Who reads these things anyways? - Pre-trip report - Update 9/7

[Princess Stitch]

So ever since I booked my trip back in April I've been thinking about starting a pre-trip report. I thought I'd look like too much of a dork starting one 5 months ahead of time, so I waited to a respectible 30 days!

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads these things, but I plan to give you all a little backround info on me, introduce you to my wonderful boyfriend, and tell you all how we came to book this trip. You can also hear all about our fun struggles along the way!

So, let start with me:

I'm 23 years old and have been in love with everything Disney for as long as I can remember. By day I'm a mild mannered product specialist working with network equipment (exciting huh?), by night I turn into a Dis lovin' Disney-holic!

This is my boyfriend:

He won't come into the story till much later, but I thought I'd give you a good look at him. He's definately not the Disney maniac I am, but he likes it alright and enjoyed his very first trip to the world last year. I tell him constantly that this is all his fault.. would you believe that last year's trip was actually at his request? More on that later...

So let me give you the short story of my Disney past. I took my first trip to the world when I was just shy of 3. Dont' remember one darn thing about that trip. I've seen pictures, so I know I was there. I'm smiling in the pictures, so I suppose I was having a good time, but don't remember it at all. As a kid I watched Disney movies constantly, and if it wasn't movies it was Disney TV shows. I had Disney toys, Disney clothes, Disney stuffed animals, and I loved them all. My dream was to go to Disney world (and actually remember it). I recall specifically having a conversation with my mom when I was 8 years old. It was the Disney World 20th anniverary and there were tons of commercials about it on tv. I remember begging to go for the "once in a lifetime celebration" and her shooting me down. (Now, it's not that my parents didn't want to take us, the Canadian dollar wasn't so good and I'm sure it would have been horribly expensive. ) She told me that maybe we could go for the 25th anniversary and it would be even more special. So what did I say in all of my infinate 8-year-old wisdom? "MOM! I'm not going to want to go to Disney World when I'm 13! We should go NOW!".

Oh how wrong I was!.....

Chapter 2: When I was young

Chapter 3: Rookie mistakes and pure dumb luck

Chapter 4: The Plot

Chapter 5: Adventures in ADRs

Chapter 6: Ready.. Set... Plan!

 

[disneyaddicted]

You got me now. I want to hear the rest. Did you go at 13?

 

[Princess Stitch]

Hm, so I guess at least one person reads these things! Thanks for stopping by

So, nothing much of importance happened for a little while.. fast forward 5 years. I was not quite 13 yet, but it would prove to be a big year. The first thing that I will mention is that I got braces. Big deal for a 12 year old. I mention it first because it will seem insignificant in a minute. The next thing that happened is that my parents separated. The odd thing about this one is it's the direct reason that I got to go to Disney world that year. My parents wanted me and my brother out of the house while my dad was moving out so a week-long trip was planned for August. Then, about a month before we left, my grandfather passed away.

So, not exactly the greatest backround for a trip, but we all needed a bit of pixie dust! So my mom, my 8-year old brother and 12 year old me head to All-Star Sports. It was the middle of August and it was HOT! We waited hours and hours in lines (pre-fastpass and no touring plan in site!) but we had a fantastic time and my love of Disney was renewed. I wasn't exactly the "too cool" 13 year old I thought I would be. I was right in there with my autograph book hugging all the characters! It was wonderful that for at least a week the 3 of us were able to forget about everything going on at home and just enjoy ourselves.

After our magical week we return home, my brother goes to live with my dad and then it's just me and mom. The next year we move from our 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom condo and live goes on. Then, 2 years after our last trip we're walking through the mall one day and stop at the travel agency at Eaton's. My mom wanted to "just see" how much it would cost to go back to Disney again. Now, you have to understand, my mom has never done anything impulsive in her life, ESPECIALLY when it comes to money. So she gets the quote, and then she says "OK lets book it!". Well I think I almost fainted right there in front of the travel agent! I couldn't believe my luck! We still went in the middle of August and it was still hot and crowded but none of us cared. Disney was my favourite place in the world to be! Oh, and I was no more mature at 14 then I was at 12...

Sadly, that would be my last trip for almost 10 years.

For anyone who's stumbled on this so far, thanks for reading! Coming up next I'll tell you about how our trip last year came to be and all my rookie planning mistakes! I'll add some pictures too so hopefully it'll be more interesting!

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Ok I'm reading too! See people do actually read these things.
Keep up the good work!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm here too. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Princess Stitch]

OK, I have to apologize because I've been totall ignoring this pre-trippie. I've been busy with mostly job interviews and such. I'm still here and now I'm in the single digits!

So, let me tell you about my trip last year. I call this section "rookie mistakes and pure dumb luck".

Not much of importance really happened after my last Disney trip and between this one.. nothing of Disney importance anyhow. So February 2006 I start dating my wonderful boyfriend. Now I had been cautious about mentioning my Disney obsession around boys, lest I scare them off. The first movie me and DBF saw alone together was Chicken Little, so I knew he'd at least tolerate some Disney. Then he unknowingly opened up a HUGE can of worms. We're talking one day in April, about a month before I graduated from University and he happens to mention how he heard on the radio that they have really cheap Disney packages with free food. So I cautiously ask "well, would you want to go to Disney?". His response "yeah, I'd like to try it once, I've never been". So in my head there's fireworks going off, when you wish upon a star is playing and mickey and the gang are dancing.. I somehow managed to play it cool though..

I graduate and move home a month later, and the second week of May we go to book the trip. Now I had looked up a couple of things online. We knew we wanted to stay at the Pop Century, and we'd go in September instead of August. So the trip was booked, sept 10-17 and now time for the planning right? Well, not exactly.

You see, if you recall, the last time I was at Disney you could get ADRs on the same day with no problem. It never even occured to me that we would need to book restaurant reservations (and I hadn't found the Dis yet so I didn't have you nice people to tell me). So I "planned" by picking up the unofficial guide and reading it cover to cover. At some point during my reading I remember thinking "Hmmm...maybe we should book some restaurants", so we set out to make our choices. And where did we want to eat you ask? Hoop Dee Doo, CRT, Le Cellier, Hollywood and Vine, Coral Reef, Planet Hollywood.. Now I can just hear some of you hyperventilating! OMG! She's going during free dining and didn't book her ADR's 6 months in advacne! No, actually I think we made our first call some time in June.

Now here's where the dumb luck thing comes in... we got EVERY reservation we wanted including le cellier and CRT for dinner. So of course I'm thinking "this isn't so bad at all!". I don't know how that happened, but there was definately pixie dust involved. So as the trip got closer we booked some more things, got tickets for MNSSHP, Cirque and booked the Richard Petty experience for DBF. I really wanted to do some stuff for him because I knew this trip was going to be mostly for me! I wanted to cram everything in that I could because I wasn't sure if he would want to go back or not.

So as the trip neared I became more and more crazy and DBF saw the monster that he unleashed. Many times he'd just look at me, shake his head, laugh and say "you're cute". I could deal with cute! So the trip came and things coudlnt' have gone better (mostly). We got a convertible from the emerald isle (no way i was subjecting DBF to disney transportation), got a room in the 80's building at Pop which we only had to switch once (apparantly cast members don't REALLY listen to what you're asking), and waited in almost no lines.

I was pleased, DBF enjoyed it and the whole time we were there I kept mentioning "when we come back next year". I guess I was sorta testing the waters.. I got alot of "you're cute"'s from that one. I knew I had some time to work him in though!

So I won't go into detail about all the aspects of the trip. There was rain and there was sun, there were great cms and incompetant ones. Mostly there were smiles and happiness, and that's what Disney is really all about!

We both had fun, and even on the (much delayed) plane ride home I was plotting my return! Since you already know we're going again this year I can't exactly leave this part a cliffhanger, but in the next section I'll talk about finding the Dis, and how I finally broke down DBF's resistance!

 

[Imagoofy1]

you got me hooked --- waiting for more
(we are going in sept. )

 

[Princess Stitch]

Woo hoo! Looks like I got another fan! Thanks again to everyone who's reading....

So, when we last left I was on the plane on the way home beginning my plot to get back to Disney. You see, my Disney love was somewhat supressed for the past 10 years. My boyfriend unleashed the monster by suggesting this trip, and I now had no intention of slowing down. When I got back home I discovered the DisBoards and began my mad lurking. I read the boards and all-ears religiously. I'd mention every once in a while how I wanted to go back to Disney for the year of a million dreams, but DBF mostly laughed it off. You see, he hasn't travelled as much as I have (not that I've been a ton of places, just more than him), so he wanted to go somewhere like Mexico or Cuba. Now I like those places, but I can't take a week of beach. I'm usually more than ready to come home after 7 days of just lying around. I end up going on tours and stuff when I go to the caribbean which just ends up adding to the cost.

Ahem... so anyhow, I'm doing one of my usual scans of the boards at work when I notice that they have free dining for Disney visa holders.. well I started to get excited, if anything was going to get DBF back to the world it was going to be free food! So I send him the article and he points out (which I already knew) that as Canadians we can't get a Disney visa even if we wanted to. So then we have "the talk":

Me: So if they offered free dining to everyone would you want to go back?

DBF: Yeah maybe.

Me: MAYBE?? REALLY?? I promise we can eat lots of steak!

DBF: *laugh* OK, if they offer it again we can look into it.

So of course it's offered and we have to go to work that morning so I'm not on the phone at 7am with the rest of the DIS community booking my trip. Now we had decided to try and get into Pop again (I have a thing for the frozen cokes) and of course I'm following the message boards and hearing how people are having trouble getting into ANY value, so now I start to freak out a bit....

Me: Is Allyson in today?? (our travel agent)

DBF: I dunno..

Me: CALL HER! WE NEED TO GO SEE HER TODAY!

DBF: OK OK, everything alright?

Me: The value resorts are getting sold out.. can you leave work early? Maybe we can go NOW..

DBF: It's only 1pm, don't you think it's a little too early?

Me: But this is an emergency! They'll understand!

DBF: .......

Me: OK.. how about 4? Can you leave at 4? Then we can go DIRECTLY to flight center.. we have to book today, are you ready to book today? We need a backup hotel, where else would you like to stay?

I think this resulted in one of those "You're cute"'s. So we leave work at 4 and I'm trying to get DBF to break the sound barrier driving to the travel agent's. So at this point some of you might be asking why we bother with a travel agent. Well, flights out of Canada aren't really cheap and we tend to get a good deal when going through the agent. I think the next time I'll do the booking myself directly through Disney though. I'm hoping to get a code of some sort that will allow us to venture out of the values..

I think I managed to get out a couple words about Disney inbetween trying to catch my breath from running from the car and our TA was on the phone with the wholesaler. We had decided our first resort choice was All Star Movies so we could try something new, second was Pop. As you all well know, neither of those was available. We had our choice of Music or Sports. I had stayed in both of those resorts already so I was a little bummed, but hey, I'd sleep in a broom closet to go to Disney so we'd make due. I chose music because I knew all the rooms would be refurbed by the time we got there, we chose our park hoppers, paid the nice lady, and we were booked!

Next up, adventures in ADR's! Will we be as lucky as last year? I hope so!

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

Wooohooo updates! I thought you had abandoned your pre-trippie
but glad you haven't.

LOL at getting DBF to leave work early.

Can't wait to hear where you guys will be dining.

You have 6 days left!!!!

 

[Princess Stitch]

Wooohooo updates! I thought you had abandoned your pre-trippie
but glad you haven't.

LOL at getting DBF to leave work early.

Can't wait to hear where you guys will be dining.

You have 6 days left!!!!

Thanks for coming back to check in! Not abandoned... just.. put on hold while I was busy doing other things!

Now that there's less than a week left I don't expect to be able to concentrate on much else so I'll have lots of time to do updates...

 

[Princess Stitch]

So, lets get to the ADR's shall we? After booking our trip I knew the clock was ticking to get dining booked and I didn't want to chance my luck like last year. Once I got home I modified my spreadsheet from last year and set out picking restaurants.

Now, first thing I did was ask DBF if there's anywhere he wanted to go back that we ate last year. I realize that I do most of the planning, but I want to try and make him as happy as possible (that way he'll want to go back). He asked to eat at "That cool restaurant with the cars" (sci-fi) and "that good steak place" (Le Cellier). We also decided to go for CRT again since we enjoyed it last year. So we booked those three reservations while we (mostly me) spent time perusing reviews of all the other restaurants.

ADR's - Draft 1

Sat - ?
Sun - Sci-Fi (5pm)
Mon - CRT (6:30pm)
Tues - Le Cellier (4:40pm)
Wed - ?
Thurs - ?
Fri - ?
Sat - ?

So over the next few days we decided on our ADR's which pretty much involved me sending a link of the menu to DBF and asking if he had any objections. We pretty much have the same taste in foods so eventually we ended up with this:

ADR's - Draft 2

Sat - Whispering Canyon Cafe (5:50pm)
Sun - Sci-Fi (5pm)
Mon - CRT (6:30pm)
Tues - Le Cellier (4:40pm) Kona Breakfast (8am)
Wed - Ohana (5pm)
Thurs - Boma (6:10pm)
Fri - Concourse Steakhouse (5:30pm)
Sat - Nothing no time before the return flight

So we were happy. I had everything entered on my spreadsheet and my Disney world was at peace. Hm.. we only get 7 credits and had book enough ADRs for 9..man I can't wait till the deluxe plan comes out!

Next up: To MNSSHP or to not to.. ADRs change again (and again, and again) and some unexpected additions to the plan.

 

[disneyjunebug]

Great pretrippie! Can't believe your beginners luck on your first trip! I still remember walking up and making reservations many, many years ago! It used to be our first stop in the parks!

 

[Imagoofy1]

great trip report so far --- you must be so excited that your trip is only 6 days away **** we go in 12 days and i am getting crazy about now --- so much to do and so little time

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

ADR's - Draft 2

Sat - Whispering Canyon Cafe (5:50pm) Never Tried
Sun - Sci-Fi (5pm) Never Tried, but I love the Cars too
Mon - CRT (6:30pm) Eh, good thing it's Free Dining. Once was enough for me.
Tues - Le Cellier (4:40pm) Loved everything about this place and deserves all the hype it gets
Kona Breakfast (8am)Never tried either
Wed - Ohana (5pm) Loved Ohana for dinner, definately a must. Remember the Lapus!
Thurs - Boma (6:10pm)Never tried either.
Fri - Concourse Steakhouse (5:30pm)It was ok, liked being in the contemporary and seeing the monorail, but the steak was just ok for me.
Sat - Nothing no time before the return flight

So we were happy. I had everything entered on my spreadsheet and my Disney world was at peace. Hm.. we only get 7 credits and had book enough ADRs for 9..man I can't wait till the deluxe plan comes out!

Next up: To MNSSHP or to not to.. ADRs change again (and again, and again) and some unexpected additions to the plan.

So you're paying out of pocket for some of these?

Oh wait! There's ADR changes coming and unexpected stuff! I vote yes for MNSSHP.

 

[LurrrvtheDuck]

sorry, double posted

 

[Princess Stitch]

WOW! I gotta get writing! I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow morning!

OK, lets do the coles notes version (note to self.. start next pre-trippie EARLY).

So, as we're discussing which parks to hit on which days, DBF asks if they're having a halloween party again.. why in fact they are! and guess what.. HE asked if we could go again! As an added bonus, he even wanted to wear a costume again.. I don't know who this man is, but I like him!

So we're going dressed up as Cinderella and Prince Charming (I couldn't get him in Disney costumes last year, so I'm kinda excited) and I made me a BBB appointment for party night so I'm going to get all princessed up! We made a LTT reservation for that night, and then canceled it again. We decided we wanted to eat at concourse before it closed, so if you're there on the 14th and see two people in costumes.. that'll be us!

Lets see... we also traded our Boma reservation for one at Jiko. I just think we'll enjoy the signature experience more than the buffet. So all in all we're still going to end up paying for 2 meals OOP but that's not too bad. Hopefully next year we'll have the deluxe DDP so this won't be an issue

Sometime after that when perusing the Disboards I noticed the thread about the Disney bricks for sale. I was SUPER excited, I had wanted one since I had seen them on sale 10 years (and $200) ago. So the forms were sent in and we should hopefully have a shiny new brick waiting for us on the pathway. While we were doing that we decided, what the heck, lets do a leave a legacy tile too!

But wait! there were still more surprises to come. When we were there last year DBF noticed that there were people going around the world showcase on segways and became instantly intrigued (I think it has something to do with being a sci-fi geek..). We did the quick intro thing at innoventions (where you get to ride for about 10 seconds) but I know he really wanted to do the whole tour.... until I told him how much it cost that is! So I decided that I would surprise him by booking the tour for both of us. He's pretty good about letting me do anything I want, so I thought I'd like to try and do something for him as well So our tour got booked for Tuesday and our Kona reservation moved to Wednesday morning. I didn't know when I was booking, but DBF had a surprise for me too....

We're going to Sea World! OK, it's not that exciting, especially not when we're spending the rest of the week at Disney. See, I love me some penguins. They're like my favourite thing and I went a little nuts when I found out that you could actually go pet one on a tour at Sea World. I figured we'd save it for another trip, but DBF bought me tickets and booked the tour so next Wednesday I'm going to go pet a penguin. YIPPEE!

So other than some shopping and making of Disney shirts I think you're all pretty much caught up, which is good since we're leaving TOMORROW MORNING! As I write this I can't believe that at this time tomorrow morning we'll be at the airport already. If anything else of importance comes up I'll update y'all tonight. If not, I'll see you on my trip report when I get back!

 

[Princess Stitch]

Test

 

[Princess Stitch]

Hm, ok so apparantly my update wasn't posted and it somehow skipped from post 15 to post 17... well, I guess the update is lost in cyberspace somewhere. I'll try to re-update at lunch...

 

[princessreilly]

Yay! You're going tommorrow. I'm so jealous! Hope you have a great time! Sounds like you have some good plans. I would love to do sedgeway tour, but have two little guys. I bet it will be great! Can't wait to hear your report when you get back!!!

 

[Princess Stitch]

Yay! You're going tommorrow. I'm so jealous! Hope you have a great time! Sounds like you have some good plans. I would love to do sedgeway tour, but have two little guys. I bet it will be great! Can't wait to hear your report when you get back!!!

Thank You!
I'm starting to get REALLY excited now. I'm jealous that you get to go to Disney over the holidays though. Must be so nice with all the decorations. I was hoping to go during the holidays next time, but they're offering bounceback free dining so it'll be hard to pass that up!