You just graduated now what? Updated 9-29-16

[Bethislucy]

Well we just got back from a wonderful trip nov/dec and we had a great time. It was the first time being back in the world in 5 years and it just reminded me of how much I just love Disney World. So well yea that’s the past so why a Pre-Trip. Well this December (2016) I will graduate with my associates degree. While that may not seem like much to some people it’s a big deal for me. So who am I well Beth of course.
This is our group that went in Nov 2016. The DDFL's.

I’m the 35 year old crazy person that went back to school. I struggled I mean I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth. I just had a hard time in high school for some reason. So I had always wanted to prove to myself that I could do school. So, time to pick a major… I work in the Register of Deeds office for my local county government in York, SC. Which means every deed, mortgage etc. comes through our office. I love the legal aspect of my job and the real estate portion of it. I went for a degree in Administrative Office technology with a specialization in Paralegal studies. The kicker is I work a full time job and I am active in my church so I’m pretty busy, but I will complete my degree in 2 ½ years. Which is awesome because I had to take some classes before I could take the required classes. I am currently taking 5 classes as well as working so if I don’t get this thing updated as often as I would like until may you know why. So anyway enough about school.


So let’s get some details going on.


Who: Me Beth 36 on the trip I love Donald Duck and Chip & Dale. My favorite Park is Epcot and my favorite ride is the classic carousel of progress. There is just something special about it that I enjoy. My favorite Disney movie is Little Mermaid and Toy Story 2.


and


My cousin/room/best friend/ sister from another mother lol whatever you want to call her Emily aka E (which is what I call her). She will be 37 on the trip. She loves Tinkerbelle and Pirates her favorite movie is Peter Pan & Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite park is the Magic Kingdom. Her favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean.


This is a picture of us on the way to start our trip last Nov. We always stop in Flagler Beach FL. I have the curls.

What: Graduation celebration trip.


When: December 11 – December 16


Where: Pop Century Resort


Why: Do we really need a reason why? Okay well I have had to sacrifice a lot of stuff because I had to do school work, so to kick off my new freedom lets go to Disney to celebrate with my 6th trip to the world.

 

[Bethislucy]

Chapter Links
DDFL
CHANGES
The Plan Part 1
Beaches & Springs
More Changes
99 Days
Spread sheet

 

[Corrine 1973]

WooHoo, I am the first one to comment. Congrats on your upcoming graduation. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

 

[Bethislucy]

DDFL


I mentioned our group of DDFL’s that went last nov/dec so what is a DDFL? Well it’s a Disney Dork For Life. The members of that group are me and Emily of course. The other people in that picture is Laura who is Emily’s sister (my cousin) her husband Mark and their kids Logan and Abby. Emily, Laura and myself have always been really close we are more like sisters than cousins. So of course as she got married and had kids they are like my niece and nephew as well. In fact, they call me Auntie Beth. Those kids a long with my brothers son have my heart I would do anything for them and spoil them rotten. (side note for later)

The DDFL’s have made all of our trips together except a couple and it’s going to feel really strange taking this trip without them especially the kids. They won’t get to join us because they have some real life adult responsibilities with their house they have to take care of this year. But ever year Emily & I take Logan & Abby to the beach. This year we had planned to spend the whole week they stay with us at the beach.

So that is part of why we are doing a shorter trip to Disney this time (see there was a Disney point to this story)


As of right now we will stay 5 nights with 4 park days, however if a good discount comes up we may extend it a day or two. Right now, it’s just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for something to come up. If not I’m still good with the shorter trip because some Disney is better than no Disney. I’m also hoping a great discount comes along and the rest of our DDFL’s can join us.

Just to show how spoiled they are Icecream at 9:30pm

 

[Bethislucy]

CHANGES


Not that anyone is reading this but me, but here is a long overdue update.


Does anyone ever keep their trip report the same as they originally book it? I don’t lol there is always some tweaking to it. So let’s get on with the changes…


Change #1 We’ve are adding some people to our trip. Some close friends of ours are going to join us on our trip now. Heather and Brett are going to joining us. We are getting two separate rooms because let’s be honest 4 adults 1 bathroom 3 women it won’t work out well for poor Brett. Heather has been 1 time before with the school band when she was in High school. Brett has never been. Heather’s b-day is also the day we arrive. So, we will be celebrating my graduation, her b-day and Brett’s first visit. Poor Emily is the only one not celebrating.


Change #2 I just couldn’t do that short of a trip. 4 park days just isn’t enough for me so we’ve added a day and ticket to our trip. We will now be staying from Sunday December 11th – Saturday December 17th.


I’ve been trying to base off of last year’s hours what days we want to do what park and which park we want to do twice. I’ve leaning towards Epcot but it’s my favorite so I always tend to lean that way. If we do MVMCP I know we will do our 2nd day at Epcot but if not we will probably do 2 days at MK. Also with all the changes at DHS for the first time ever I may treat it like a ½-day park and do our DHS day on a party night. They won’t have the lights at DHS this year and really there is nothing I need to see after day there so I think that will give us the most for our time.


One of the things Brett said he was on board with the trip if he could meet Pluto & Goofy. Okay those are no problem but he also said the 7 dwarfs. Has anyone ever did this meet and greet at MVMCP? If so, is it worth the wait or is there a better time to try to meet them earlier verses later etc.? We haven’t done MVMCP since November 2000 do they still even do meet and greets with the 7 dwarfs?


In real world news sadly I found out one of my law classes I needed to graduate isn’t going to be offered this fall so now I have to take it this summer. Which I absolutely hate but I have no choice. I was looking so forward to having the summer off. I am at the last 3 weeks of taking 5 classes and still working my full time job and other life responsibilities and I was looking for to a break. And not to mention one of my close friends is getting married in July and I’m the maid of honor and we have her long bachelorette weekend as well as the wedding and taking Abby & Logan to the beach in July. So it was already a busy summer and now I’m throwing on a law class. Thankfully, it is online so I can do the work as I am at those things and just go to the school to take my test. I’m telling you this trip can’t come fast enough I will not only be celebrating my graduation but having my freedom back.


That’s all for this update. I will come back soon with the daily break down of the what and where soon.

241 Days till the trip
61 Days till ADR's

 

[BDL]

Following along.

Congrats on the graduation. I went back to school to get my associate's as well, after a few of years, after my last class. Good on you for seeing it through. Make sure you get a Graduation pin. You earned it.

And you'll have a blast the more your group grows.

 

[Bethislucy]

Following along.

Congrats on the graduation. I went back to school to get my associate's as well, after a few of years, after my last class. Good on you for seeing it through. Make sure you get a Graduation pin. You earned it.

I didn't think about a graduation pin but I did the ears, but sadly someone said they weren't available in December.

 

[BDL]

I didn't think about a graduation pin but I did the ears, but sadly someone said they weren't available in December.

If they're not available in Dec, I'd say go on to the Disney store website sometime between now and the end of June and get yourself a "to me, from me" graduation gift of the cap mouse ears.

 

[BDL]

Just an update for you. I found an app for my iPad that is called "Shop Parks". I typed in the word "graduation" in the search field and there they were... Different variations of mouse ear grad caps. Now, I will never guarantee the validity of something that I don't know for 100% is safe. What I do in these circumstances, is I buy a Visa gift card from my local super market and use that for online purchases. Also helpful for keeping an online purchase a surprise for my wife for Xmas, her b-day, etc...

Happy hunting.

 

[Bethislucy]

Thanks BDL I'll check it out.

 

[KathyM2]

Hey I'm joining in! You are gonna be a busy girl until December but what a great thing to have a Disney trip to plan and look forward to!! Looking forward to following along with you!

 

[Bethislucy]

What’s the plan?


I am on a short break from school after finishing the hardest semester I have ever took, so that means it’s time for an update. It was a hard semester and I missed out on a lot of stuff with my family & friends but I am happy to say I finished with 3 B’s and 2 A’s. Thankfully, now I only have 4 classes left and they are all online. It will be nice to have some freedom back in my life. I will take 1 class this summer and then 3 this fall. Then it’s time to celebrate at Disney.


214 days till we check in to Pop 213 till we start our trip and only 33 Days till we make our ADR’s.


So if you are still reading my ramblings what is the plan you may ask, well let me tell you what the plan is as of today.

This is us the night we booked Heather & Brett's trip.

Saturday December 10th

E and I will leave our house at 6:30am and drive 30 minutes to our friends house in Charlotte, NC. We will pick up Heather and Brett and officially start our trip by 7:30. Knowing myself, Emily & Brett we will stop for coffee before we official start. From Charlotte we will head south to Cocoa Beach FL. You know how when you are traveling and you see signs and you’re like I’m going there one day. That’s how this part came about. Heather and Brett attend Elevation church, they have a campus in Melbourne FL, and Heather asked if we could go there on Sunday before arriving at Disney. It’s her birthday that Sunday and while Elevation isn’t my home church I do enjoy their services so it was a yes. But our normal stopping point to enjoy the beach is Flagler Beach and that was just too far to get up and drive to church on Sunday morning. Cocoa Beach came up as an option because I’ve wanted to go there since my 1st drive to Disney. So we will stay there then make the drive to the Space Coast campus Sunday morning. The plan is to arrive to the cocoa beach around 4:30. That will give us a little bit of day light to walk on the beach and explore some. We will have dinner somewhere around there I’ve found several options.

Flagler Beach this past Nov.


Sunday December 11th

Today is our official Disney check in Day and Heather’s birthday. We plan to attend the 9:30 service at Elevation Space Coast. I figure we will get out around 10:45/11:00. We will then make the 2 hour drive to Disney world. We will probably stop at Disney Springs grab some lunch and then head back to the resort to get checked in. Once we are checked in we will head back to Disney Springs for the rest of the day. To shop and just enjoy the atmosphere. We are going to try for a ADR at Raglan Road. This will be my graduation celebration dinner. After dinner depending on the time we will shop some more or head back to the resort and get rested up for our first full day in the parks.

E & I at Raglan Road last Nov.

Monday December 12th

This will be our Animal Kingdom day. Emily & I have not been to AK since 2008, I know a lot has changed in 8 years. It’s just not a absolute must do for us and we would rather enjoy the other parks. We went in 2008 to take Logan when we took him on his 4-year-old solo trip. Abby was born in 2008 and we took Logan to Disney to give mom, dad and Abby some bonding time and to give Logan a special big brother treat. But anyway enough with memory lane that just happens to be my favorite Disney trip every. Back to I know a lot has changed and I’m looking forward to exploring again. Brett has never been so it will all be new to him and Heather went back around 2006 with the school band so you know how little you get to see on these trips. It will be somewhat new to all of us and should be lots of fun. We aren’t going to do any ADR’s here just counter services. I know we want to catch one of the shows we just don’t know if it will be Nemo or Lion King. Any suggestions? We also want to check out all the new stuff with Rivers of Lights and some after dark stuff.

This is 4 Year old Logan at Ak



I was working on this update at work while it was slow but we just had a bunch of stuff come in so I’m going to stop here for now and I’ll be back with part 2 soon.

 

[Elevationist]

I am currently taking 5 classes as well as working so if I don’t get this thing updated as often as I would like until may you know why.

I admire the heck out of you, lady. No way could I do both work and school full time. You're a rock star for real!

What: Graduation celebration trip.

When: December 11 – December 16

HOORAY!!!! So exciting!!!

Not that anyone is reading this but me, but here is a long overdue update.

I'm here, I'm here!

Change #2 I just couldn’t do that short of a trip. 4 park days just isn’t enough for me so we’ve added a day and ticket to our trip. We will now be staying from Sunday December 11th – Saturday December 17th.

Girl, tell me about it. My next trip (October) started out as "just a short little 3 or 4 night" trip. Now it's... 8 nights total. Ooops.

 

[Bethislucy]

Beaches & Springs

Hey all. So I didn’t make it right back but a lot of real world stuff going on and didn’t make it back. I will come back and finish our plans up, but they are completely changing now so it’s a good thing I didn’t really finish. What was the real world stuff you may be wondering and if not well I’m gonna tell you anyway because it ends with a Disney Springs.


I love love the beach it’s a tie between Disney and the beach I just love them both which is partly why I stop by the beach to and from Disney when we go. I have never seen the gulf coast and Emily has always wanted to see blue water. So a very quick plan developed to go to Sarasota for memorial day weekend, and to Siesta Key Beach. So here is a mini trip report of what we did.


Emily & I both work for our local government at home. Our buildings are next door to each other so we just rode to work together Friday. When we got off at 5:00 we meet up with Heather near the interstate about 45 minutes away. Brett was going with us but his job has him traveling out of the country last minute so he didn’t get to go with us. So he dropped Heather off there so we could jump right on the interstate and save some time. We were headed to Kingsland GA to stop for the night which would be a little over ½ our drive. It was 5 hours to Kingsland and then from Kingsland to Sarasota we had 4.5 hours. We arrived in Kingsland about 10:45 and were checked in and crashed for the night. Travel days never have much excitement.


Saturday morning we got up drove the rest of our trip and arrived in Sarasota at 12:30, we found our hotel quickly but we couldn’t be checked in. We asked for tips on the best place for lunch and set of for siesta key village. The village was packed so we drove on down looking on our phones for a place to stop and descried to go on down to Turtle beach. We had a great lunch at Turtle restaurant and then we headed over to the beach. Now remember we had left from Georgia that morning and couldn’t check in so we switched covered up the car windows and took turns changing in to our swimsuits and then we hit the beach. Once we walked over the hill and saw the gulf it was absolutely beautiful.

I've never seen water like that at any of the beaches we had been too. We swam and enjoyed the sun for a few hours before going back to get checked into our hotel and get cleaned up for dinner. For dinner we drove over to Longboat key and had dinner at the Dry Dock which was wonderful I highly recommend it. We had a great water view of Sarasota bay while we ate. After dinner, we went to the beaches at Longboat to watch the sunset.

This was one of my favorite things I did all weekend. That was so cool watching the sunset on the ocean. It was so pretty. Once we were done at the beach, we had the make the all-important wal-mart run for our all day beach day on Sunday.


Sunday was pretty much a beach day we ate a late lunch at Gilligan’s bar & grill in Siesta Key Village and then hit a few shops before going to the hotel and getting cleaned up. That night we did the tourist thing, just shopped around, walked around the shopping area, and had dinner at a local pizza joint that was good.


Monday morning we were up early and made the two hour drive over to Disney springs. This was the first time I have ever driven. I all was go to my resort and get checked in then take a bus over, so this was all new for me. We parked in the Lime parking garage and set out.

Heather had never been to Disney Springs so it was new to her. First off, I love all the new walkways and paths that are open. They weren’t open when we were there in December. It makes it easier to move around from one spot to the other. We stopped and took some pictures of the Lego designs and then we walked on over towards the Christmas store.

We were only going to have about 3 hours we could spend here including our stop for lunch so we were moving kind of fast. I love the Christmas store and could spend way too much time and money in there if given the chance. But I kept my wallet closed telling myself I will be back in six months and can spend some then. From the Christmas store we went into the art store to look around and then to the hat store. I tried on the class of 2016 mickey ears and Heather joined me she just graduated with her masters in accounting in May.

We walked around a little more showing Heather some of our favorite stores saving world of Disney for last because I knew I would make some purchases there. We decided it was lunchtime and started heading over that way. We took a chance to see if we could get in to Morimoto’s and we scored someone had just canceled their 11:45 ADR so we grabbed it and walked around those shops stopped in the Alex and Ani store and E & I did pick up a bracelet each in there before heading back to have lunch.


For lunch I had the Lo mien with Beef which I had got back in December last year it was good but it didn’t have the drizzle on it that they had last year and I think that is what put it over the top. Emily had a California roll and the egg roll and she said both were great. Heather had a vegetable roll and the pork egg roll and she enjoyed hers as well. The staff was great as always, and it was a nice surprise getting to do a TS restaurant on our spur of the moment trip. After lunch, we knew we had to be getting ready to get back on the road so we went to hit World of Disney. It was about 12:45 when we got there and it was PACKED. We could barely move. We all picked up a few things and I took advantage of the spend 40 and get the mickey book bag for 20 deal. So I scored a new park back for our December trip. Once we checked out it was time to hit the road for our long drive back home.


The ride home was uneventful and long. We dropped Heather off at her home in charlotte then headed back south to our home in South Carolina. We got everything out of the car and into the house by 10:30 and then it was time to get cleaned up and ready for bed. Work started bright and early at 8:00am Tuesday. Over all it was a great trip and the Disney springs side trip was totally worth and just made me that much more excited for our trip in December.


I will be back to update our plans and tell you about the changes there. I also get to make our ADR’s in 13 days. So till then…

 

[KathyM2]

Hey what a fun quick trip!!! Short and sweet!!

 

[Bethislucy]

Time for yet more changes.


Our friends that are joining us had this amazing opportunity to go to the UK for almost 4 months. So I am not sure now if they will be joining us or not. While I hope they get to I have to plan as if they aren’t because this is a celebration trip and I want to celebrate. So with those changes our plans for the days before Disney have completely changed. The new plan is as followed.


Leave from work at 5:00 pm Thursday December 8th. Drive to 5 hours to Kingsland Ga stop for the night.

Friday December 9th get up drive 3 hours to Cocoa Beach. We will spend the day there exploring around and enjoying the beach. I love the beach in any season. I know we will make a stop at Ron John before the day is over.

Saturday December 10th is the day I’m now so excited for. We will get up and leave cocoa beach by 8 that morning drive the hour and 20 mins to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’ve never stayed in a deluxe and may not have the chance to stay again, but thanks to a 30% off coupon and the excuse it’s my graduation trip we are staying one night there and plan to take full advantage of it. We are starting our trip with a relaxation day. The plan is to get there by 10. Even though the room won’t be ready and just hang out at the resort all day. Hopefully it will be a warm day and we can take advantage of swimming a little bit. We also want to check out the animals some and I also plan to do some reading for fun, not school.

Sunday December 11th we have a breakfast ADR at Boma, everyone always raves about it but we’ve never took the time out of trips to go over and check it out. After breakfast we will head over to Pop and get checked in there. Then we are going to grab a bus to MK and then hop the monorail and go see the ginger bread house and some of the resort decorations. After that if our room is ready at POP we will go and unload the car and unpack then head to Disney Springs for the evening. We have my celebration dinner at Raglan Road at 7:00, but other than that we are just going to shop and people watch.

Then Monday will start our park days.

So some updates I’m super excited about and can’t believe are happening. I’m so ready to knock out the rest of my classes. My last class will be December 8th and then we hit the road Dec 9th. You just graduated now what? I’m going to Disney world. (You 90’s kids will appreciate that)

147 more days to go.

 

[Elevationist]

Saturday December 10th is the day I’m now so excited for. We will get up and leave cocoa beach by 8 that morning drive the hour and 20 mins to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’ve never stayed in a deluxe and may not have the chance to stay again, but thanks to a 30% off coupon and the excuse it’s my graduation trip we are staying one night there and plan to take full advantage of it

I so relate to this! The one and only time I have ever stayed Deluxe was a decade ago, and on somebody else's dime. So now I'm just bursting at the seams for my Beach Club stay in October!

Sunday December 11th we have a breakfast ADR at Boma, everyone always raves about it but we’ve never took the time out of trips to go over and check it out.

I heartily approve of this! You know I love me some BOMA!

 

[Bethislucy]

I heartily approve of this! You know I love me some BOMA!

I can't wait to try it, I'm so excited.

 

[dnllmz]

Hi! I'm following along. I'm also going in December and staying at Pop. I'm going the 10th-18th. Maybe we'll see you there!

 

[Bethislucy]

99 Days
Nothing much new to report. Just doing the double digit dance today 99 days till I drive on to Disney property to celebrate all my hard work over the last 2 ½ years. Also celebrating the trip will be paid off in 2 weeks on my next check. So that’s always a nice accomplishment too. On the school front my 3 classes this semester are proving to be difficult, but for the most part the teachers have gave us Saturday due dates which is awesome because I work during the week. I joined up on the exercise challenge board. I’m gonna try to drop a little bit of weight before we go and get my feet back use to all that walking. I’m starting slow this month but hope to up my number next month for October. I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your September and a wonderful labor day weekend. I'll spend mine replacing a bathroom in my house