The Late-Start, First-Time, Probably-Boring PTR

Hola all!

So I've made the last minute decision to do a quick PTR as I decided earlier today I'm going to tackle a full TR once I return from my trip in June. Plus we'll all be able to get acquainted before the trip so that perhaps I won't be a complete stranger by the time June rolls around when my TR goes up! :)

So, for beginners I'll introduce myself, Heather:
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I've just finished my second year of university, I live in good ol' Canada (just outside of Toronto), and I am a stylist at a high-end womens boutique. And another tidbit... I'm a DVC member! Yahoo!

Now for the good stuff....
The upcoming vacation: May 23-25 2013, OKW
May 25-June 1 2013, Disney Fantasy sailing the Western Caribbean!

Looking forward to updating you all on plans and ideas for our 10 days of magic:)
 
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heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So.
The Story:
Our vacation started off as just a figment of our imaginations back in 2012. We started talking about it last spring, tossing around the idea of heading back to WDW for a week. Unfortunately, Chris was doing a school co-op all summer long and couldn't afford the time off. We were totally bummed but then I got thinking... If the DVC points aren't gonna be used this summer, next summer, we're going all-out on vacation! (My dad didn't want to use the points! Score for me!)
If you read my tidbits about either of us, you'll know I'm a Disney fanatic, and my boyfriend hadn't been until he met me. His family is alllllll about cruising with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Well, once I figured we'd have enough points to cruise, I knew I just had to take him on DCL and show him exactly what they have to offer that makes them the best. By May 2012, I had sold Chris on the cruise and after much date-debate we settled on sailing out of Port Canaveral on May 25th 2013 for an 8-day cruise of the Western Caribbean in a standard inside stateroom. We were both so excited until I realized... WE HAD OVER A YEAR TO WAIT! :eek:
Luckily, I came up with another ingenious idea in August of 2012... Talk about New Fantasyland had been running rampant and I couldn't stand the idea of going more than a couple years without being in the parks (I need the parks like I blood in my veins! Lol!) so I put on my best "please-honey?" face and ventured off to convince Chris we were lacking a couple much-needed park days before our cruise. Luckily, he's a smart guy and knows when to say yes! So voila, I rang up the good old fellas at DVC and booked 2 days in a One Bedroom Villa at Old Key West, arriving May 23rd, and checking out on the morning of May 25th.

This will have been my first-ever Disney vacation where I've done the parks and cruise in one trip, AND my first time vacationing for over 8 days! Needless to say the wait has been FAR too long but now we're looking at about 39 more days to wait and I could not be more excited!

Next up.... Reservations, room upgrades, and more!
 
sweetpee_1993

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Yay! I can't wait either! I love reading your planning. It's so cool knowing we'll be on the same voyage. I can't wait to get home and follow your report, too. It'll be so neat to see the contrasts in the experience from someone on the same ship at the same time visiting the same ports of call. Ya know?

Word of warning, trip reporting is time consuming! It takes a little time during the trip to snap all the pics you know you'll need to tell the story. Usually a few days in I have my guys trained to not attack their plates before I get a picture. They will roll their eyes at this for the duration, tho. :P Then there's notes. I jot down notes continually because I'll never remember what's what. It takes a few minutes here and there to do. Anytime I'm waiting for something like food to arrive at a restaurant, show to start in a theater, etc. I'll whip my little notebook out of my bag. Then, oftentimes right before I go to sleep I'll polish off my notes for that day. When I wake the next morning I try to note the times the boys came in from their nighttime adventures. When I get home there's photo editing, uploading, then I begin writing. The writing is the big time eater. I'd say everything together for a 10 day trip would run me somewhere between 25 to 35 hours total. ;)

Oh! Just thought of something to add to your recommendations thread on the cruise board! Off I go!

Can't wait to hear more!
 
heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
sweetpee_1993 said:
Yay! I can't wait either! I love reading your planning. It's so cool knowing we'll be on the same voyage. I can't wait to get home and follow your report, too. It'll be so neat to see the contrasts in the experience from someone on the same ship at the same time visiting the same ports of call. Ya know?

Word of warning, trip reporting is time consuming! It takes a little time during the trip to snap all the pics you know you'll need to tell the story. Usually a few days in I have my guys trained to not attack their plates before I get a picture. They will roll their eyes at this for the duration, tho. :p Then there's notes. I jot down notes continually because I'll never remember what's what. It takes a few minutes here and there to do. Anytime I'm waiting for something like food to arrive at a restaurant, show to start in a theater, etc. I'll whip my little notebook out of my bag. Then, oftentimes right before I go to sleep I'll polish off my notes for that day. When I wake the next morning I try to note the times the boys came in from their nighttime adventures. When I get home there's photo editing, uploading, then I begin writing. The writing is the big time eater. I'd say everything together for a 10 day trip would run me somewhere between 25 to 35 hours total. ;)

Oh! Just thought of something to add to your recommendations thread on the cruise board! Off I go!

Can't wait to hear more!
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Yay! I'll be reading your TR when you return, too :) It'll definitely be interesting to compare our experiences!

I can tell from reading others (including yours) that trip reporting is a big undertaking. Luckily... I'm a good writer (journalism major!) and, I'm also on summer holidays and have 2-3 days off of work per week. I think this will leave me lots of time to sit on my deck in the sun and write when I return :) As for notebooks, I've already invested in one and I tend to take one too many pics on vacation anyways! (The taking pics of food is gonna take some getting used to, though! Lol)
 
heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok... Now for:
Reservations, room upgrades, and more.

Reservations:
  • By the time August had rolled around and I had added the two days of OKW onto the beginning of our vacation, the promos for New Fantasyland were getting a little nuts. When on the phone with the DVC rep, I happened to inquire about when the first possible date I could make BOG reservations was. The rep, Juan, gave me an exact date and time in November that booking opened for me, and you can bet your bottom dollar I was at my computer waiting for the seconds to tick down so I could make a dinner reso ASAP! On Friday the 24th, we'll be dining at BOG at 6pm :)
  • Later on, I'd say sometime in early 2013, I became more active on these boards and I believe the very first TR was by @sweetpee_1993. We got to chatting and I inquired as to whether making a reso at Palo was reeeaallly worth it. After some encouragement, I decided, what the hey if its half as good as everyone says it is I'll probably be happy, so I went ahead on the DCL Planning Center to book dinner at Palo's. On Day 6 of our cruise, Thurs. May 30th, we'll be dining at Palo's at 6:30pm!
  • Does anybody care to hear enough about flights? I'll give the long-short... We booked the best (and cheapest) flights we could find out of Buffalo, as the closest airport Pearson charges far too much for round trip to MCO. I love Buffalo International so I'm happy with where we're flying out of. We fly out around 7am on the 23 which is great because we'll have a full day to enjoy our first day in Orlando. We return home from MCO around 7pm the day of the cruise because it's the least-risky flight time we could find!
Room Upgrades:
  • Blame @sweetpee_1993 for this one too.. While reading one of her TR's I ended up drooling over the view from the verandah... and after some debate decided: I needs to gets me a verandah ASAP. Called Disney 20 minutes later (praying that they still had one available for me!) and within 5 minutes I had secured for us a lovely room with a verandah. It'll be my first time sailing in a room with a verandah and from what I've heard, I'll never go back to an inside stateroom!
  • During that same call, I contacted my home resort at OKW and asked that our room be as near to hospitality house as possible. I know some people don't like this... Especially at OKW where many prefer to be secluded in their own area. I however, like to be as close to the food, pool, gift shop, and main bus stop as possible. I don't find it excessively noisy or disturbing and I much prefer having everything accessible and very close to me, even if I'll only be there for a couple days. I have no room view preference as I spend 0% of my vacation time relaxing (if I'm in WDW, it's go-go-go!) so as long as I'm near hospitality house, I'm happy!
Next up... Day by Day schedule, Ports of Call, and our cruise mantra (yes you read that right)...
 
tiaragirl

tiaragirl

Well-Known Member
Heather, I'm so excited to hear your story! It's so much fun to travel without the 'rents (good on Dad for letting you have the points!) and glad the boyfriend is in tow!

I'm from NS, so it's nice to hear from some more Canadians. Where are you going to school/what's your degree in? Yay for the boy and his useful degree and continued education. It's a pain sometimes, and expensive, but worth it (coming from the girl with the BA and almost complete BEd, and hopefully Masters after).

PALO IS SO WORTH IT. Souffle is so worth it. Talking to Kelly (@sweetpee_1993) is so worth it. You're doing all the right things ;)

Looking forward to the updates! Love your tiara.
XOXO Kenzie
 
heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
tiaragirl said:
Heather, I'm so excited to hear your story! It's so much fun to travel without the 'rents (good on Dad for letting you have the points!) and glad the boyfriend is in tow!

I'm from NS, so it's nice to hear from some more Canadians. Where are you going to school/what's your degree in? Yay for the boy and his useful degree and continued education. It's a pain sometimes, and expensive, but worth it (coming from the girl with the BA and almost complete BEd, and hopefully Masters after).

PALO IS SO WORTH IT. Souffle is so worth it. Talking to Kelly (@sweetpee_1993) is so worth it. You're doing all the right things ;)

Looking forward to the updates! Love your tiara.
XOXO Kenzie
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Yay! I've been vacationing by myself since an age younger than I'm sure most teens were allowed (thanks in part to my parents amazing trust and also due to the fact that I was very responsible and only ever traveled without them to WDW). My dad is a champ with the points and the past couple years I don't think he's desired to go as often, so he's let my brother and I share them! Yippee!
NS, eh? That's awesome. Never been but I've heard great things! I go to the University of Guelph and my major is Journalism but I also take other more broad media courses. My boyfriend is a hard worker and has been so successful in school.. I'm very proud of him! :) It's super expensive but TOTALLY worth it in the end! Congrats on your hard work in school!

After reading a few more TR's and seeing some food pics, I concur that Palo is a GREAT call! Kelly is also awesome and as sweet as her name implies ;) Thanks for the tiara compliment.. Ariel is my fave princess but he sea shells on my head just don't cut it for me! Lol!!!

Glad you'll be reading along!:)
 
heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Neexxxt! Day by Day schedule, Ports of Call, and our cruise mantra

Day by Day Schedule
This might be boring, but for those of you who are interested:
Day 1, May 23:
  • Drive to Buffalo, fly out to MCO!
  • Approx. 1pm: Magical Express to OKW!
  • Use our handy carry-ons full of swim gear to hop in the pool
  • Either Olivia's and then DTD for shopping, or DTD for dinner and shopping
  • Bed by 10 or 11... Tomorrow is gonna be a full force park day!
Day 2, May 24
  • Hop on an MK bus by 9:30am!
  • Do the faves: Peter Pan, the three 'Mountains,' Haunted Mansion, and of course the new Little Mermaid attraction!
  • 6pm dinner reservations at Be Our Guest (determined to get the grey stuff.... We're celebrating our anniversary!)
  • Wishes and an ornament stop at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe
  • Shed a tear and say goodbye to the parks after a day thats gone by too quickly!
Day 3, May 25
  • EMBARKATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Ship exploration, happy tears, happy dance, and so on and so forth....
Day 4, May 26
  • Whatever our hearts desire
Day 5, May 27
  • Grand Cayman
  • Whatever our hearts desire
Day 6, May 28
  • Costa Maya
  • Whatever our hearts desire
Day 7, May 29
  • Cozumel
  • SENOR FROGS!!!!!!!!
Day 8, May 30
  • 6:30pm dinner at Palo
Day 9, May 31
  • Castaway Cay
  • Snorkeling
Day 10, June 1
  • This day will not happen and I will most certainly NOT go home

Now.. You may have noticed something funny from reading my above section that has to do with my next section, that is...
Ports Of Call:
Here's the deal. I'm a planner. I'll plan anything and everything you give me the tools to. My boyfriend however, (like most men) is reeeeeelaxed to the max! He's a day by day guy and he likes to do what his heart desires, not what his agenda says he should. I've not done much planning except for a couple reservations, and he still thinks it's getting close to overkill. We checked out some of the excursions, but I didn't want to overwhelm him. I decided it would be best for us to see where the days take us and if anything, enjoy our time together on a beach somewhere in paradise. We're in our early twenties and have many more of these trips ahead of us... So for now, we're taking it slow and I'm putting my planner away (sorta!). I have heard that snorkeling in Castaway Cay is excellent though, so we will 100% be sure to do that. Otherwise, we aren't booking any other excursions!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, leads me to:
Our Cruise Mantra
Which if you can't tell by the above tangent, is... To go with the flow. Yes, planner of the year here is taking a chill pill and doing things on a whim. And in all honesty... I'm kind of excited about it!
 
heatherkatheleen

heatherkatheleen

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A little update for you all.....
This happened today!!!!

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My Instagram from this afternoon, caption: "You know your vacation is SUPER close when you receive your transpiration tickets & luggage transfer tags in the mail! #Eek #Excited"

Ps- if any of you have Instagram, feel free to follow me @heatherkatheleenknox :)
 

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