Hello everyone,
I'm new to these forums & I saw a suggestion to hop over to the General Forums & introduce myself & say hi. (Hope I'm in the right place.)
I'm a 36 year old graphic designer from Austin, TX. My darling wife is 30 & also a designer. We met in 2005, were married in 2007 and took our honeymoon on our 1 year anniversary. We debated where to go for our trip and after much effort I wore her down on a Disneyworld Honeymoon. I said "Hun, where else in the world can you ride rollercoasters, go on a safari, eat at world class restaraunts, visit 12 countries and catch a Cirque De Soliel show?" Our first day there she agreed it was a good idea & the trip would be the cornerstone of the family we are planning on building.
We took our first trip together in September of 2008. I consider myself somewhat of a research geek, so when we decided in June to book our trip for September we were only 90 or so days out. I quickly found myself visiting all corners of this site, as well as frequently cruising the Disney Mom's Panel. I found SO much good information, tips & tactics and money savers. I learned about making our ADR's and also discovered the free dining plan for 2008. You have no idea the points I scored with the wife when I told her we got $600 off our total. (She got clothes & I got a new camcorder!) We stayed at Coronado Springs in Casitas 4 & it was awesome. I had researched the resort & dining options there well enough before we went that we enjoyed the Pepper Market and the bus routes a lot. We went to La Nouba, we rode every ride we wanted to & then some, and we even hit up the MNSSHP dressed as Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. (Had lots of people randomly ask to take pictures with us too.) We wrapped up out trip with a romantic dinner at Narcoossee's on our actual anniversary. The trip overall had me kinda gooey inside, as I never thought I'd meet such an awesome lady, much less start a family tradition of being a Disney family.
I got a little sad when we left. In my youth I was in the Navy stationed in Jacksonville and my shipmates and I would take weekend trips to Orlando atleast twice a month or more. We never made a Disney trip without visiting the old school Pleasure Island. I had visited so many times I knew the parks pretty well. When I got out of the Navy & moved back to Texas I was unsure if or when I'd ever get to go back. So after our honeymoon trip I found that visiting the forums & living vicariously through all of you helped with missing WDW so much. So thanks to all of you for sharing your stories, pictures & memories here!
So about 6 months ago the wife & I were talking about that idea we had of making our honeymoon trip the cornerstone of the family we planned on building. That first trip together was just us, as newlyweds. We figured our next trip wouldn't be until we had kids & they were old enough to appreciate the trip. My wife said "You know, I know we said we'd wait, but I am missing Disney & we need a vacation!" to which I immediately agreed. Like fate itself was observing the phone rang & my mom asked what I was up to. I told her we were talking about a Disney trip and my mom got kinda sad. She grew up a Disney kid in the 50's, but had never ever been to the parks in her life. That's when the lighting struck! I put mom on speakerphone & I said "Ok, first trip was just wife & I, and we know we'll go often with the kids once we have them. Why don't we plan another trip, pre-offspring, with the four of us? Me, wife, mom & dad!" The idea was a HUGE hit with both my wife & parents.
So here we are, 57 days out & already SO excited I can't manage to get much done at work. I check the forums and Moms Panel every day. We booked 180 days out this time instead of 90. I already made our ADR's that same morning. Was able to get the Spirit of Aloha our first night there, as well as a reservation for the Lilo & Stitch breakfast at Ohana's, a family dinner at Jiko, the Fantasmic dinner package via Mama Melrose's, a Downtown Disney night with a Cirque show & dinner at Cap'n Jacks, and our anniversary dinner at Narcoossee's again! We booked at POP before free dining 2010 was announced, and we of course added the Deluxe Dining Plan. After they finally announced free dining this year we used the savings to switch back to the Coronado Springs which is our favorite. This trip is going to be great! We're even hoping to go on this trip as a couple & hopefully return as parents to be! I'm hoping for a little girl because our last name means 'white' in Italian, so we looked up the word for 'snow' in Italian and Neve Bianco has such a nice ring to it. And yes, I would totally name my daughter Snow White!
I finally signed up for these forums instead of being the casual reader when I saw the post about September Roll Call & I just couldn't resist. I have learned a lot of tricks & information from you all, seen your photos and shared your memories & felt it was time to share my story & memories to come.
Thank you all, and it's great to be here!
I'm new to these forums & I saw a suggestion to hop over to the General Forums & introduce myself & say hi. (Hope I'm in the right place.)
I'm a 36 year old graphic designer from Austin, TX. My darling wife is 30 & also a designer. We met in 2005, were married in 2007 and took our honeymoon on our 1 year anniversary. We debated where to go for our trip and after much effort I wore her down on a Disneyworld Honeymoon. I said "Hun, where else in the world can you ride rollercoasters, go on a safari, eat at world class restaraunts, visit 12 countries and catch a Cirque De Soliel show?" Our first day there she agreed it was a good idea & the trip would be the cornerstone of the family we are planning on building.
We took our first trip together in September of 2008. I consider myself somewhat of a research geek, so when we decided in June to book our trip for September we were only 90 or so days out. I quickly found myself visiting all corners of this site, as well as frequently cruising the Disney Mom's Panel. I found SO much good information, tips & tactics and money savers. I learned about making our ADR's and also discovered the free dining plan for 2008. You have no idea the points I scored with the wife when I told her we got $600 off our total. (She got clothes & I got a new camcorder!) We stayed at Coronado Springs in Casitas 4 & it was awesome. I had researched the resort & dining options there well enough before we went that we enjoyed the Pepper Market and the bus routes a lot. We went to La Nouba, we rode every ride we wanted to & then some, and we even hit up the MNSSHP dressed as Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. (Had lots of people randomly ask to take pictures with us too.) We wrapped up out trip with a romantic dinner at Narcoossee's on our actual anniversary. The trip overall had me kinda gooey inside, as I never thought I'd meet such an awesome lady, much less start a family tradition of being a Disney family.
I got a little sad when we left. In my youth I was in the Navy stationed in Jacksonville and my shipmates and I would take weekend trips to Orlando atleast twice a month or more. We never made a Disney trip without visiting the old school Pleasure Island. I had visited so many times I knew the parks pretty well. When I got out of the Navy & moved back to Texas I was unsure if or when I'd ever get to go back. So after our honeymoon trip I found that visiting the forums & living vicariously through all of you helped with missing WDW so much. So thanks to all of you for sharing your stories, pictures & memories here!
So about 6 months ago the wife & I were talking about that idea we had of making our honeymoon trip the cornerstone of the family we planned on building. That first trip together was just us, as newlyweds. We figured our next trip wouldn't be until we had kids & they were old enough to appreciate the trip. My wife said "You know, I know we said we'd wait, but I am missing Disney & we need a vacation!" to which I immediately agreed. Like fate itself was observing the phone rang & my mom asked what I was up to. I told her we were talking about a Disney trip and my mom got kinda sad. She grew up a Disney kid in the 50's, but had never ever been to the parks in her life. That's when the lighting struck! I put mom on speakerphone & I said "Ok, first trip was just wife & I, and we know we'll go often with the kids once we have them. Why don't we plan another trip, pre-offspring, with the four of us? Me, wife, mom & dad!" The idea was a HUGE hit with both my wife & parents.
So here we are, 57 days out & already SO excited I can't manage to get much done at work. I check the forums and Moms Panel every day. We booked 180 days out this time instead of 90. I already made our ADR's that same morning. Was able to get the Spirit of Aloha our first night there, as well as a reservation for the Lilo & Stitch breakfast at Ohana's, a family dinner at Jiko, the Fantasmic dinner package via Mama Melrose's, a Downtown Disney night with a Cirque show & dinner at Cap'n Jacks, and our anniversary dinner at Narcoossee's again! We booked at POP before free dining 2010 was announced, and we of course added the Deluxe Dining Plan. After they finally announced free dining this year we used the savings to switch back to the Coronado Springs which is our favorite. This trip is going to be great! We're even hoping to go on this trip as a couple & hopefully return as parents to be! I'm hoping for a little girl because our last name means 'white' in Italian, so we looked up the word for 'snow' in Italian and Neve Bianco has such a nice ring to it. And yes, I would totally name my daughter Snow White!
I finally signed up for these forums instead of being the casual reader when I saw the post about September Roll Call & I just couldn't resist. I have learned a lot of tricks & information from you all, seen your photos and shared your memories & felt it was time to share my story & memories to come.
Thank you all, and it's great to be here!
