Who is coming with us? update 8/9 V&A booked

[ljcrochet]

Hello! I'm so excited for this trip. At first I didn't think we would be able to go to WDW in the summer since my parents want to take us on a trip for their 45 anniversary. They wanted to go on a cruise. The more we started to plan the cruise, the more I realized I would not be able to be out of communication with work for a week. I suggested a few local trips, but my sister vetoed them all.
Then I suggested using our DVC points to get a treehouse for all of us. My sister wouldn't have to stay the whole time if she didn't want to. My mom was excited. Not sure about my dad or sister.

What would we do?

 

[ljcrochet]

I figure if I'm going to keep up this pre-trip report, I need a spot for links.
INTRODUCTIONS: this post
DH is joining in
Jimmy Buffet

What did we decide to do?
DVC trips past
ADR's take #1
Who is joining us
adr change
problem with the dogs
DD #1 disney's must do's
DD #2 must do's
anniversary dinner
random old picturs
day 3
day 4
I left off that we invited my family along. They didn't want to go.. But I really wanted to stay in the treehouses. We decided to convince good family friends (we are godparents to their son) to go with us. We booked the treehouses at the 7 month window, then asked them. They had to run the numbers.
So as of now it is just the 4 of us.

ME: Not sure what to say, I love disney and love to travel, but like to plan one thing at a time
DH: Goes to disney for the food, DH loves to plan multiple trips. Especially if it has some disney involved. Right now he is trying to decide if our next big trip should be Aulani or Disneyland

DD1 (7) and DD2 (7) are twins. They love WDW

 

[ljcrochet]

I have no idea what that photo is sideway'? Any ideas how to fix it?

 

[Mrs.viv07]

I have no idea what that photo is sideway'? Any ideas how to fix it?

Hi found your TR from mine. I don't see any crooked photo btw. I'm jealous if the villas they look amazing. I'll have to live vicariously through you

 

[amandelba]

DH: Goes to disney for the food, DH loves to plan multiple trips. Especially if it has some disney involved. Right now he is trying to decide if our next big trip should be Aulani or Disneyland

Not only for the food. Don't forget the drinks

Actually, I go for the fun - whether it's food, drinks, rides or just spending time with my family, we always have a fun, stress-free (yes it's true) time at WDW.

BTW - our next big trip should be Aulani, though I would combine it with a stop at DL on the way there.

 

[ljcrochet]

Look everyone DH has joined in the fun.
SO i left off that we had booked the treehouses for a week in August. The treehouses sleep 8 or 9 (I'm not sure which), but it seems like it is only the 4 of us going. The good friends we asked to go are not able to join us.

Before we could figure if their was anyone else we wanted to join us, Jimmy Buffet announced his concert tour dates. He was playing Jones Beach right in the middle of our trip. It is a tradition for us to go to the Buffet concert.
Here is the DH, BIL and the girls in the parking lot before the concert last year.

Here is other BIL and his wife and the girls waiting out the thunderstorm

What will we? Will we skip the concert this year? Will we shorten our trip? Or???

 

[ljcrochet]

As soon as DH and my girls found out the Buffet concert was during our trip, I knew things had to change. We waited to change our reservation till after we had the concert tickets.
DH was able to get tickets, SIL got tickets (and got tickets). I think there are 11 of going. Can only get 8 tickets in an order, so DH and SIL tried to coordinate with DH getting 5 tickets and SIL getting 6. SIL wound up getting 6 then 5 tickets, after DH got the 5 tickets. Luckily ticket master took back the extra tickets.

What did this mean for our trip?

It meant that DH got to try a new DVC resort. Well I guess we all will.

Instead of a Sunday to Saturday trip, we are now going on a Wednesday and coming home on a Wednesday. The concert is Thursday night.
Any guesses to which resort we are going to call home for the first 4 nights?

 

[ljcrochet]

I figured I would stall out which resort we switched to by doing a past DVC trip history.
First I wanted to do a list of the DVC resorts.

1. Animal Kingdom Villia (both Jambo and Kadanii)
2. Beach Club Villias
3. Bay Lake Tower
4. Boardwalk Villas
5. Old Key West
6. Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
7. Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
8. Villas at Wilderness Lodge
9. Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort
10. Disney's Vero Beach Resort
11. Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Resort and Spa
12. Aulani - Disney's Resort and Spa w/DVC Villas

2008 was our first trip "home". We stayed on developer points at SSR in December. We did a studio, then a one bedroom, then a studio for a week long trip. I think the picture under my name was take on that trip as we were waiting for ME.
August 2009 we did another split stay, this time at 2 resorts. We did AKV Kadani villiage in a 2 bedroom, followed by a one bedroom lake view at BLT.

This is the trip that DH did a live dining review (or at least it started out as a live report).
Since this is about DVC resorts I'll include our October 2009 OKW stay. It was on FIL's points.
June 2010 we stayed at AKV Jambo house in a concierge studio.
Feb 2012 again using FIL's points we stayed at BCV.

In May 2011 and June 2012 we did a HHIR stay.

So here is the list of where we stayed already.

1. Animal Kingdom Villia (both Jambo and Kadanii)
2. Beach Club Villias
3. Bay Lake Tower
4. Old Key West
5. Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
6. Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort

and here is where we still need to stay

1. Boardwalk Villas
2. Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
3. Villas at Wilderness Lodge
4. Disney's Vero Beach Resort
5. Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Resort and Spa
6. Aulani - Disney's Resort and Spa w/DVC Villas

Notice there are only 2 1/2 WDW DVC resorts we have not stayed at. You already know we have the 1/2 book. Any guesses which resort we are going to try out?

 

[ljcrochet]

Wilderness Lodge Villia's
I'm so excited it looks like the perfect place to start our trip. We are staying in a one bedroom partly due to availability and point use.
Any one one to share some more picture WLV with me? I know we are going to have to make time for my girls to try the pool. How is the slide?

 

[ljcrochet]

DVC reservations are all made. Not changing at this point. We are staying Wednesday to Wednesday in August. Instead of the Sunday to Saturday we had started out with. It will be so nice to just be the 4 of use at WLV for 4 nights. Then we move to the tree houses for the last 3 nights.
Now was DH’s favorite part, making our ADRs. Girls wanted to do Hoop Dee Doo Review. They wanted to eat in the castle again. We wanted to go to Sprit of Aloha. DH started to book our ADRs for the trip.
At this point we don’t have our flights booked, so we booked at late dinner.
Wednesday
Dinner: Whispering Canyon at 8:45
We booked Chef Mickey’s at 8:50 am for our last day. We have ended 4 out of the last 5 trips with Chef’s Mickey’s.
That was our first dining change of this trip. Because we decided to do the deluxe dining again, but only on the first part of the trip.
4 nights on the dining plan of 3 credits a day is 12 credits a person for the trip, 2 snack credits a day per person so 8 snacks per person.
Total credits for meals is 48
Total credits for snacks is 32

At this point we don’t have our flights booked, so we booked at late dinner.
Wednesday
Dinner: Whispering Canyon at 8:45 pm
Thursday
Breakfast: Crystal Palace at 8:15 am
Dinner: Cinderella’s Royal Table at 7:10 pm
Friday
Breakfast: Chef Mickey’s at 8:15 am
Dinner: Sprit of Aloha 8pm
Saturday
Lunch: Fantasmic! Dining Experiences The Hollywood Brown Derby at 1:25 pm
Sunday
Breakfast: Whispering Canyon Café at 8am
Hoop De Doo 9:30

We will be using snack credits for breakfast on Saturday.

 

[ljcrochet]

So father's day weekend FIL was here for the girls dance recital. Girls start telling him about our trip. Guess who is now joining us at the treehouses, FIL & his wife T. I told dh that this time since it is our points we will have the master bedroom/ bathroom.

We also booked our flights. Leaving early on Wednesday. Arriving in mco by 10:30 I think on JetBlue. Coming home late the following Wednesday on delta. So we could do 8 park days if we want. Right now dh and I gave AP's from our feb trip. Girls have 6 day tickets that we ordered from AAA right before ticket prices went up.

 

[MEK]

I wanted to check out your PTR to see when you were staying at the treehouses. Too bad you had to shorten your treehouse stay, but I think you will also like VWL. I have pictures in one of my TRs below. (Wheeling and Dealing at the WL). I stayed in a 2BR with another couple.

We actually have our first contract at SSR and our add on is at VWL. I did not go down the slide in the pool, but the pools (both) are lovely.

Your daughters are adorable. So cool that you all go see Jimmy Buffet together.

Glad you have company for your treehouse stay. Hate to see that extra room go to waste.

I have stayed at all the east coast DVC resorts now. The west coast is on my bucket list.

Did you love HHI? OMG - I loved it. Went on a GF trip there in October and going back in March with DH. SO MUCH FUN!

 

[ljcrochet]

We actually have our first contract at SSR and our add on is at VWL. I did not go down the slide in the pool, but the pools (both) are lovely.

Your daughters are adorable. So cool that you all go see Jimmy Buffet together.

Glad you have company for your treehouse stay. Hate to see that extra room go to waste.

I have stayed at all the east coast DVC resorts now. The west coast is on my bucket list.

Did you love HHI? OMG - I loved it. Went on a GF trip there in October and going back in March with DH. SO MUCH FUN!

We love HHI. Last year we went to since we had points that we were going to lose if we didn't use the. We came home and a month and half later we had added on to HHI. Never thought it would happen that quickly, but found a pefect resale contact in our use year.

We have 2 more east coast DVC to stay out Vero beach and Boardwalk. How did you think Vero comared to HHI?
My girls keep on asking us when we can go to disneyland and Alanini.

 

[ljcrochet]

I forgot to mention that once FIL decided to join us, we called to and added them to the hoop-de-doo adr. We are doing the deluxe dining plan while at Wilderness Lodge so we just had to leave a credit card hold for HDDR. We did the same thing in 2009. I figured when we added FIL and his wife, they would have to prepay, but the CM just let us add 2 people without changing anything else. Hopefully we won't have any issues.

We originally booked Whispering Canyon at 9:45, we moved it to an earlier time. Then my girls told us they wanted to the restaurant that had the children's sushi. So we cancelled Whispering Canyon and got a 9pm at California Grill.

 

[ljcrochet]

I had a whole update typed, then my laptop restarted and I lost it. My laptop is on its last legs. Between the cracks in the case by the scree, not to mention the week a month or 2 a go when the colors where all off. That fixed its self, but not clue for how long. It is also missing some keys.
The biggest issue is sometimes when I restart it, the laptop says no boot-able drive.

First part of the planning is what to do with the dogs? We had been spoiled since MIL dog sat for us a much of times. When we when to HHI, we had a groupon to a new doggy day care and boarding place. It was okay not great. Couple of things i didn't love about it.
We had been boarding them at Petshotel, only issue is when I tried to make the reservation today, they were booked up. I was speaking to their call center, so i might go in person tomorrow to see if maybe in the store they have an opening.

We do have a 14 neighbor who has being asking to dog sit for us, so maybe we can ask him (and his mom). My dogs are pretty mellow, just need to be let out in the yard and feed twice a day.

Or we can find a pet sitter?
Or no clue?

 

[ljcrochet]

The other night we were talking about our top 10 must dos
Here is DD1's list

1. Space Mountain
2. Splash Mountain
3. TTA people movers
4. Primevil Whirl
5. Stich ride
6. Safari
7. Jungle Cruise
8. Kali Rapids
9. Space ship earth
10. Secret mission Agent P

Then she said wait don't forget about the Mexico Ride.
Wait: It's a small world
Carosel of Progress.
The funny monster thing (Laugh Factory)

 

[ljcrochet]

1. Space Mountain
2. Splash Mountain
3. Everest
4. Thunder Mountain
5. Soaring
6. Tomorrowland Speedway
7. Pirates of the Caribbean
8. Goffini barnstormer
9. Kali Rapids
10. Laughing Floor

 

[ljcrochet]

I went in person and was able to get the dogs a reservation at Petshotel.

But more exciting news is what DH and I are doing for our anniversary. We have a trip planned for Christmas week to stay at FIL's house. DH and I had talked about driving to Key West or something like that. I starting thinking about that would be the perfect time to Victoria and Alberts. It is only a 3 hour drive from FIL'S to WDW. I check and they have an early and a late time for our Anniversary (but can't see how to add the celebration on-line), and there is a BLT studio for that night. We will have to borrow 2013 points.
I wound not booking it, and when we went to do it Sunday night, there was no DVC studios available. Guess I should not be surprised since I am looking for the 12/26.
Monday morning I get a imessage from DH that OKW has a studio. V & A still has the early time DH books it. . We also wait list BLT. Tonight our wait list came through for a standard BLT studio.
The girls are staying with FIL and T.

 

[ljcrochet]

As of now, here is our day one plans.
Wake up really early. Girls are already planning on sleeping in clothing to wear the first day. Flight is at 7:50am arriving at MCO at 10:30. We will get off the plane and go to Magic express. Hopefully we will be off quickly and get to Wilderness Lodge. If our villia is not ready (not expecting it to be), we will just leave our stuff with bell services. Still trying to decide if we will have any checked bag or not. Right now not planning on checking a bag on the way home since we are flying home on Delta, so any bag we would check on the way down will be one that we can carry on the plane going home.


We are planning on heading to Animial Kingdom. When we planned this day AK was closing at 7. I figured that would give us plently of time to get back, freshen up and get to California Grill for our 9:15 reservation. Now AK is closing at 8, so we won't be able to stay to closing (unless we stick a change of clothing in a bag pack to change into before dinner).

DD #1 wants to be sure to go on Kali Rapid
DD # 2 wants to go on Everest.
DH wants to go on Everest, Primeval Whirl. - He also like the bird show and wants to see it.
I want to see FOLK especially since I read that it might be closing down.

Hopefully we will be able to do everything we want there. I know once we get there the girls will want to ride the safari. AK is the girls favorite park, so we probably will be back later on in the trip. But right now don't have a day planned for that.

After we go back to WL, check out our room, and change we will be off to Califorina grill for dinner.
I bought 2 new dress at The loft. Trying to decide which one I will wear to this meal. I'll be back later with pictures of the dresses.

 

[ljcrochet]

I had most of our day 2 plans all typed out, but before i finished and hit post, i got distracted. Then DH got home from work. When I came back to my computer it was dead.
I was in the middle of share a story about something that happened on my 3rd disney trip (well I think it was my 3rd disney trip).
While looking for some pictures I found this

DH joked that it was my first trip report. We were there for 8 days 7 nights. At the time I was wearing contacts that I wore for a week and threw out at the end of the week. I only brought an extra pair of contacts and no glasses. First day we are at MK and I lose a contact on Space Mountain. Was not that big of a deal, since had 2 more contacts. In my memory of this trip the next day we went MGM and went on Rockn Rollercoaster and both of my contact popped out. At this point we had a week left in our trip and i had one contact. In trying to figure out what to do, we wound up at guest services. A really helpful CM asked me where I got my contacts. At the time I was getting them at Costco, she gave us directions to the costco near by. We drove there, had to get new costco cards since ours didn't have something either a bar code or a stripe. I got a box or 2 of contacts. At the time both of my eys had the same perscrition of contacts. I remember going to Don Pablos and going into the bathroom to put in my contact. I had such a headache from walking around with just one contact. As you can see from my notes from that trip, it was really the third day of the trip not the 2nd. It was also in 2000 instead of 1999 like I thought.
But if i had stopped to think about it in summer of 1999 we went to England, Scotland and wales.