Pre-Trip Trip Report IV: A New Hope

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

A high school kid noticed a classmate sitting behind him was wearing an Empire Strikes Back shirt and thought she must be pretty cool.

Neither knew then that nearly 2 decades later they would still be together and that the biggest argument in their relationship would be whether Empire or Jedi is the better movie.

Although they had a mutual love of Star Wars, the cool girl had an additional hobby of going to Disney World that her fellow didn’t participate in.

Until now.

(And by now I mean February.)

More details to follow once I have the time off of work more officially secured.
 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Darstarr said:
8-11😞
Click to expand...

312A0599-A6C7-4C2A-85C1-DF69D7944AB6.gif
 
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Background continued:

Still trying to play it cool I started to ask DH *if* we went, what dates was he thinking and how much did he want to be involved in planning.

Answers:
1) when it isn’t busy but still is bad weather in MI. (So pretty much no time in FL and all the time in MI) 😂
2) light involvement in planning.

Soon after I just happened to find availability at Riverside from Feb 1-6. I booked it- just to have it. 😉

Then I presented my plan.

479360F0-A9C6-4CF9-A41F-0532458645B0.gif


Timing-wise it was closer to the end of his job (and our annual trip to see his parents) than he would have picked himself but then I showed him these crowd predictions:

A567ED9E-EDC2-4EE7-BB74-573AE86D8DA0.png


1E45F7D3-DC54-4C1F-B305-4CA17FF4B2EC.png


And I reminded him that it would be much easier to go between jobs than to get time off from a new job.

I also pointed out that we would be going at the very end of my AP which would mean only he needed park tickets.

I rested my case. DH said it sounded like a good plan. The trip was booked and DH approved. 🥳
 
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Resort business:

Originally I booked a garden view 5th sleeper as it was the only thing showing available. Then I realized that would automatically put us in the Alligator Bayou.

Although I was trying to involve DH as minimally as possible I did share my conundrum. Do I try to change to a different room category to possibly get a Magnolia Bend room?

I explained to DH where we’d be staying and then started to talk up the other section:

BES: Well the other part is nicer and has Southern mansions...

DH: Southern mansions... Do you mean plantations!? 🤔

BES: 🤦🏻‍♀️eeeeeh....no....

(I did reveal to DH later about the resort name change from Dixie Landings.)

DH declared he was ok with whatever. 👍🏻 (good answer travel buddy)

I eventually found a pool view room for only slightly more. I’m hoping the quiet pools won’t be too loud in February.

At some point I found a POP room for a significant difference in price. And....

I stayed strong and kept Riverside.


As much as I like POP I do like Riverside more and I think DH will too. I also don’t foresee DH loving the Skyliner.
 
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Flight stuff:

I found a good price on flights while at work and when I checked after work they were way higher. 😕

Decided to wait a bit and see if they’d go down again. Nope.

In the meantime I saw an early unofficial copy of my work schedule. It showed me as having January 31st off.

4C66E7BC-0176-4B32-A487-8C451694F3E5.gif


The flight prices from Jan 31- feb 6 were much cheaper. Even with an additional night at Riverside it was cheaper.

So I added a night and booked the flights.

All was good until the official work schedule came out.

Guess who was working on January 31st...

3085E56B-F855-45CC-A354-3086D7AEC2E4.gif


Luckily I got that shift picked up really easily. So momentary crisis averted.

My time off is now official. And all parts of the trip are booked. Now I can truly start to get excited.


33 days.
 
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Food stuff:

One exciting part of this trip will be that I finally get to try some TS restaurants.

It seemed silly for the solo trips (although my visit to Tiffins went fine) and my family is not a TS family.

What do I do with my ability to try new places? Suggest an old one. 😂 because it is perfect for DH.

BES: It’s a buffet and...

DH: Yes.

BES: What?

DH: Yes book it. I’m in.

BES: It’s African food and no characters.

DH: Even more in.

We’re doing Boma for dinner. I’ve only been for breakfast before so I’m still excited.

I would have loved to try Jiko or Sanaa but I think the buffet format will be great for DH. He’s not a big eater but he loves the ability to try a little bit of a bunch of stuff.

The only other meal I booked so far was to give DH a break during our MK day.

I read DH descriptions of Whispering Canyon and Skipper Canteen.

No burnt end nachos for me. 😞

Surprisingly it wasn’t the “good eatin’ served with attitude” that turned him off. It was the food choices. 🤷🏻‍♀️

As I read the Skipper Canteen description DH asked if they had fish. Yes. And they describe it as “not piranha” which amused him.

Perhaps will do 1 or 2 more TS but probably will wing them.

Still trying to figure out where to eat in DHS and and perhaps Disney Springs.
 
Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Back!Elbow!Shoulders! said:
Food stuff:

One exciting part of this trip will be that I finally get to try some TS restaurants.

It seemed silly for the solo trips (although my visit to Tiffins went fine) and my family is not a TS family.

What do I do with my ability to try new places? Suggest an old one. 😂 because it is perfect for DH.

BES: It’s a buffet and...

DH: Yes.

BES: What?

DH: Yes book it. I’m in.

BES: It’s African food and no characters.

DH: Even more in.

We’re doing Boma for dinner. I’ve only been for breakfast before so I’m still excited.

I would have loved to try Jiko or Sanaa but I think the buffet format will be great for DH. He’s not a big eater but he loves the ability to try a little bit of a bunch of stuff.

The only other meal I booked so far was to give DH a break during our MK day.

I read DH descriptions of Whispering Canyon and Skipper Canteen.

No burnt end nachos for me. 😞

Surprisingly it wasn’t the “good eatin’ served with attitude” that turned him off. It was the food choices. 🤷🏻‍♀️

As I read the Skipper Canteen description DH asked if they had fish. Yes. And they describe it as “not piranha” which amused him.

Perhaps will do 1 or 2 more TS but probably will wing them.

Still trying to figure out where to eat in DHS and and perhaps Disney Springs.
Click to expand...

We did Boma twice last trip, once for Breakfast and once for dinner. We enjoyed dinner best.
 
Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Back!Elbow!Shoulders!

Premium Member
Original Poster
Ride stuff:

BES: Do you like roller coasters?

DH: Umm. Yeah. I guess so. You know that.

BES:

176B8B89-E831-4D43-AFC5-F5AC2B83EA42.gif


DH and I have only had one theme park day together- ever. On a trip to Nashville I convinced him we should stop by Dollywood. (And by stop by I mean drive several additional hours.)

We rode one coaster together and he chose to sit out the rest of them.

So perhaps by “like” he means “will tolerate a small number of coasters”?🤷🏻‍♀️

I ended up buying DH’s park ticket at 61 days out so I didn’t have a lot of time to strategize FPs.

Focused on getting headliners (just to have them) which include a lot of coasters but we’ll see how DH does.

CEFD64B6-97DB-46F9-A567-9E550527311A.png


Now I’m trying to adjust the timing of the FPs as DH is requesting a midday break and a lot of what I booked was midday.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom