Here goes on my first ever pre-trip report (hopefully followed in a couple of weeks by my first ever trip report)!
The cast for this trip is going to be me (Jess, 33) and my husband, Shawn (37).
Back in August, we took our first family vacation to WDW with our 6 year old son. We spent a week (including my birthday) at All-Star Movies and we absolutely loved every second of it! I had only been once before - and only for a day - and neither of the boys had ever been, so it was really magical for all of us. We had so much fun that we immediately decided we wanted to go back the following summer for another family trip.
A few weeks after we got home, Shawn & I began talking about taking an adults-only vacation for our wedding anniversary, which is on New Year’s Eve. We threw around several ideas, and then I got an email about free dining at WDW that started a week after our anniversary. We were still on our post-Disney high and thought that it could be really fun to have a totally different Disney experience and do all of the things that we weren’t able to do with a child – riding the big coasters together, doing a behind the scenes tour, going to Universal Studios (Shawn has never been; I have been several times, but not since WWoHP came, and I really, really, REALLY want to go!). But I was also feeling really guilty at the thought of going without my son, so I was very torn. Ultimately, we decided that this would probably be the only opportunity we had for many years to take an adults-only trip to the World, and we should enjoy it. Hopefully there are more children in our future, so getting away alone won’t be as easy, and we already have plans to go back as a family in August 2012.
With that settled, I contacted my agent at Pixie Vacations, and before I knew it, we were booked for 8 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter from January 7 - 15. I love New Orleans (went there earlier this year on a girls’ weekend), and we knew we wanted to try a different resort this time. All-Star Movies was perfect for our family trip, but we wanted something a little more romantic for our anniversary. From what I’ve heard, POFQ fits the bill perfectly!
I LOVE trip planning, and I had done a lot of research, read books, made touring plans, etc for our last trip, so I got started right away. Here is our plan:
Saturday, January 7th – our flight will arrive in Orlando around 8:50 am. We’ll be picking up a rental car and heading to the resort. We had pretty much the exact same flight in August, and our room was ready when we arrived then, so we are hoping we get lucky again! Either way, we will be heading to DHS immediately after we check in. This is the last day of the Osborne Lights, and also one of the final days before the Fantasmic! refurb, so we plan to catch both. We didn’t get to see Fantasmic on our last trip, so I really, really want to make sure we see it. We’ll be having lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, which we have never been to, but it looks pretty cool! I’ve made a touring plan for this day, but between the late start and then stopping early for Fantasmic and the Osborne Lights, I’m not sure how many attractions we’ll actually get to do. But since we WILL be coming back another day, I want to mainly just enjoy the atmosphere and not worry too much about rushing around.
Sunday, January 8th – (Start of our free dining plan) - ADR for breakfast at Kona Café at 7:45 (can’t wait to try the Macadamia Pineapple pancakes!). After this, we’ll be heading to Epcot for the morning, and then we have an ADR for lunch at Via Napoli (heard so many great things – CAN’T WAIT!). After lunch, we are going to head over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening to take advantage of EMH. No ADRs for dinner – we plan to try Columbia Harbor House for the first time. I made touring plans for both, and I’m excited to try out the new Optimized feature on the Lines app.
Monday, January 9th – will be spending the day at Islands of Adventure (and seriously geeking out over WWoHP!). Have not made any plans for food in that park yet…
Tuesday, January 10th – spending the day at Universal Studios (still debating if we should buy the park hopper or just plan on spending one full day at each park). We have an ADR for dinner at ‘Ohana at 8:00 p.m., but I am seriously considering canceling this one. Universal closes at 6:00, and it’s a 20 minute drive back to POFQ. I’m not sure we’ll want to go back to get cleaned up and then drive to ANOTHER resort to have dinner. It may just be easier to pick something up on the way back or grab dinner in the resort and relax for the evening.
Wednesday, January 11th – EMH at Animal Kingdom! We really enjoyed this park, and I’m looking forward to having more time to explore all the trails. Lunch will be counter service at Yak & Yeti. Hopefully the crowd levels will so low that we’ll be able to accomplish everything and head out mid-afternoon to get ready for our big evening! Dinner ADR at Raglan Road, then going to see La Nouba!
Thursday, January 12th – Back to MK! This day is pretty open, so we may end up hopping to another park. Dinner ADR at Boma at 7:05.
Friday, January 13th – another big day! Today we are going on the Backstage Magic tour!!! I am SUPER excited about this tour! We had debated on doing this one or Keys to the Kingdom. Obviously, this one sounded way cooler since it covered all of the parks, and we decided that since this was a really special trip that we were going to splurge and go for it. I was positively giddy the day I got my tour confirmation email! The tour is from 9:00 – 3:00, so we are planning to spend the evening at Epcot where we have an ADR for dinner at Coral Reef at 6:45.
Saturday, January 14th – Last day! This day is also pretty open, but as of right now, planning to go back and spend the day at DHS. This will also probably be the most crowded day, due to MLK weekend. For our grand finale, we have an ADR for dinner at California Grill for 7:45.
I am really, really excited about this trip, and everything that we’re going to get to do (although I know I am going to have a lot of moments where I wish my son was with us). To add to the magic, I put a Hidden Mickey book and a Pin Trading starter kit in Shawn’s stocking at Christmas. He was intrigued by pin trading, so I snuck and bought him the starter kit while we were there in August, thinking I’d give it to him before our trip the next year. I also got some Disney surprises under the tree, including several Vinylmations (which I started collecting on our last trip). Our actual anniversary was yesterday, and we had an awesome day. Now, we just have to make it through 6 more days, and we’ll be on our way to what will hopefully be an unforgettable, totally magical week!
The cast for this trip is going to be me (Jess, 33) and my husband, Shawn (37).
Back in August, we took our first family vacation to WDW with our 6 year old son. We spent a week (including my birthday) at All-Star Movies and we absolutely loved every second of it! I had only been once before - and only for a day - and neither of the boys had ever been, so it was really magical for all of us. We had so much fun that we immediately decided we wanted to go back the following summer for another family trip.
A few weeks after we got home, Shawn & I began talking about taking an adults-only vacation for our wedding anniversary, which is on New Year’s Eve. We threw around several ideas, and then I got an email about free dining at WDW that started a week after our anniversary. We were still on our post-Disney high and thought that it could be really fun to have a totally different Disney experience and do all of the things that we weren’t able to do with a child – riding the big coasters together, doing a behind the scenes tour, going to Universal Studios (Shawn has never been; I have been several times, but not since WWoHP came, and I really, really, REALLY want to go!). But I was also feeling really guilty at the thought of going without my son, so I was very torn. Ultimately, we decided that this would probably be the only opportunity we had for many years to take an adults-only trip to the World, and we should enjoy it. Hopefully there are more children in our future, so getting away alone won’t be as easy, and we already have plans to go back as a family in August 2012.
With that settled, I contacted my agent at Pixie Vacations, and before I knew it, we were booked for 8 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter from January 7 - 15. I love New Orleans (went there earlier this year on a girls’ weekend), and we knew we wanted to try a different resort this time. All-Star Movies was perfect for our family trip, but we wanted something a little more romantic for our anniversary. From what I’ve heard, POFQ fits the bill perfectly!
I LOVE trip planning, and I had done a lot of research, read books, made touring plans, etc for our last trip, so I got started right away. Here is our plan:
Saturday, January 7th – our flight will arrive in Orlando around 8:50 am. We’ll be picking up a rental car and heading to the resort. We had pretty much the exact same flight in August, and our room was ready when we arrived then, so we are hoping we get lucky again! Either way, we will be heading to DHS immediately after we check in. This is the last day of the Osborne Lights, and also one of the final days before the Fantasmic! refurb, so we plan to catch both. We didn’t get to see Fantasmic on our last trip, so I really, really want to make sure we see it. We’ll be having lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, which we have never been to, but it looks pretty cool! I’ve made a touring plan for this day, but between the late start and then stopping early for Fantasmic and the Osborne Lights, I’m not sure how many attractions we’ll actually get to do. But since we WILL be coming back another day, I want to mainly just enjoy the atmosphere and not worry too much about rushing around.
Sunday, January 8th – (Start of our free dining plan) - ADR for breakfast at Kona Café at 7:45 (can’t wait to try the Macadamia Pineapple pancakes!). After this, we’ll be heading to Epcot for the morning, and then we have an ADR for lunch at Via Napoli (heard so many great things – CAN’T WAIT!). After lunch, we are going to head over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening to take advantage of EMH. No ADRs for dinner – we plan to try Columbia Harbor House for the first time. I made touring plans for both, and I’m excited to try out the new Optimized feature on the Lines app.
Monday, January 9th – will be spending the day at Islands of Adventure (and seriously geeking out over WWoHP!). Have not made any plans for food in that park yet…
Tuesday, January 10th – spending the day at Universal Studios (still debating if we should buy the park hopper or just plan on spending one full day at each park). We have an ADR for dinner at ‘Ohana at 8:00 p.m., but I am seriously considering canceling this one. Universal closes at 6:00, and it’s a 20 minute drive back to POFQ. I’m not sure we’ll want to go back to get cleaned up and then drive to ANOTHER resort to have dinner. It may just be easier to pick something up on the way back or grab dinner in the resort and relax for the evening.
Wednesday, January 11th – EMH at Animal Kingdom! We really enjoyed this park, and I’m looking forward to having more time to explore all the trails. Lunch will be counter service at Yak & Yeti. Hopefully the crowd levels will so low that we’ll be able to accomplish everything and head out mid-afternoon to get ready for our big evening! Dinner ADR at Raglan Road, then going to see La Nouba!
Thursday, January 12th – Back to MK! This day is pretty open, so we may end up hopping to another park. Dinner ADR at Boma at 7:05.
Friday, January 13th – another big day! Today we are going on the Backstage Magic tour!!! I am SUPER excited about this tour! We had debated on doing this one or Keys to the Kingdom. Obviously, this one sounded way cooler since it covered all of the parks, and we decided that since this was a really special trip that we were going to splurge and go for it. I was positively giddy the day I got my tour confirmation email! The tour is from 9:00 – 3:00, so we are planning to spend the evening at Epcot where we have an ADR for dinner at Coral Reef at 6:45.
Saturday, January 14th – Last day! This day is also pretty open, but as of right now, planning to go back and spend the day at DHS. This will also probably be the most crowded day, due to MLK weekend. For our grand finale, we have an ADR for dinner at California Grill for 7:45.
I am really, really excited about this trip, and everything that we’re going to get to do (although I know I am going to have a lot of moments where I wish my son was with us). To add to the magic, I put a Hidden Mickey book and a Pin Trading starter kit in Shawn’s stocking at Christmas. He was intrigued by pin trading, so I snuck and bought him the starter kit while we were there in August, thinking I’d give it to him before our trip the next year. I also got some Disney surprises under the tree, including several Vinylmations (which I started collecting on our last trip). Our actual anniversary was yesterday, and we had an awesome day. Now, we just have to make it through 6 more days, and we’ll be on our way to what will hopefully be an unforgettable, totally magical week!
My husband and I are planning one for as soon as both of our boys head off to college...only eight more years to go! Maybe we'll sneak one in when they are in high school.