon trip when we stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort. We really enjoyed it and we are hoping that the kobe beef burger is still on the menu, even if it isn't on the online menu's.

Liberty Tree Tavern - Another new one! There aren't a lot of choices for table service lunch in MK so I decided why not give this one a go?

Narcoosee's - We've only done one signature restaraunt before and it wasn't this one, haha. I'm really looking forward to tying another one out.

Sci-Fi Diner - This one isn't new and it wasn't on my must do list but it was on DH's for the peanut butter cake. So we are going back, haha.

Yachstmans Steakhouse - We had an incredible meal here last trip so we both can't wait to go back.

Cape May - Another of our favorites. We've eaten here twice before and weren't disappointed.

The Wave - One of my favorites. I'm drooling thinking about their sweet potato pancakes.

The Plaza - We tried two different times to get a walk up to this restaurant last trip with no luck. This time we are coming prepared!

Via Napoli - Another new one for us. The only WS restaurant we've tried was Rose & Crown so I'm excited to add this one to our list.

There are a couple of counter service meals thrown in here as well for our water park day and we are planning on taking advantage of the F&W as well.

I got all of the restaraunts I wanted except Le Cellier. I didn't have my hope's too high for that one though as our 180 day mark has long past. Anybody have any thoughts or opinions on these picks? Don't be shy!

++134 Days++​

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Love your posts and your photos! Your trip is going to overlap ours - we'll be there from Sept. 26 to Oct. 3rd. Can't wait.

Your ADRs sound great. Two of my sons worked at Le Cellier, and this is their tip for getting in: wait for a bad weather day, then call or just walk in. They get a lot of cancellations if the weather isn't good.

Teresa

 

[archdandy]

Love your posts and your photos! Your trip is going to overlap ours - we'll be there from Sept. 26 to Oct. 3rd. Can't wait.

Your ADRs sound great. Two of my sons worked at Le Cellier, and this is their tip for getting in: wait for a bad weather day, then call or just walk in. They get a lot of cancellations if the weather isn't good.

Teresa

Thanks for joining in! Where are you guys staying for your trip? We only have one day at EPCOT and we are using one of our meals for eating around the world but if it just so happens to be raining that day maybe we will try for Le Cellier! Are you starting a PTR by any chance?

 

[LSU25]

Loved reading this so far! Our trip overlaps too. Are you guys dressing up for MNSSHP?

 

[archdandy]

Wow, it's been a little while since my last update. So in real life news I have officially passed the three week window by on my training so I only have another two weeks to go! And my DH finished his first year of school on Thursday so we're pretty pumped about that. Only one more year to go!

In trip news, something has happened that I'm not really sure how to handle. I mentioned to my mom that we were going to be going to Disney this fall and I think that got her gears turning because yesterday she started talking about flight prices for September and how it is cheaper to leave and come back on a Tuesday than it is for Sunday. She then asks if we would consider changing our dates for a Tuesday to Tuesday visit because flights were too expensive for her to go on a Sunday to Sunday visit. This was her telling me she was planning on going in September too and wanted to go the same dates as us.

My mom has really bad emotional issues where she can't interact normally with people and so that's why she has a hard time telling people things, like the fact that she wanted to go with us to Disney. We haven't always had the greatest relationship and she recently got married to a guy that I barely know and its super uncomfortable to be around them. So I'm not really sure what to do here. It wouldn't really be a problem if my mom just wanted to come with my little brother but she is most definitely bringing her husband and I don't want to hurt her feelings by telling her we don't want to go the same dates as them

My DH is having a really hard time with this as well because he does NOT want to spend time at Disney with her husband because this is our vacation and its purpose is for us to get away from our lives. I'm torn between wanting to spend time with my mom and little brother at Disney again and not wanting to because it will be super uncomfortable with her husband there. Yes we are both adults and can handle the situation fine if we were put in it but the point is we dont want to have to be put in that position on vacation.

I dont know, so I'm not really sure what to do. I might just let her know we won't be spending all day every day with them and at most will do a meal or a couple rides here and there with them. I just don't want to hurt her feelings. Ahh, so there's my vent for the night. Anybody else ever been in a similar situation?

++127 Days++​

 

[archdandy]

Loved reading this so far! Our trip overlaps too. Are you guys dressing up for MNSSHP?

Where are you guys staying? I think I might dress up as something but I'm not sure what yet. I haven't given it a lot of thought. I'm sure I will try and convince DH but I don't know if I will succeed

 

[archdandy]

So after my last doom and gloom update I figured I should post something good! But in regards to my last post I'm not sure if my mom will end up coming with us now because she won't be able to get the free dining for those dates. Apparently the rooms with that promotion are all sold out. So we will have to wait and see what happens with that.

Now on to the good stuff! In about three weeks it will be my one year wedding anniversary! *cue the applause* Here's a picture from our wedding!

We talked about hwat we wanted to do for a while and mulled some options over. We thought at first we would spend a weekend in Niagra Falls. We'd been there before multiple times though so it didn't really appeal to me. Then I starting thinking about a resort in Algonquin Park that I had researched a couple years ago and I went to their website to update my info on it.

We talked and over and now made some plans. Now we are going the Couples Resort in Algonquin Park June 13-15.

I'm super excited about this! I can't wait just to go away with DH and have some time for ourselves. Breakfast and dinner is included with the price so that will take care of food costs. I think we might bring our own drinks so we will probably stop at a grocery store on the way there. The drive is about 2 hours north of us which is kind of long but hopefully it will go by fast. The only thing we need to figure out now is who is going to take care of our cats and watch our puppy.

I thought I would overload you with cuteness!

She's only four months old so she is still very much a puppy. We can either ask my sister in law to care of her or my great aunt. Both have down sides though so we aren't sure which way we will go. We can't really afford a kennel right now and I would feel nervous leaving her there anyways.

In other anniversary news we will also be getting tattoo's together! We the design all planned out! I'm not going to tell you guys what it is because I'm not telling anybody, haha, sorry! I'll post pics when it gets done. I'm really nervous about this as its my first tattoo. It's DH's second and he said the first one hurt a lot more than he thought it would Anyways thats all I've got for now. I hope you guys have a good weekend!

++126 Days!++​

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Your puppy is such a cutie!!

We are staying at POR. We've stayed there several times in the past and it's a good resort for us. (My favourite is AKL, but POR is cheaper.) There will be eight in our group, plus possibly two more.

We've only booked two meals so far, Tusker House on on our AK day, and Sanaa on the day we are going to the Halloween party. Our plans are to eat two or three meals at Sweet Tomatoes (off-site) plus some counter-service meals. I might book one or two more ADRS.

Teresa

 

[archdandy]

Your puppy is such a cutie!!

We are staying at POR. We've stayed there several times in the past and it's a good resort for us. (My favourite is AKL, but POR is cheaper.) There will be eight in our group, plus possibly two more.

We've only booked two meals so far, Tusker House on on our AK day, and Sanaa on the day we are going to the Halloween party. Our plans are to eat two or three meals at Sweet Tomatoes (off-site) plus some counter-service meals. I might book one or two more ADRS.

Teresa

We stayed at POR on our last trip. DH really enjoyed it but I preferred Coronado Springs more. I would love to stay at AKL one day. It looks beautiful! Wow, eight people! That's a lot of people's needs and wants to juggle. I'm sure it will be fun though, it would be a blast to have that many people come with us!

 

[archdandy]

Whew! So I've been driving myself crazy this past week trying to find us a good flight deal. I really don't want to spend any more than $700 for the two of us and right now flights out of Toronto are around $750-$1000. I even tried switching our package to multiple different dates for the good deals on flights! That didn't work out though so now we are stuck with the options of flying out of Buffalo or driving. The cost for flights out of Buffalo are $480 plus $50 for checked bags, $60 for parking and $60 in gas. So that brings us to $650 which is under the $700 I budgeted.

The problem is that its a 6am flight so we would have to either leave here the night before or stay in a hotel along the way which would add to the costs. Plus there is a connection during the flight which means it will be a 5.5 hour flight, ouch! The cost of driving would be around $400 in gas and like $100 in food. Its about a 23 hour drive and I think if we went with that option we would just drive straight through. What would you guys do?

++120 Days!++​

 

[archdandy]

Yeah, so with the announcement of the fall free dining for people with pin codes and the possibility of it being announced to the general public soon, this trip has kind of taken a nose dive!

That's how I feel when I think of our trip now. Haha. We are still going for sure but if we can score free dining we will probably change our dates closer to our original dates so we can be there for DH's birthday. So in reality I have no idea what's going to happen!

In other news I searched Disney on Etsy the other day and I was amazed by the sheer awesomeness of the stuff that came up! I even found a couple of Disney countdowns that I liked. I'm just waiting back to hear from them to see if they ship to Canada. I'll probably get this one if they do:

Its a chalk board so you can write down the days down. But this one is a close second, because its so cute!

The only reason I chose the other one was because it had a chalk board. I love chalk

So when this trip finally stablizes and we can pick final dates again, I'll hopefully be using one of those sweet countdowns.

 

[archdandy]

Okay so I took a little break from this PTR because all of the indecision with our trip was starting to stres me out. My Saturday was kind of a bad day for me and everything seemed to be going wrong. You know how it is. I had been checking my emails everyday for a PIN code for free dining so we could move our trip closer to DH's birthday with no luck! On Saturday morning I checked 3/4 of our emails and didn't both with the last one because I didn't think Disney even had that email on file. I prayed to the Disney gods that if they could just give me PIN it would turn my whole day around, no such luck Well with my day almost over I was in bed reading waiting for DH to finish his nightly routine so we could go to sleep and he comes in with his ipod and says "good news!". Apparently the one email address I didn't check was the one that Disney sent the PIN code too! It did end up turning my day around and I went to bed happier than I was! It sure put some pixie dust on our trip!

I didn't want to update the report until I was sure we had our dates picked and booked. I called them today and switched our reservation to October 19 -26! The only difference with the reservation is $45. She wasn't able to tell me why it was more but she said it was likely due to us getting a better rate on the hotel in September than October. It's not that big of a deal to us. My mother still hasn't gotten a PIN so her trip is still scheduled for early September. Hopefully it stays that way and she can her trip with my little brother and we can have our trip!

I promise I will start updating more frequently now that we have our dates solidified and we are happy with them! No more changes! I'm sick of changes!

 

[ForeverDance]

I just came across your PTR and it caught my eye since we are also from Ontario. I am currently going through major Disney withdrawl. We haven't been in 3 years, after going 4 years in a row. We have twice had a trip planned that had to be cancelled so for now I'm just living vicariously through other people

Your ADRs look good, though to be honest I didn't care for the Plaza, we just didn't like the menu and at the time we were not DISers so I didn't know to check it before hand. We did however love Narcoosee's. It was delicious. Expensive though, we were on the dining plan and the tip alone was $78 (that was for 4 people). Yachtsman's Steakhouse is by far my favourite restaurant. I have never had a steak before that actually melted in my mouth. MMMMmmmmmm

As far as the driving vs. flying goes, we have driven every time we've gone. Twice we drove straight through and twice we did two nights in a hotel. From our experience, when you drive straight through it takes right around 24 hours stops included. You might make better time as we had 2 kids so there were probably more bathroom breaks for us then you might take. I will tell you the down side to driving straight through is that you arrive at Disney completely exhausted. In my experience you just can't sleep well enough in a car to really feel rested. We've preferred the last two trips when we've stayed overnight. We managed to arrive at Disney right around 8am, rested and had a full first day. Of course, we're older than you two by quite a bit so maybe you are young enough to handle the drive better.

As far as the tattoo goes. It is going to hurt. Anyone who tells you it won't is flat out lying to you. That being said some places hurt more than others, and it is something that I think most people can handle. I consider myself a bit of a baby and I have 3 good sized tattoos and did not cry for any of them.

 

[archdandy]

I just came across your PTR and it caught my eye since we are also from Ontario. I am currently going through major Disney withdrawl. We haven't been in 3 years, after going 4 years in a row. We have twice had a trip planned that had to be cancelled so for now I'm just living vicariously through other people

Your ADRs look good, though to be honest I didn't care for the Plaza, we just didn't like the menu and at the time we were not DISers so I didn't know to check it before hand. We did however love Narcoosee's. It was delicious. Expensive though, we were on the dining plan and the tip alone was $78 (that was for 4 people). Yachtsman's Steakhouse is by far my favourite restaurant. I have never had a steak before that actually melted in my mouth. MMMMmmmmmm

As far as the driving vs. flying goes, we have driven every time we've gone. Twice we drove straight through and twice we did two nights in a hotel. From our experience, when you drive straight through it takes right around 24 hours stops included. You might make better time as we had 2 kids so there were probably more bathroom breaks for us then you might take. I will tell you the down side to driving straight through is that you arrive at Disney completely exhausted. In my experience you just can't sleep well enough in a car to really feel rested. We've preferred the last two trips when we've stayed overnight. We managed to arrive at Disney right around 8am, rested and had a full first day. Of course, we're older than you two by quite a bit so maybe you are young enough to handle the drive better.

As far as the tattoo goes. It is going to hurt. Anyone who tells you it won't is flat out lying to you. That being said some places hurt more than others, and it is something that I think most people can handle. I consider myself a bit of a baby and I have 3 good sized tattoos and did not cry for any of them.

I couldn't imagine being away from Disney that long but I suppose at some point stuff might come up to prevent me from going. You're a brave one! The Plaza will probably be switched out if the new Be Our Guest restaurant is open by the time we go, we are hoping it will be.

We've finally decided on flying because we got a reasonable price but driving is always an option for future trips especially with the way flight prices are getting. I think we would be able to handle the drive fine. We went to Disney on our honeymoon and stayed up over 24 hours for that because we left for the airport the next night at 2am!

Ahhh that tattoo's I'm pretty nervous about it but I think I will be able to handle the pain fine. DH had one done last summer and he said it hurt a lot more than he thought it would. I like to think I have a higher pain tolerance than him though so we will see.