Here's to starting a trip report earlier as further motivation to finish it! (Because I hate unfinished trip reports just as much as you do!) I've also posted a very similar report on my blog, but that one has a little more focus on the Disney College Program, so I'm committed to finishing it now-- I can't tarnish my reputation on my own blog and over here, haha.
The cast:
Me (Brittany) and my fiance, Chaz, (with guest appearances by our friends from the college program who still work at WDW)
About Us:
We've both always been huge Disney fans, but our addiction has grown even more since doing the Disney College Program. We both applied for the fall 2014 program, but only I was accepted, so we were long distance last fall (I was in Orlando and he was in Boston.) We got engaged in Epcot behind Spaceship Earth while he was visiting me last year, and he applied for the spring college program that same week.
The week after his visit, we learned that I was accepted to extend my program into the spring, and the week after that, we found out that he was accepted for the same program! I did my first program in merchandise in Dinoland USA, and my second program in attractions at Lights, Motors, Action! Chaz was accepted for custodial, and was placed in his favorite location-- Main Street USA.
After living in Orlando for five months, we'd pretty much decided that we really wanted to stay. Unfortunately, we've had too many obligations at home, and staying in Florida just wasn't in the cards for us at that time. Chaz is finishing up his associate's degree, and will likely transfer to a different school for his bachelor's somewhere in the Boston area. Over the summer I was offered a position at Harvard University, so I'm also a bit tied down to the Boston area, at least until I finish school. Our ultimate goal is to move back to Orlando after we get married, but that's planning too far ahead for now.
Aside from coming home to go back to school and work, I've been working with Theme Park Press on books about my experiences on the Disney College Program. "Brittany Earns Her Ears" documents my experiences on the fall program, and the sequel about the spring program should be coming out within the next couple of months. So I've done some Disney-related things since coming home, but it really just makes us miss Disney more, so we decided we had to go back!
When: January 11-20, 2016
January is not necessarily our ideal time to go-- being that we do not have anything really tying us down as we both go to school very part time and have fairly flexible jobs, however with my recently starting a new job, I don't have vacation days until January. January 10th to be exact-- so the logical thing to do was obviously to plan a trip from the 11th, right?
Where: We're staying at one of the values, for privacy purposes I won't be saying where exactly until we get back and write the trip report. We're not staying here for any specific reason other than price. We were originally planning on staying at Port Orleans French Quarter (one of our favorites) but we received a pin code, and the price difference staying at a value with the extra discount was just too good to pass up.
Plans so far:
Aside from booking the hotel and airfare, the only other concrete plans we have so far are our dining reservations. We'll be getting annual passes, but we haven't gotten them yet. We're asking for Disney gift cards fro Christmas to help with the cost of the passes. Our flights lands in Orlando at 9:30 AM, and after we take the Magical Express and check into the resort, we'll be going right to the Magic Kingdom!
Here are our dining reservations:
1/11/16: Tony's Town Square (lunch)
1/12/16: San Angel Inn (dinner)
1/13/16: Yak and Yeti (lunch) and Kona Cafe (dinner)
1/14/16: Yachtsman Steakhouse (dinner)
1/15/16: 'Ohana (dinner)
1/16/16: Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner)
1/17/16: Boma (dinner)
1/18/16: Le Cellier (lunch) and Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner)
1/19/16: Sci-Fi Dine In Theater (breakfast) and Be Our Guest (dinner)
1/20/16: all quick service or snacks today!
Thoughts on our reservations? I've eaten at all of these restaurants before, except for Yak and Yeti which I'm excited to try. I haven't eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern in years (not since they still had the characters there) but I think it's something Chaz would really like so I made the reservation for it. Sci-Fi breakfast is the test run they're doing, but it sounds similar to the breakfast they had during Star Wars Weekends in the past (minus the Star Wars theme of course) so it sounds like something we'll like. I should also add that I would not typically eat at this many table service restaurants in one trip, but I'm looking to expand my blog a little bit more in the reviews area, so I think having a lot to work with in terms of restaurant reviews will be helpful.
We're super excited to go back home and can't wait to see all our old friends! Or new ones-- if any of you are there and you see us, say hi! We've also gotten a lot more into pin trading after having done the college program, so I'll probably update the trip report later on with our pin finds from that trip too if anyone is interested!
For now that's all we have planned, but we're thinking about doing one of the backstage tours. I think we might need to move some dinner reservations around to make it work but that's totally fine. I've always wanted to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour, but now that we've worked there I'm not sure if it's worth it. If anyone has any input about the tours please let me know!
The cast:
Me (Brittany) and my fiance, Chaz, (with guest appearances by our friends from the college program who still work at WDW)
About Us:
We've both always been huge Disney fans, but our addiction has grown even more since doing the Disney College Program. We both applied for the fall 2014 program, but only I was accepted, so we were long distance last fall (I was in Orlando and he was in Boston.) We got engaged in Epcot behind Spaceship Earth while he was visiting me last year, and he applied for the spring college program that same week.
The week after his visit, we learned that I was accepted to extend my program into the spring, and the week after that, we found out that he was accepted for the same program! I did my first program in merchandise in Dinoland USA, and my second program in attractions at Lights, Motors, Action! Chaz was accepted for custodial, and was placed in his favorite location-- Main Street USA.
After living in Orlando for five months, we'd pretty much decided that we really wanted to stay. Unfortunately, we've had too many obligations at home, and staying in Florida just wasn't in the cards for us at that time. Chaz is finishing up his associate's degree, and will likely transfer to a different school for his bachelor's somewhere in the Boston area. Over the summer I was offered a position at Harvard University, so I'm also a bit tied down to the Boston area, at least until I finish school. Our ultimate goal is to move back to Orlando after we get married, but that's planning too far ahead for now.
Aside from coming home to go back to school and work, I've been working with Theme Park Press on books about my experiences on the Disney College Program. "Brittany Earns Her Ears" documents my experiences on the fall program, and the sequel about the spring program should be coming out within the next couple of months. So I've done some Disney-related things since coming home, but it really just makes us miss Disney more, so we decided we had to go back!
When: January 11-20, 2016
January is not necessarily our ideal time to go-- being that we do not have anything really tying us down as we both go to school very part time and have fairly flexible jobs, however with my recently starting a new job, I don't have vacation days until January. January 10th to be exact-- so the logical thing to do was obviously to plan a trip from the 11th, right?
Where: We're staying at one of the values, for privacy purposes I won't be saying where exactly until we get back and write the trip report. We're not staying here for any specific reason other than price. We were originally planning on staying at Port Orleans French Quarter (one of our favorites) but we received a pin code, and the price difference staying at a value with the extra discount was just too good to pass up.
Plans so far:
Aside from booking the hotel and airfare, the only other concrete plans we have so far are our dining reservations. We'll be getting annual passes, but we haven't gotten them yet. We're asking for Disney gift cards fro Christmas to help with the cost of the passes. Our flights lands in Orlando at 9:30 AM, and after we take the Magical Express and check into the resort, we'll be going right to the Magic Kingdom!
Here are our dining reservations:
1/11/16: Tony's Town Square (lunch)
1/12/16: San Angel Inn (dinner)
1/13/16: Yak and Yeti (lunch) and Kona Cafe (dinner)
1/14/16: Yachtsman Steakhouse (dinner)
1/15/16: 'Ohana (dinner)
1/16/16: Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner)
1/17/16: Boma (dinner)
1/18/16: Le Cellier (lunch) and Whispering Canyon Cafe (dinner)
1/19/16: Sci-Fi Dine In Theater (breakfast) and Be Our Guest (dinner)
1/20/16: all quick service or snacks today!
Thoughts on our reservations? I've eaten at all of these restaurants before, except for Yak and Yeti which I'm excited to try. I haven't eaten at Liberty Tree Tavern in years (not since they still had the characters there) but I think it's something Chaz would really like so I made the reservation for it. Sci-Fi breakfast is the test run they're doing, but it sounds similar to the breakfast they had during Star Wars Weekends in the past (minus the Star Wars theme of course) so it sounds like something we'll like. I should also add that I would not typically eat at this many table service restaurants in one trip, but I'm looking to expand my blog a little bit more in the reviews area, so I think having a lot to work with in terms of restaurant reviews will be helpful.
We're super excited to go back home and can't wait to see all our old friends! Or new ones-- if any of you are there and you see us, say hi! We've also gotten a lot more into pin trading after having done the college program, so I'll probably update the trip report later on with our pin finds from that trip too if anyone is interested!
For now that's all we have planned, but we're thinking about doing one of the backstage tours. I think we might need to move some dinner reservations around to make it work but that's totally fine. I've always wanted to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour, but now that we've worked there I'm not sure if it's worth it. If anyone has any input about the tours please let me know!