Pre-Trip Report September 3-10

Today is my 105 day mark, and this week have hit that next level of WDW fever! 105 days seems SOOOOO long, but it seems like just yesterday that we were up at 5am getting out CRT breakfast ADRs! So that makes me feel a little better! Everything is booked (except out tickets) and mostly paid for (except tickets and DDP so probably half paid for) and all plans have been "concreted" in...because we all know Disney touring plans are never exactly concrete. I thought I would share my tentative itinerary with everyone that I came up with the other day.

Day 1: Traveling day
2:30pm: Depart home for St. Louis, MO
4:30ish: Arrive at airport, do the airport thing, and wait impatiently for flight
7:00ish: Depart on way to Orlando
1030ish: Arrive in Orlando, go to DME to make our way to Pop Century
????ish: Check into Pop, hopefully make it in time to grab some tiedye cheesecake, and get to bed

Day 2: Official vacation start!
7:00am: Get up, eat some Pop waffles, and get bags transferred to AKV Jambo House
9:00ish: Get to AKV via whichever bus we happen to hop on and transfer at a park, check in, get KTTW card, etc.
This is where things get a little iffy...I'm definately not counting on our room being ready, so the plan is to hop a bus to Epcot to spend the afternoon. There are 2 variations to this plan: 1) our room may be ready, and of course we will have to check it out, as we have a savanna view. 2) we always plan on going to DTD or another park on the first day, but are usually so overcome with Disney magic, we end up at the Magic Kingdom lol.
Either way, we will eventually hit a park, grab a CS lunch (Yorkshire if EP, Cosmic Rays if MK) and spend the afternoon there until around
430ish: Head back to our home, get ready for dinner
5:40pm: ADR at Jiko
After dinner, we will head to the MK more than likely and spend the reast of the evening there.

 

[meganw1985]

Day 3
7:00am: Yes, we like early rising on Disney vaca.
8:00am: Head to DHS for opening at 9, spend the morning there
12:00pm: Head back to AKL, eat lunch at Mara, take a nap/swim break
5:00pm: Go to MK for the evening/dinner
6:25pm: Liberty Tree Tavern ADR
Spend rest of evening at MK, open til 1am tonight. We won't be staying out that late however, as we have a super early morning the next day.

Day 4
7:30am: Be at the gate of AK to check in for our...
8:05am: ADR at Tusker House for Donald's Safari Breakfast!
Spend rest of morning at AK, will definately hit the Safari first!
12:00pm: Back to resort to swim/nap/etc.
4:00ish: Bus to DHS for
6:30pm: ADRs at Sci-Fi Dine In (my DS fav and always special request!)
Spend rest of evening around DHS, definately riding Star Tours over and over again, as it will be closing in 2 days!

Day 5
5:30am: Drag my tired bones out of bed, fight with rest of travel party about how they want to sleep, and eventually get ready and out the door for....
7:30am: ADRs at Chef Mickey's. The early morning will be well worth it once again!
Once again, I am planning on us hitting Epcot this morning, but being at the Contemporary will make us yearn for the MK, so who knows. The theme of this trip will be however, to do what we want and only stick to schedules for ADR purposes.
12:00pm: Back to AKL to swim/nap/etc.
6:00pm: Start out journey to Seven Seas Lagoon for...
7:35pm: ADRs at Ohana! Yummy!
We will then spend the evening at DTD, as we did not make it last trip, and we want to hit up the Christmas store, Kitchen store, Art of Disney, and of course shopping at World of Disney! We'll head back to the resort whenever we're satisfied with our shopping (or broke) and go to bed.

Day 6
Whatever time we wake up: Head to EP
Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
1:15pm: Take the monorail to MK
2:30pm: Pirates League!!!
We then plan on heading to AK for the evening, as they are open until 8. We will be leaving around 7:15ish to get back to AKL
8:05pm: ADR at Boma
Plan to spend the rest of the evening at the resort, swimming, exploring, etc and get some rest since no nap will be taken during the day.

Day 7: Last full day in the World
6:00am: Once again, get up SUPER early to get to MK on time
8:05am: ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table! YAY!
Spend am at the MK
12:00pm: Head back to AKL for swim/nap
3:30pm: Start journey to EP for
5:00pm: ADR at Le Cellier! Yum again!
Spend evening touring Epcot, stake out a good viewing spot for Illuminations.
Get back to AKL to get to bed.

Day 8: Departure day
7:00am: Get up, get luggage together, check bags at airline check in, check carryons with bell staff
Head to MK for last morning of Disney fun! Lunch will probably be at Cosmic Ray's, as it is the best CS location in the whole entire universe.
1:30ish: Get back to AKL to get carryon bags and catch DME to airport
5:30ish: Flight departs for St. Louis, sadness sets in, etc.

We will hopefully return home sometime around 9:00pm on that last night. Just thinking about coming home from Disney makes me sad
Anyway, that's the plan, and I'm sticking to it! :ROFLOL:

 

[dixiegirl]

Yeah believe me I understand!! We leave for Disney on Sept 15th...Long time away!!!

Yeah gotta hand it to ya ...All those ADR's...Yeah thats way to much planning to me (makes my head spin looking at it LOL)....But thats just me , we did that one year...Once was plenty! But to each is own! But yes it does seem sooo far away....We try not to rush the summer, but really can't wait to go back to our Laughing place!

 

[disneygirl1]

Sounds like you have a great itinerary!! You think you have a long time to go... We don't check into AKL till December 3rd!!! So far away!!! but I have to say I do feel like time has been flying thou! :xmas:

 

[meganw1985]

Yeah believe me I understand!! We leave for Disney on Sept 15th...Long time away!!!

Yeah gotta hand it to ya ...All those ADR's...Yeah thats way to much planning to me (makes my head spin looking at it LOL)....But thats just me , we did that one year...Once was plenty! But to each is own! But yes it does seem sooo far away....We try not to rush the summer, but really can't wait to go back to our Laughing place!

100 days as of today! Tomorrow goes into double digits! :sohappy: All the ADRs aren't too hard to keep track of. I'm a trip planning nut so I have an itinerary binder put together for both of us with everything from confirmation numbers to packing lists to touring plans! So we get in everything we want when we go to Disney!

Sounds like you have a great itinerary!! You think you have a long time to go... We don't check into AKL till December 3rd!!! So far away!!! but I have to say I do feel like time has been flying thou! :xmas:

I don't know about you, but I am SO super excited to be staying at the AKL! I look at pictures of it almost everyday and am so happy to say it's going to be my home for 6 nights! I was sitting at work today daydreaming Disney, and pictured us walking around the World Showcase in the evening with the perfect breeze blowing off the lake..... and then I woke up and remembered it's still May and I have 3 months left It's getting me more and more excited!!!

 

[dixiegirl]

Ah yeah...God I love those double digits..Only thing better is the single digit dance!!!!!:ROFLOL:

 

[meganw1985]

SO, after a look at all the new Harry Potter stuff, we have pretty much decided to spend part of a day at IOA just to check it all out! I know, I know, beat me if you have to, but as 3 HUGE Harry Potter fans (and not knowing for sure when our next Orlando trip will be) we have to do it! I have never been to Universal. So I need a little help. I am already assuming this will be something we will need to be there at opening for, and that's fine. We are planning on doing this our first morning there. So how is the best way to get to Universal from Disney property if you don't have a car? Cab is an obvious choice, but how much will it cost? I thought I read something about shuttle buses once in the Unofficial Guide? I dunno. But I need some input please!

 

[meganw1985]

After spending Saturday researching transportation options from Disney preoperty to Universal, it was going to be WAY too expensive to stomach (I mean $90+ for roundtrip SHUTTLE BUS?!) No way. I can think of a lot better things to spend my money on in Disney. We just had to see Harry Potter though, so rental car, was only $45 if we rent on Friday night, return on Saturday evening. For a fullsize! (Economy was $30, but no way could we fit 3 people and luggage for an 8 day trip). We then decided that since we wouldn't be using DME that first night, that it would be crazy to drive from the airport to Pop Century to stay one night, then have to drive back into Orlando to Universal, then drive BACK to Disney to the Animal Kingdom. So we are cancelling our Pop reservations ( I know) and I got us reservations at the Crowne Plaza Universal Studios (it LOOKS like it's right across the street from IOA) off of Hotwire for $79. Cheaper than our 30% off of Pop. Which leaves us with a new plan. We pick up rental car at the airport on Friday night, drive to the Crowne Plaza to stay the night, ride their complimentary shuttle to IOA on Saturday morning, spend until about 2:00ish there, drive from the Crowne Plaza to Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in there and drop off luggage, drop off the car at the Dolphin (already pre-arranged to do it this way) by 4:00, and then begin our Disney part of the trip! It is really not going to cost us much more, besides the IOA tickets, which aren't too bad for a 1 day 1 park (around $70-$80). Since we are spending a little extra $$ however, we sacrificed our dinner at Jiko on Saturday night (another I know) since we were going to pay for it OOP. We will be having dinner at Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club though, and using the DDP credits for it. (My son will be thrilled. He LOVES seafood, especially mussels!) We figured it would be easier too, since we would be at the Dolphin dropping off the car, we can just wander over to the Beach Club by 5:00 for our ADR. Probably will zip off to the MK as soon as we're done to get a Space Mountain fix . Maybe we're done with vacation moderating now....

 

[Ariel484]

Enjoy Harry! My husband and I are planning an IOA day at the beginning of our June 2011 trip...and I am SO excited! Enjoy! :wave:

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

your trip itineray looks great! your style of trip itineraries looks very similar to the way i creat my itineraries! nice work! very jealous you are going to see the new harry potter world at ioa! it looks like it is going to be amazing! i am not a big universal fan but i would go just to see the new harry potter stuff!! hoping to go one day in 2011 after the initial excitement dies down...hopefully :lol: looks like you have a wonderful trip planned! i will be there sept.8-12. maybe we will run into eachother!

 

[meganw1985]

Enjoy Harry! My husband and I are planning an IOA day at the beginning of our June 2011 trip...and I am SO excited! Enjoy! :wave:

That was our original plan to do IOA next June for a graduation trip for my sister. However I am keeping my fingers crossed that I may be going on a honeymoon instead

your trip itineray looks great! your style of trip itineraries looks very similar to the way i creat my itineraries! nice work! very jealous you are going to see the new harry potter world at ioa! it looks like it is going to be amazing! i am not a big universal fan but i would go just to see the new harry potter stuff!! hoping to go one day in 2011 after the initial excitement dies down...hopefully :lol: looks like you have a wonderful trip planned! i will be there sept.8-12. maybe we will run into eachother!

It does look COMPLETELY amazing! I kind of feel like I'm cheating on Disney (I couldn't even tell the lady today why I was cancelling my Pop reservations!) But after seeing the video we HAD to! Yeah Maybe we'll run into each other! Or we'll post trip reports when we get home and be in each other's backgrounds! :lol: I keep waiting for that to happen someday...

 

[meganw1985]

So we're under 50 days until we get to go back "home"! My son still doesn't know about the trip yet, and I'm surprised I've been able to keep it a secret this long! His birthday party is 3 weeks from yesterday, so not much more time to wait. I've just about got his "book" done for the gift (binder I've made similar to the one's I make for Steph and I every trip with all our plans/itineraries/travel documents in them) except more kid-friendly with tabs such as "where are we staying?" and "what are we doing?" and "where are we eating?" with lots of pictures and basic itinerary. The front is super cute, with a picture of Minnie, Mickey, and Donald with a birthday cake and Mickey with a birthday hat on it and says "Happy Birthday Brett" on the top and "Walt Disney World September 3-10" on the bottom. I'll have to take a picture of it.

Anyway, I've been really busy this summer, with little league, a wedding in Florida that I traveled solo to, and all the other parties that go along with a wedding and what not. So I really haven't had a chance to get excited until now! Just watched an on ride video of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and it looks terrifying. I should have just got on it naively I've decided because now I may not be able to force myself on it....

20 days until the BIG REVEAL and 27 more until the trip! Soon I will be "home" again and all will be well with the "World"

 

[blackthidot]

That is awesome about that book you made! We will be there with you guys!!!

 

[meganw1985]

That is awesome about that book you made! We will be there with you guys!!!

Yeah I can't wait to give him the book! It's very amateur (just made on Printmaster and Word) but I think he'll like having his own vacation book!

Hey! Maybe we'll see you there! We'll be the crazy 20-something year old girls toting around an 8 year old blond boy probably wearing matching Disney shirts and ears hats acting like we're also 8! :lol: I feel like I'm in Neverland at Disney...

 

[meganw1985]

So my entry today is in regards to a family "trip" we took yesterday. Six Flags St. Louis is only about 2 hours from here, and my son had gotten a free ticket at school for reading this year. So he, myself, and my boyfriend packed up our truck, and my mom, dad, sister, and her boyfriend loaded up the Santa Fe and we went. Drive was not bad, seemed abnormally long for only a two hour drive, but whatever. No Biggie. If you're wondering where this is going, here it goes:

We drive up to the gate. $15 to park. Ok. That's crazy but not unreasonable for an amusement park (except Holiday World which is close to us = free). I'm used to whizzing by the gates on a Disney bus so maybe I'm spoiled.

We get in line, pay, and park in "Bugs Bunny 16" (which=the back 40) literally only 20ish minutes after park opening. We start walking towards the front, and see hundreds of people in line. My sister starts cursing me for not buying the tickets ahead of time so we can skip the line, but we had coupons to buy @ the gate so I wasn't doing that. As we get closer, we see it is the metal detectors. Well ok, that's fine. I don't want to get shot in Six Flags. So I oblige, hand the lady my bag, and walk through. It is at that point we realize how well the metal detectors work, as my sister's bf realized he had his pocket knife, and he got through just fine. Wasn't too reassuring, but at least we're in and can buy our tickets!

Psyche! We waited in ANOTHER line to have our bags searched! I thought the metal detector lady did that while we were there?! So at this point I'm starting to get frustrated. I could have gotten a fastpass, ridden one ride, and be in line for another one already at Disney. Which I made sure I pointed out to everyone. We get our bags searched, and then make our way to the ticket counters, where, you guessed it, ANOTHER line. This one wasn't AS bad. With our coupons, two one day tickets were $65, so not so bad.

We get in, and they are doing "character greetings" with Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, and Daffy, at which I had to laugh and move on. They even had Six Flags photographers that gave you a wrist band and scanned it everytime they took your picture in the park, and even did the "ok, put your hands on top of each other's and pretend you're holding something." I don't know what they photoshopped in there, but we skipped the photographs :lol:

Made our way to the water park, where we got a locker, or rather, locker(S), at $18 a piece. You scan your wristband, and your locker pops open. Ours wouldnt open once. That stunk. Also, rental tubes were $12 apiece for the day. I was like "NO WAY am I renting tubes at the water park when they have them at the slides for nothing." More on that later.

We made our way back into the park, where us "big kids" rode Mr. Freeze, which was awesome, for only about 10 minute wait. Way more intense than any Disney coaster, but then again, my son wasn't even tall enough to ride it, whereas he's now tall enough for everything at Disney. We also rode Batman, which had a 75 min wait time posted but I told them no way that line doesn't look that long, and it was just over 30. So not bad. They have video moniters mounted in the line with their Six Flags version of Disney's Stacy. Which, once again, made me laugh and shake my head. Batman was also waaaaaay awesome. Things were starting to look up!

On our way to meet up with my parents again, it was then I realized why the wait times posted were so off. Their version of fastpass is "flash pass" and they want you to BUY it! $28.99 per person for the basic, all the way up to $300 for the platinum for a party of six! I once again mentioned that if we were in Disney, we would be getting a fastpass for free, at which I got a dirty look from my bf, as he is always tired of my Disney talk. But take it easy on him, he has NEVER been.

Turkey legs $7.50 each, which my sister and I shared. Mom bought us refillable sports cups to share, which were $13 each, and free refills only that day, with a special armband. And there were always huge lines.

We made our way back to the water park, and then we realized why people were renting the tubes. If you have a rental tube, you get to go get in line for the ride, which is short. If you want a free tube, you have to wait in line for that (which was of course looooong) and then get on the ride! Bogus! I still didn't rent a tube. I stood in line like a good girl, since I'm saving money for a better trip! :ROFLOL:

Spent the afternoon in the water park, which was fun, except you really realize how rude people are more in a water park than the regular park. Without getting politically incorrect, let me just say, rude, and the "get out of my way, the world owes me something" attitude. Very apparent in the wave pool, where my bf was holding my son and got mauled and practically sat on and held under. Anyways, We left around 5, waited in line to change, and for the bathroom, and went back to the regular park, where it was fairly empty so got in several rides until 8:30 and left.

Theme was: $$$ for lots of things I am used to getting for free at Disney. Food is JUST as expensive, and lines were insane and not handled well. You had to pay extra for EVERY perk, and it made me cringe. If you were to pay for everything for a whole week, plus stay at their adjacent hotel, it would probably be almost double a Disney trip (minus the transportation). Don't get me wrong, we did have a fun time, but it seems it could have been so much better! I was told I'm spoiled because "not everyone can afford to go to Disney three times a year" which I don't go THAT much, but maybe I am spoiled. But at least I'm spoiled to something FAR superior to what I experienced yesterday.

 

[meganw1985]

I know people are probably getting sick of the updates to this, but yesterday was a big day! It was the big birthday party with the big birthday present of the big birthday trip to Disney! I wrapped it so cute, red bottom, yellow top, BIG black bow, looked so Disney! He got lots of money from the family, and even 2 Disney gift cards! (I told him later he's on his own for souvenirs this time :sohappy. He didn't find it strange at all he was getting these Disney cards, or that his big present looked just like Mickey Mouse. He finally gets to it last, and in the top I had put all vacation related stuff: a digital camera with case, a waterproof camera, a card game, travel Connect Four, Toy Story 3 coloring stuff, new swim goggles, and the "I'm Going To Walt Disney World!" t shirt. He still didn't get it. My mom had made two big "tickets" (one for IOA that said September 4, 2010 and one for Disney that said September 4-10, 2010) with "Admit: Brett" on them and pictures on them, and he looked at them and then looks at me with this shocked look on his face after a minute and says "HEY! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING ON A CRUISE MOMMY!" and the excitement started. He got to the book, and just looked all through it, and I said "now do you know how far away that is?" He said no. And I said "less than four weeks away" at which he could not contain himself any longer and his eyes got huge and said "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" :lol: So the surprise was a success! And I'm thrilled that I got it all on video! It was great!

We started talking about the trip today, read all through the book about what all we're doing and where we're eating, and made a change of plans. He wanted to eat at "that place that spins around in a circle with Chip and Dale" instead of the Liberty Tree Tavern, so the ADR was changed accordingly. I was surprised there was still an ADR 26 days out, but there was. We're so super excited, and I'm so glad I can finally have him to be excited with me! It was so hard to keep my mouth shut for the past 8 months, but it was well worth it!!!

 

[HollyBelle]

Congrats on pulling off the surprise! That is so cool... I can't wait to have kids one day just so I can surprise them with Disney trips. :lol: Have fun!