Becanya's Great Year of Celebrations Pre-Trip Report

Though I have obsessively followed these boards for two years, this is the first pre-trip report for me. But I so enjoy reading everyone else's (especially HollyBelle!) that I decided to take the plunge and go for it. Just to give you a little background about the crew for our trip:

I am Becca...mother of Keegan (6) and McKenna (3)...and my husband is Adam. My mom, Lola, is going with us this year for the second time. We are also taking my dad along this year...though he has played professionally several times at WDW (he's a country music musician), this will be his first time as a tourist.

This trip will be several firsts for us. It will be our first trip with dad. But it will also be the first trip for us as DVC members. After we returned last year from WL, the only way we could get over our depression was to take the plunge and buy DVC at VWL. Boy are we excited about getting to go home this year! This will also be the first trip that we take to Disney's HHI resort, were we are going to use our extra points this year. So this is a pre-trip report for two trips! This will also be our first trip as AP holders.

So...the details of the trips...
HHI: June 20-26
VWL: Nov 11-20

May is a super exciting planning month for several reasons. First, we bought our tickets to MVMCP this week...we will be attending on Nov 18th. Though we have gone to MNSSHP, this will be our first MVMCP experience. Second, we get to book our ADR's in one week! Third, we get to buy our airplane tickets when Southwest releases the fall schedule on May 24th. So I thought this was an appropriate time to do a pre-trip report.

Like I said in the title, this is the Great Year of Celebrations for our family. We are celebrating many milestones:
- 10 year wedding anniversary!:kiss:
- Finished with classes for my PhD program in political science...now I just have to write that dissertation!:lol:
- Paying off debt (everything except the mortgage).
- Passing my comprehensive exams so I can be ABD (well...hasn't happened yet but Lord willing it will in Sept!)
- Getting my dissertation prospectus approved in Oct...just in time to celebrate at WDW!:sohappy:
- Finally getting down to pre-baby weight. It only took 3 years...but whatever. :ROFLOL:

There are several things we do during the year to get ready for Disney and distract ourselves from getting too homesick for Disney:

Becca:
I'm working on my PhD at Vanderbilt, so most of my time is taken up with work. I'm doing my dissertation on policy diffusion...specifically why countries decide to allow intercountry adoption as an international solution to their domestic orphan problems. Not that you wanted to hear about all that...
I also obsessively plan several vacations. We are going to St. John USVI (kidless trip) in two weeks. We are also going to HHI in June, as I said. Then we take a yearly trip to St. Louis to do all the amazingly fun things that city has to offer! Finally, I am going to Seattle for the Annual Political Science Association conference in Sept. to present some research on international adoption. Hopefully all those things will get us through until WDW.

Adam:
Watches as much sports as possible. Works his rear off (financial analyst). Play at least 2 soccer games every week (he plays in both an indoor and outdoor league), and coach soccer.

Keegan:
Collects Disney stuffed animals and tries to play off all that incredibly energy.

McKenna:
General destruction of everything in her path.

Lola:
Working and playing with the grandkids. Oh, and a side trip to Hawaii with her sister!

Hoot (grandpa):
Opry fiddle player...so every weekend is occupied playing country music. Also playing with Aunt Rachael (my sister) while she works on her music career.

In the next post I'll give you guys some insight into our grand plan for our WDW trip in November...until we meet again, have a magical day.

 

[Tiggerish]

:lookaroun I'll bet that mom-and-dad-only trip at BWV is just as much fun.

Are you going during the Food & Wine Festival?

 

[becanya]

:lookaroun I'll bet that mom-and-dad-only trip at BWV is just as much fun.

Are you going during the Food & Wine Festival?

No, we are actually going Jan 30-Feb 2...it was so stinking cheap to stay there with points at that time. We are staying for 3 nights for 34 points. So we don't have to pay for the hotel. The trick is going to be figuring out what to tell the kids we are doing. Telling them we are going to WDW is NOT an option.:lookaroun

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I will be there Nov 11-15 so we will be there at the same time!!! :sohappy: YAY!! Always exciting to see other members on here who are going the same time as me!!

 

[becanya]

I will be there Nov 11-15 so we will be there at the same time!!! :sohappy: YAY!! Always exciting to see other members on here who are going the same time as me!!

Awesome! Are you guys eating at Kona Cafe? saw that you are staying at the polynesian.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awesome! Are you guys eating at Kona Cafe? saw that you are staying at the polynesian.

No sadly we're not Well.... I take that back.. We MIGHT. We're trying to figure everything out right now so we might have a breakfast there one morning. We ate there in May and it was great but we're gonna give 'Ohana a whirl this time around

 

[becanya]

St. Louis Trip

Well, we are at the end of our last trip before we return to some Disney magic. I have to say, this has been one of the best St. Louis trips we have ever taken! If you haven't ever been to St. Louis and you live in driving distance, head on over. It's such a great trip. When I was a kid my dad played fiddle in a steel guitar convention here every labor day, so it holds a special place in my childhood memories. As luck would have it, Adam also played in a soccer tournament here every year as a kid, so we rediscovered our love for St. Louis together once we had kids. Now we are determined to make it a yearly trip.

So first, the cast and crew. Castmembers include the four kiddos...ages 8, 6, 5, and 3. As you know, the 6 and 3 year olds are ours, the 8 and 5 year olds are our family friends'. Our first night we went to Dewey's Pizza, which was probably my favorite restaurant of the trip. Here are the boys getting a little crazy about their pizza:

Our favorite activity in St. Louis is the City Museum...only the coolest museum/playhouse in the entire world. This is my third time to visit, and I swear I found so many things I had never even explored. Word's can't describe how amazing this place is...so hopefully the pictures will help you get an idea:

First, sliding on the rooftop playground. They actually have a spiral slide that goes all the way from the roof ten stories down to the first floor.

Then the adult ball pit with dodgeballs:

And the four-story adult playground that terrifies me beyond belief (that's Adam up in the tube on top):

This one is McKenna going down the artsy slide that goes from the 4th floor to the first floor:

And the kids playing in the caverns/caves on the first and second floor:

And finally, the human hamster wheel. Needless to say, we were exhausted after our day at the City museum.

 

[becanya]

The second day of our trip, we went to the Zoo in the morning and a waterpark in the afternoon. Let me say, it was like 105 that day in St. Louis. I actually burned the bottoms of my feel trying to walk around at the waterpark. Crazy crazy hot on that pavement.

The St. Louis zoo is one of my favorites in the country. Not only is it amazing, but we went almost every year when I was a kid. This one year, my dad actually barked with the seals for 30 minutes while all these people gathered around to watch. My dad would bark and they would bark back. It was funny looking back, but at the time I was about 13 years old and mortified. Now it's a sweet memory I will always remember.

Keegan and McKenna got to pet the stingrays:

We got to stand right next to the giraffes:

And right next to the penguins! That is an actual penguin next to McKenna's head...she was so close he could have reached over and pecked her. It was really neat that you could get that close.

The penguin house is my favorite part of the St. Louis Zoo...mainly because it is so freezin in there, and it is so hot in St. Louis in the summer!

Our final day we went to the St. Louis Science Center which was fun, but not the highlight of the trip. The kids did enjoy some of the activities, and we saw an Omnimax movie which felt remarkably like being on the Soarin ride.

 

[becanya]

Our last night we decided to grab Fitz's Rootbeer floats to celebrate our last night. Good thing we did because I will forever crave those floats until we can go back for another. Notice Keegan's travel guinea pigs that he took with him on the trip. We had to leave the real ones at home with Aunt Rach. He named them Mickey Sr. (the dad) and Mickey Jr. (the baby). He said the mom got hit by a car and died. Not sure how I feel about that! :lookaroun

All in all, this was a great trip spent with great friends, and we can't wait to return!

 

[becanya]

ADR's for January "kidless" trip

So I just made reservations for our trip without the kids in January-February. We always do the deluxe dining plan when we go with the kids, because we need to be able to break up our day. But with the quick just mom and dad trip, we decided to just do the normal meal plan. So I was only able to make three reservations.

Monday, jan 30: Dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe
- This is a new one for us. The menu looks awesome, and we wanted to try out something new, so hopefully it's good. Anyone have any recommendations?

Tuesday, jan 31: Dinner at Teppan Edo
- I was trying to get dinner reservations at Tutto Italia, but there wasn't a single spot available. This really surprises me, because I don't hear a lot of good things about the restaurant on here, even though we like their food. So instead I decided to try Teppan Edo for the first time. I have really hesitated to try it because we go to hibachi grills here all the time. So I feel like it's not a Disney-specific experience. But you guys can feel free to correct me if there is something super special about it!

Wednesday, feb 1: Dinner at Kona Cafe
- For me, and for Adam, no trip would be complete without dinner at Kona. We LOVE Kona. It's our favorite restaurant on property. My only sorrow this time will be not being able to get a sushi appetizer since we downgraded meal plans.

 

[Tiggerish]

Haven't eaten at Teppan Edo (for the same reason as you--hibachi restaurants abound at home!)

I do enjoy the Grand Floridian Cafe, I think we've eaten there three times, and I keep getting the same thing, the salmon with asparagus, leeks, and cremini mushrooms, because it's just so darn good. I want to go back again so I can try some of the rest of their dishes! My dining companions have had the roast chicken and one of the steak dishes, and everyone was very pleased. And I love, love, love the strawberry salad for an appetizer--I tried it because someone recommended it on one of the dining threads here! The decor reminds me a lot of the Crystal Palace.

 

[becanya]

Change of plans...

Ok, so you guys are going to think I am terribly fickle. Remember how we decided to take this kidless trip in Jan-Feb? Well, we decided to just move the trip to the week after New Years and take the kids along! Instead, Adam and I are going to go to California together in April.

We've decided to make this trip a surprise for the kids! :sohappy: Imagine, that week after Christmas and New Years is so sad, and you wake up to your parents loading you in a taxi for the AIRPORT to WDW! Does it get any better than that? I think not. And because we have DVC points and annual passes, we really just have to pay for food, plane tickets, and souvenirs.

This is the first trip I have ever booked WITHIN the 180 day window, so last night I went into a fury of trip planning/meal reserving. This morning when I called to see what was available for DVC resorts, I was sad to discover VWL, our home resort, is all booked up for half the trip. So we are staying at VWL Jan 2-5, then SSR Jan 5-8. We did go on the waitlist for VWL for those three days, so we'll see if it happens. I have no idea how hard that will be to get those days off the waitlist.

Here are the meals I was able to get last night...none of them were too far off what I was requesting.

Monday:
- Lunch at some MK quickservice place
- Dinner at Kona Cafe

Tues:
- Breakfast at Chef Mickey's
- Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
- Dinner at Crystal Palace

Wed:
- Lunch at Sci-Fi
- Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe

Thurs:
- Lunch at Tutto Italia
- Dinner at Turf Club (New for us)

Fri:
- Breakfast at Donald's Safari at Tusker House
- Dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe (New for us)

Sat:
- Lunch at Tony's Town Square
- Dinner at Kona Cafe

Sun:
- Breakfast at Kona Cafe (yes, we love Kona)
- Lunch at Crystal Palace

 

[becanya]

Well, we are down to the 60 day mark, and getting incredibly anxious. Actually, here in TN today we got all the hurricane/tropical storm rain...for the past three days actually. For some odd reason, it's felt like Wilderness Lodge all day to me! I think it has something to do with waking up early when the weather is still cool in October to head over to Chef Mickey's for breakfast.

I passed one of my comprehensive exams, so now I am just waiting to hear about the other test. If I pass both it will truly be the great year of celebrations!