Pre-Trip An Anniversary, a Birthday and no kid. February 2014

I thought I'd start a pre-trip report in the hopes it will inspire me to do a Trip Report when we get back.

Things have come together nicely. We booked in October, about a week before the winter discounts were announced. Actually it was the day before the Visa discount was announced (no Disney Visa then but I have one now). We are staying at POFQ and the room discount didn't apply there but the Play, Stay and Dine discount saved us about $300 and allowed us to remain at FQ. We stayed at PORS last January and loved it but wanted at smaller, more romantic location. It is our 15th Anniversary!

We'll start traveling on a Saturday, my husband's birthday, with an overnight stay in Charlotte. Flights were much cheaper from Charlotte than Charleston, WV. We'll fly from Charlotte to MCO on Sunday and should arrive at 9:30 am. We've made the drive from WV to WDW before and it's just not our thing. While we've been married for almost 15 years our ability to travel that distance in a car together has just never worked out. ME will pick us up and hopefully we'll arrive at POFQ by 11am.

I'll be following up with our ADRs and FP+ choices. We don't have any plans made prior to 4:00 pm that evening. I've thought about DTD, exploring our resort or? Suggestions?

 

[Betsyboo]

As the title implies, this trip will be to celebrate by husband's 40th birthday and our 15th wedding anniversary. This will also be our first trip to WDW without our son, he's 10 and has made 3 trips to WDW in the past 5 years. He's actually not too upset over missing out but keeps asking us if we are going to ride ToT. I'm assuming he doesn't want us to ride it.

Our first trip to WDW as a family was back in 2009. We went with my parents and my sister's family for a week in January. We stayed at the Poly, oh how wonderful it was. I'm so glad we were able to stay there before all this madness with DVC and construction. In February 2011 just the three of us made a spontaneous 4 day trip and stayed at Pop. It was a nice resort but definitely a BIG difference in room size from the Poly. But hey, you aren't at WDW to stay in your room. Last year's trip in January was great. We took my husband's parents, who had never visited WDW, and stayed at PORS. Love, love, love that place. We took advantage of a winter discount and stayed in the Royal Rooms. So wonderful. Even my son was thrilled with those headboards.

As a side note, I visited WDW several times in my younger days. I had family in Daytona and we'd travel over for the day when we were visiting. My mother and I made a trip to WDW in 1995 and stayed at Dixie Landings, now PORS/POFQ. I guess that must be why I just love that place. The 1995 trip was so great. Back in 1980 we made a trip to Disneyland and I remember bits and pieces. I still have a tote bag I got way back then. It's worn but I just can't get rid of it. I'll dig it out and post a pic.

This pre-trip report stuff is actually pretty fun. It's nice to share with others who love Disney and keeps the excitement alive. Thanks for reading!

 

[Betsyboo]

So here are the ADRs I've planned so far. We are on the DDP and we love it, I know some do not.

Sunday - Dinner at BOG
Monday - Dinner at California Grill - We are paying out of pocket for this one. We will not eat enough to warrant 2 TS credits on the DDP plus I'm having a cake made for us to enjoy to celebrate our Anniversary. Thanks @HouCuseChickie for the great cake thread and all the ideas.
Tuesday - Lunch at Chefs de France; Dinner @ Boma
Wednesday - Dinner at Ohana
Thursday - Lunch at Mama Melroses (Fantasmic Package)
Friday - Dinner at Biergarten

We've been to BOG, MM and the Biergarten in the past but the rest will be new to us. I've changed these so many times now I doubt my DH has any idea where we are eating. I just can't stop looking at availability, but it has paid off. I just booked the BOG dinner on Sunday morning, 40+ days out.

 

[Betsyboo]

Arriving on Sunday we don't have plans until our 4pm FP+ for Peter Pan. We didn't ride this at all last year because of the wait times. DH doesn't wait more than 15-20 minutes and it wasn't really something my in-laws or DS were interested in. Not sure of our plans between arrival time and 4pm but I've thought about going over to DTD for the afternoon since we've never explored it on prior trips. We did go over last year for dinner at Fultons and then back over to the Lego store a couple of times. Earl of Sandwich might be calling my name.

On Monday we have a 9 am Keys to the Kingdom Tour scheduled. Excited about this. It's 5 hours but I'm hoping it's well worth it. The tour includes lunch at CHH so I'm looking forward to that. I've scheduled our FP+ selections for later that afternoon. Tales with Belle wasn't on my DS's list of must does last year and thankful DH will go along with most anything so I'm glad to get to see that too. We have dinner plans at Cali Grill so between our afternoon FPs and that night I hope we can take a nap.

Tuesday is Epcot morning EMH so we'll be headed there. I've booked a 9am FP+ for Soarin, my DHs favorite. I could do without but it will be fun. Lunch at Chefs de France and hopefully a ride on the Maelstrom. Then we are heading to AK for the rest of the day followed by dinner at Boma and exploring the AKL.

Wednesday is the day I'm truly looking forward to. I'm suprising DH with the Wild Africa Trek Tour. I've almost spilled the beans several times and I hope I can keep the secret until then. AK has EMH that morning and our tour is at 8am so it all works out for timing. I'm not sure if I'm going to tell him the night before, the morning of or wait until we hit the main gate. Exciting!!!! Hoping to have Yak & Yeti CS for lunch. I've made our FP+ selections for the afternoon at AK. Dinner will be at Ohana so hopefully we'll leave AK head back to the resort and then head to MK for a boat ride to Ohana.

Thursday is HS day. FP+ selections are made and we will be having lunch at Mama Melroses for the Fantasmic Package. I'm really looking forward to seeing Fantasmic for the first time. I may try and move one of our FP+ selections to the TOT after dark since we've always hit that in the morning. I'd love to see the park after dark.

Friday is a split day between HS and Epcot. We like to take the Friendship Boats between the two. We'll start in the am at HS and then travel over to Epcot to tour WS and have dinner at the Biergarten. I just love that place. Last year the gentleman did the performance with the cow bells and it was awesome.

Saturday we will spend the morning in MK and sadly fly out that evening. Our flight isn't until 5pm so we'll have plenty of time to take in MK one last time. I cry every time I walk down MSUSA for the last time each trip. I just love it. I'm hoping to grab a FP+ for BOG lunch to finish off the afternoon.

Thanks for reading along. I'm still working on a few surprises for DH including a dessert delivery to our room and the cake for our anniversary celebration at Cali Grill. I'm also checking out room views on touringplans.com. They are taking pictures from each resort room to give you an idea of what the view would be. It's great. I know that POFQ and WL are available. I've not really looked at others. Here's the link. http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels Just click on your resort. If they've completed the pictures for that resort there will be a link at the top of the information page.

 

[Minnie_girl]

Following along!

 

[FlaggNL]

absolutely following

 

[Betsyboo]

Following along!

Thanks!

absolutely following

Thanks!

 

[Betsyboo]

So I've been thinking of having a cake delivered to Cali Grill to celebrate our anniversary. As I stated above, there is a great cake thread on here that has numerous pictures and ideas.

This is what I have in mind for the anniversary cake. I'd use the lavender, our wedding color. These seem to run around $30ish and feed two people.

This is what I'm thinking of having delivered to our room for my DHs birthday. I have a couple of cakes in mind but I've not settled on one and with desserts and the DDP I just don't think we'd be hungry enough after any of our meals.

The cake I REALLY REALLY wanted to have for our anniversary is completely out of my price range but I wanted to share it anyway. The price charged for the cake previously was $171. I just can't swing it, may for our 25th!

 

[coachwnh]

You are going to love the Wild African Trek! Love the cake idea.

 

[popcenturylover]

So I've been thinking of having a cake delivered to Cali Grill to celebrate our anniversary. As I stated above, there is a great cake thread on here that has numerous pictures and ideas.

This is what I have in mind for the anniversary cake. I'd use the lavender, our wedding color. These seem to run around $30ish and

View attachment 43936

This is what I'm thinking of having delivered to our room for my DHs birthday. I have a couple of cakes in mind but I've not settled on one and with desserts and the DDP I just don't think we'd be hungry enough after any of our meals.

View attachment 43937


The cake I REALLY REALLY wanted to have for our anniversary is completely out of my price range but I wanted to share it anyway. The price charged for the cake previously was $171. I just can't swing it, may for our 25th!

View attachment 43938

Love the lavender cake! (it's also our wedding color) Nice idea for your husband's bday. Not ALOT of dessert but, enough for 2 people! LOVE the Up cake but, really couldn't justify spending that much money on a cake!!!

 

[Betsyboo]

Picking up travel docs from our AAA agent today. I'm assuming this is what everyone else calls Mickey Mail. Purchased Memory Maker and bought tickets for Aerophile (the balloon at DTD) with a Groupon discount. 32 days and counting.

We've purchased PhotoPass and PhotoPass+ for our prior trips and have always found it to be a convenience. I know I can hand my camera to a PhotoPass photographer but honestly it's just easier for them to take it with their camera. Yes, I've been disappointed once or twice (they lost my Gaston pics last year) but other than that I've always enjoyed posing and capturing all the memories. There is not a picture I love more than the one of my son when he was 5 years old standing on Main Street USA before opening (breakfast ADR) with the magical Tinkerbell in his hands.

Can't wait to see my "Mickey Mail"!

 

[Betsyboo]

Our MBs have shipped. Should arrive on Monday. Yippee!

I did pick up our travel documents on Wednesday. Several changes to the AAA perks but honestly we've taken advantage of only a few in our past trips so nothing too disappointing. When we went in 2009 they offered Disney's Storytime with a character. It was lovely. Mary Poppins read to the kids (and grownups) from a book of the original concept art/drawings. Everyone had their picture taken and Mary signed a bookmark for each child.

I was truly hoping that the new Festival of Fantasy Parade and Mine Train would be open. I've been reading the threads each day and I'm afraid it's just not going to happen. Maybe I can catch a glimpse of one of the new floats during our Keys to the Kingdom tour. Maybe.

I DVRd the Disney specials that were aired last Saturday on what I think was Destination America (or some channel that I can't remember). Hoping to watch those sometime this weekend. We are expecting more snow today so it might be a nice day for lounging inside.

I plan to contact the Contemporary Bakery at the end of next week to begin the process of ordering my anniversary cake for our dinner at Cali Grill. I'm really excited about that.

 

[Betsyboo]

MBs arrived yesterday. I'm green, DH is orange. Not sure why we picked what we did. Just didn't want to go with blue and pink I guess. Still wish purple was an option.

Trying to decide about changing our ADR for Boma to Sanaa. Any thoughts?

Hopefully I'll be starting on our tshirts soon. Each time we've gone I've made it a tradition to make us all tshirts. Cheesy, yes but I'm pretty sure we got some VIP treatment last year the day we wore them. Front row seating at FotLK, VIP seating for the parade. This is my son and his shirt. It had the year on the sleeve, the front pocket area had a big Mickey head with Disney cut out and the back said - I'm just here for the RIDES! His first shirt back in 2009 said - I'm celebrating my first visit! It was the year that they had the What are you celebrating? tag line.

Anyhoo, I'm hoping to make a shirt for me and my DH (he goes along with most anything) that says something about our anniversary celebration and another set that says something about his birthday.

Hopefully that project will come together over the weekend. I already have my iron on vinyl (from VinylExpressions.com and use the Mickey Font cartridge for my Cricut to cut out the letters) just need to purchase our tshirts.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Are you sure DH is not reading this thread, lol? Sounds like a great trip is about to begin. I'm following and quite jealous of your travels.

 

[Betsyboo]

Are you sure DH is not reading this thread, lol? Sounds like a great trip is about to begin. I'm following and quite jealous of your travels.

I'm pretty sure. He doesn't understand it anyway I don't think. Thanks!

 

[Betsyboo]

Made one last change (hopefully the last anyway) to our ADRs last night. We changed from Boma to Sanaa. We watched a Disney special the other night (the Sandwich Guy from the Food Network) and they dined at Sanaa. My husband was intrigued by the tandoor ovens and the bread. I let him decide about the change. He checked out pictures of the dining rooms and decided Sanaa was a bit more private. He said Boma seemed like a mess hall. I would have been fine with either. The big draw with Sanaa seems to be the animals right outside the window but it being February I don't think we'll be seeing much outside the window in the dark. Oh well, at least he got to make one decision for this whole trip. LOL

I'm calling Disney today to verify all of our ADRs, make sure our anniversary and his birthday are noted and reconfirm our building choices at POFQ. I'll be sending a room request directly by fax to POFQ in a couple of weeks, but just want to follow up on everything. Friday will be my call to the cake hotline at the Contempo for our anniversary cake at Cali Grill.

Just 25 more days to go. It was -10 degrees this morning here at home and boy does 70 degrees with some sun sound good about now.

 

[Betsyboo]

Well I never got around to calling about the cake on Friday so today is cake day. Spent the day Saturday shopping for our trip. Bought a couple of items at the Disney Store. My Vera Bradley bag came on Thursday so I'll be decked out! Got our tshirts for my project and need to work on those. Still no FP+ opening for BOG lunch on our last day. I'm going to keep checking but at this point I'm happy with eating there for dinner on our first night. Can't believe it's only 20 days away. Need to make overnight hotel reservations for our trip down. Oops. Forgot that one.

 

[coachwnh]

You won't regret switching from Boma to Sanaa. Id choose Sanaa over Jiko as well. I just love the atmosphere. Get there early to experience everything that Sanaa has to offer. 30 minutes is not too early to show up. Relax with a drink from the bar and check out the outside area to see the animals. There are CMs that can talk to you about the animals as you wait. If you are there early enough and don't mind the wait, ask for a window seat!

 

[Betsyboo]

Still working on the anniversary cake. Sent an email Monday and received a response back with a quote. Asked about a change/customization and was told today that they don't do customization on a mini-wedding cake. Ha! Have they seen the cake thread @HouCuseChickie has going on here? At HouCuseChickie's suggestion I've called the Contemporary Cake Line directly, had to leave a message. Hoping to get a real live person tomorrow and get this all sorted out. I'm beginning to second guess having anything delivered to our room in the way of cake/dessert.

Starting to feel the travel jitters at 17 days out. All the worry of getting there has set in.

I think I'll start packing tonight. Maybe that will help.

 

[Betsyboo]

You won't regret switching from Boma to Sanaa. Id choose Sanaa over Jiko as well. I just love the atmosphere. Get there early to experience everything that Sanaa has to offer. 30 minutes is not too early to show up. Relax with a drink from the bar and check out the outside area to see the animals. There are CMs that can talk to you about the animals as you wait. If you are there early enough and don't mind the wait, ask for a window seat!

I'm glad we made the change to Sanaa. I'm definitely not second guessing that. Thanks!