Now in Technicolor! My First Time-Birthday-Family Reunion-Halloween Pre-Trip Report!

[blacksand]

Edited: Added pictures! I'm not comfortable posting our faces on a public forum, so I made us Disney characters. Will also add some real/more useful pics in other sections.

So many things to celebrate!

Hello all, I’m new to the boards and hyper-excitedly counting down the days until my Disney trip, so I thought I would put together a pre-trip report to help tide me over until the big day. I am going a little overboard with planning and dreaming, I think, so I need a place to get these thoughts down “on paper.”

On October 23rd, 2010, I will be in Walt Disney World. For the first time. Ever. We’ll be staying the 23rd through the 28th. I wish we had much more time, but we’ll do what we can with the time we have!

Our cast of characters:

Me: Meredith, 29 years old and a first-timer at WDW! I always dreamed of going as a little girl, but it was just too expensive a vacation for my family back in those days, so it never happened. I sort of forgot about it during my teen and early adult years, busy with school and starting a career. Then I met my boyfriend, a Disney fanatic. At first, I wasn’t too excited about the idea of going to Disney. I looked into buying us tickets as an anniversary/birthday present for my boyfriend. But now that I have the tickets in hand, I feel like a little girl again! Suddenly I’m so excited I can’t stand it! I can’t believe my childhood dream is coming true.

I'm unquestionably Belle. I have brown hair, am a nerd, have more books than my apartment can hold, and I like sheep. I don't wear yellow, though. Sorry.

My boyfriend: Rob, 31. He used to go on family vacations to WDW about every other year, sometimes more. His parents honeymooned there, and they’ve been a Disney family ever since. Rob has been married once before, and spent his honeymoon at WDW. I’ll admit I was hesitant to plan a trip there because of this. I didn’t want him thinking of his ex, and I didn’t want to feel like I was just replacing her in his life. But the more we talked about it, the more I realized that Rob’s love of Disney is completely independent of the relationship he had with his ex. It is tied to his childhood, his hopes and dreams, and his family, which I very much want to be a part of someday. Going to Disney World together will be a wonderful experience for us and will bring us closer. I can’t wait. Rob has not been back to the World for almost 7 years now, since he went with his ex, so a lot of things will be new to him this trip. I'm glad we'll be able to make some brand new memories together. We will be celebrating Rob's 32nd birthday at MNSSHP!

I decided Rob should be Peter Pan. I am not sure he would agree with that assessment. But he is! He has red hair, he’s a bit of a dork (like me), and he never wants to grow up. So I don’t think there can be any question.

We are the principal cast members, but we will be joined at times by:

Melissa: my cousin, who lives near Orlando and works at Disney. Melissa and I were always very close as kids. We grew up more like sisters than cousins. I remember how excited I used to get to spend the night at her place. We used to have M&M sleepovers, in honor of our initials, and gorge ourselves on candy and ice cream while we watched Disney movies. We have joked that this is not too different from what we plan to do in Disney World soon! Because Melissa has been living in Florida for years now, we are not as close as we used to be, and I miss her dearly. I am so hoping that we will re-bond a little during this trip. I want her to be my matron of honor someday…possibly someday soon.

Melissa gets to be Sleeping Beauty because...well...she's blonde? And she likes animals? I'm not sure, really. She just is.

Jay: Melissa’s husband, who also works at Disney. He is a sweet guy, but very quiet. To be honest, since they live in Florida, I have not had a lot of time to get to know Jay, even though I was their maid of honor when they got married. It will be nice to have some time to get to know him better.

I made Jay John Smith, mostly because there are not many blond male Disney characaters. He's an all-American type, so I think it works.

Aunt Eileen, who lives a few hours south of Orlando. She recently retired and moved to Florida, and we miss her up here in New Jersey! She will probably drive up and meet us for one day while we are in town.

Tom, my aunt Eileen’s boyfriend. He’s a great guy, always good for a laugh.

Aunt Ei and Tom are going to be Ariel and her prince. She's a redhead, he has dark hair, and they both love the ocean and live near it. They fit the whole "Under the Sea" lifestyle pretty well.

As much as we would love to stay at a Disney resort (and we are already planning future trips!), it just makes the most sense for us to stay with my cousins for this trip. So we will be renting a car and “commuting” to the parks. It’s not the greatest set-up, but we are really looking forward to some quality time with my cousins. They will have to work some of the time while we are in town, so we’ll be with them some days and on our own for others.

We have a lot of plans already, so I’ll update soon!

 

[blacksand]

The master plan so far…attacking the parks:

We do not have as much time as we’d like to conquer all of the parks. We will be driving to the parks each day, which will take up a chunk of our time, and we will have to slow it down some days to get in more quality time with the family. That said, particularly on the days it is just the two of us, we will be going full speed, park opening to park closing. Rob does not joke around with this. We’ve gone to amusement parks around here, and it’s always the same. We get there at opening, we leave at closing. The thing is, I’ve never successfully done this without…completely falling apart sometime around 6PM. I need to practice! We’ll be making a few trips to Six Flags to improve my stamina in the next few months! We’ll also be careful to stay hydrated, eat well, and carry painkillers for headaches and leg cramps! I have to say, without meaning any offense toward anyone…I am so happy we are doing this now without kids! We definitely plan to marry and have kids in the future, but I’m really glad, at least for my first time, to do an adults-only trip. I know we’ll accomplish a lot more, stay out late, have some wine at Epcot, and get to act like a couple of kids while enjoying adult privileges!

Without further ado, the plan:

Oct. 23rd. Saturday. We arrive in Orlando around 1:00 PM. Meet Melissa and Jay, drive to their home, wash our faces and relax a bit. But not too much. We’re going to Epcot. Food and Wine and IllumiNations. We already have some “must-eat” Food and Wine items! It all sounds so good. As for IllumiNations, just watching YouTube videos of it makes me cry! I’m going to be a mess when we’re really there. It’s just so beautiful.

Oct. 24th. Sunday. Wake up early. This is a no-joke day! Morning at Animal Kingdom, afternoon/evening at Hollywood Studios. It’s not a lot of time, but it’s the only way to get it in. We really, really, really want to see Fantasmic, and the only day we can on our whole trip is Sunday. I am praying for no rain! Melissa and Jay may or may not be joining us for this day.

Oct. 25th. Monday. Aunt Eileen and Tom will hopefully be joining us for an easy day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Read: HARRY POTTER. I am very excited for this! But this will definitely be a more relaxing day, walking around, shopping, and some rides, but not too many, as Aunt Ei and Tom don’t really like the rides, and the park closes early. So we’ll have a free evening to relax a bit, and maybe take my family out to dinner to thank them for hosting us.

Oct. 26th. Tuesday. THE BIG DAY. Rob’s birthday. I asked Rob what he would want to do on his birthday, and he looked at me like I was crazy. “Duh,” he said. “Magic Kingdom.” So I asked him how he would like to go to MNNSHP on his birthday. His jaw hit the floor. He literally jumped up and down. Apparently, his family had celebrated his sister’s birthday at Disney numerous times (it’s in August), but never his. So this is kind of his childhood dream come true. No way I could resist making that happen. So Tuesday’s the day! Magic Kingdom from opening through the end of MNSSHP. Anything and everything that Rob wants to do. All day. I can’t wait.

Oct. 27th. Wednesday. Back to Epcot. Since we’ll mostly just be eating on Saturday, Wednesday is our day to go back to Epcot and actually go on some rides! We’ll take our time. We also definitely want to do at least one nice sit-down meal in Epcot. My dream is Marrakesh, his is San Angel Inn. We’ll see. We may or may not head over to Downtown on Wednesday night. I am dying to see La Nouba. I’m a huge Cirque du Soleil fan, and I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews. But it is expensive, and it is a big chunk of our limited time. So we’re still not sure about that. We need to decide soon to get tickets.

Oct. 28th. Thursday. Our last day. I’m already sad about leaving. Our flight is not until almost 8 PM, so we do have a little time during the day. If there’s a ride we missed that we desperately want to go on, we might head back to a park, but since we’re nervous about time, we’ll probably spend the day souvenir shopping and saying goodbye to my awesome cousins.

We’re already sad about leaving, and planning our next trip! Next time: Christmas!

 

[vickxo]

sounds good. have to admit, i'm pretty jealous, i want to go to MNSSHP too. you're going to have a great time, look forward to reading more

 

[Carrie76]

I hope you have a great first experience here in Orlando and at all of the parks... sounds like so much fun, and I have lived here all my life going all the time. I still love it... and even more now taking my 6 year old to see Disney through his eyes. Think I am going to take him to MNSSHP for the first time this year and it will be my first time as well! I am tempted to dress up !

 

[blacksand]

Thanks vickxo and Carrie! I am really so looking forward to this. I have lots more to report, but it's been a busy week. We're really gearing up for this. I'll be posting more soon.

 

[blacksand]

I am BAD. I imagine most of you, as members of a Disney forum, are pretty well obsessed with Disney World. That’s understandable. But I think I have a problem. I honestly can’t stop thinking about Disney World, researching the parks, the rides, the movies, the cartoons…everything. It’s obsessive. It’s crazy. It is driving everyone around me crazy. But I am addicted. I cannot help myself. It started innocently enough. I bought a little travel guide from my favorite travel guide publisher. DK Eyewitness guides are normally fantastic, with great maps, architectural details, cross-sections of buildings, pictures, historical notes, etc. They served me amazingly well in my travels through Europe, so I was excited to see their take on Disney World.

The result: Disappointing. I really, really wanted to like it. I’m a bit of a completist, and I love seeing a bookshelf full of books from the same series all lined up. Something about seeing nearly identical spines squeezed together so the whole shelf is one color and one level height…it makes me happy. And I guess I just like…liking things. I like being a fan. So I desperately wanted to like this book. And it wasn’t very good. I was sad. It had far fewer images and details than the other books I have. About three quarters of the book was about the resorts, which may be interesting, but since I’m staying with relatives, it’s not especially useful for me. One eighth was about the restaurants. Just lists and contact information, for the most part. The last eighth was actually about the parks. That part was enjoyable, but too short. I expected a lot of two-page spreads with pictures and details about the more popular rides. There were maybe two of those. For four parks. More, if you include the water parks. There was a top ten attractions list for each park, which I enjoyed going through with my boyfriend. I’d have him guess what he thought were the top ten attractions first, then reveal the answers. I think around the time The Magic Carpets of Aladdin showed up, he gave up. He did not share the authors’ opinions, apparently!

My boyfriend being awesome, he went out and bought me another book. The Unofficial Guide: The Color Companion to Walt Disney World.

This one I did not want to like. But it’s a different series! But it doesn’t match! But it’s…okay, it’s awesome. I love it. Loaded with pictures, info as up-to-the-minute as is humanly possible for a paper book, quirky humor, and honest opinions (as opposed to glowing reviews of every attraction that seem more propagandistic). Okay, it’s pretty perfect. I read it cover to cover, and I’m still re-reading parts as I go! It’s not meant to stand alone, but I find that along with the many websites I’ve been following, it’s more than enough information.

Oh, if I had stopped there. But no! I have obviously spent oodles of time on various websites, on these forums reading about other people’s experiences, e-mailing my poor overwhelmed cousin about every little thing I want to do while we’re there (seriously, I feel sorry for her), and playing on the app I got for my phone. It lets me set priority levels for each attraction. Rob and I had to sit down and go through each park attraction by attraction and decide what level of priority to assign (if any). Poor Rob. Poor everyone who has to deal with me. Then I started in on YouTube. It is very much like an addiction, watching Disney videos. Wow. I love watching the MNSSHP fireworks, IllumiNations (just the video makes me cry…imagine what I’ll do when I’m there!), ride videos…the works! Rob does not approve of my habit. He wants me to be surprised when I experience these things for the first time. Oops! Too late! I think his fear is I’ll build it up so much in my head that I’ll be disappointed when I’m actually there. But that’s not how it works for me. I’m the girl that watches my Cirque du Soleil DVDs five times before attending the live show. I study every detail. I love it, and it makes every experience so much more enjoyable for me if I know something about it first. I’m like the child watching Cinderella every night for two months straight before going to WDW. Is she any less excited when she gets to Disney and meets Cinderella in person? No! She is more excited because she feels like she knows Cinderella. They have a deep, personal relationship.

So I am studying for Disney World.

Next: Historical Research.

 

[blacksand]

Well, I don’t have many readers, but I’m not too worried for now. I know I’m new and perhaps not the most gifted pre-trip-reporter here. But I feel the need to channel this absurd amount of excitement into…something, so I’ll just keep writing regardless!

I’ve been busy with my new obsession. Obsessions are good like that. I started with park research, which kind of makes sense, when one is planning a Disney vacation. But things progressed from there, as things will tend to do. While I was watching a ride video of Splash Mountain (I know, don’t judge me, I’ve left nothing to surprise), I started thinking about Brer Rabbit. I wasn’t familiar with the story, but I knew it came from Song of the South. So I made a quest of finding and watching a copy of Song of the South…not an easy quest, since it has never been released in the US! After seeing it, I can understand why some might object to it. Still, I love the animated scenes. And now I will relate to Brer Rabbit so much better when I go on Splash Mountain! Then I started thinking about other rides and the movies that inspired them. For some reason, I am particularly interested in the older, more obscure movies. Perhaps because I’ve never seen them. So next up was The Three Caballeros, which I got from Netflix. It came on the same disc as Saludos Amigos, so of course I watched that, too. I love it! I can’t believe I was missing out on Jose Carioca all these years! As a former resident of Brazil, I am ashamed. But I told Rob that if I see Jose Carioca at Epcot, I will react more or less like a pre-teen girl to a Jonas brother. Just sayin’.

A girl can dream….

Thus began my adventure. Must. Watch. Every. Animated. Disney. Production. Ever. From the best-known to the most obscure, I’m slowly but surely renting or buying and watching just about everything Disney ever produced. A positive side effect of this has been increased excitement for Disney World, looking forward to seeing certain characters, and going on movie-themed rides. Negative side effects include lack of sleep, eyestrain, and wanting to go on every single ride in all of the parks. Oops. Oh, well.

I am mostly working my way through the full-length animated films in chronological order, with a few interesting detours. Here’s what I’ve accomplished so far:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves—So funny to see this with fresh eyes. I remember as a child, I felt there was much more character development. I felt I understood Snow White, that the queen was unquestionably evil, that the love between Snow White and the prince was deep and meaningful, etc. Watching now, as an adult, the opening scenes are so brief I barely have time to process who everyone is before Snow White is suddenly in a cottage in the woods. I still thought the queen was evil, but I wondered what had made her so bitter. I thought she was lonely. Talking to her mirror because she had no friends. Well, despite my adult brain, I still got into the Disney magic and loved seeing this again. I especially enjoyed the scene that used to terrify me as a kid, where Snow White is fleeing through the dark forest and sees all these eyes staring at her. I had no real desire to go on Snow White’s Scary Adventures before, but now I really want to! Such a cool effect.

Pinocchio—Oh, Figaro. I fell in love with Figaro all over again. I could just eat that little kitty for breakfast. I want to look for a stuffed Figaro as a souvenir. I need to cuddle that furball.

Dumbo—I remember as a little kid, the scene where Dumbo’s mother cradles him with her trunk as she sings “Baby Mine” used to bore me to no end. I remember thinking “let’s get on with it already. Can we get some pink elephants over here?” But watching it now, it was beautiful and moving. And so short! I can’t believe the whole movie is only an hour! Oh, and the pink elephants? Still crazy awesome.

Saludos Amigos—I had never seen this before. I would probably not have enjoyed it much as a kid, with the exception of El Gaucho Goofy and maybe Aquarela do Brasil. But I love it all now. The documentary parts are so interesting, and the cartoons fantastic. I feel like I’m getting to know more about Walt Disney through all of this.

The Three Caballeros—I love it, but wow. It gets weirder and weirder as it goes on! Jose Carioca is still my favorite, and I love the Three Caballeros song. Can’t wait for the Gran Fiesta Tour! But the last few scenes are just…wow.

Fun and Fancy Free—I hadn’t seen Bongo before, but I remember bits of the film from Disney’s DTV Specials of the ‘80s! It was neat to see the original. And Mickey and the Beanstalk is a classic!

Make Mine Music—Rob slept through ¾ of this. I will not lie: I found some of it boring as well. Again, there were some shorts I remember seeing in DTV specials set to ‘80s music. And most of them were more interesting that way! I did like the one with the hats (Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet), Casey at the Bat, and oh, how I love Peter and the Wolf! It’s worth watching just for that!

Silly Symphonies, Disc One—A jam-packed two-disc set. Haven’t had time for Disc Two yet, but so far, I love it. Some I’d seen before, many I hadn’t, but I love seeing how animation styles developed over time. They would use the Silly Symphonies to try out different techniques in preparation for the feature films. So cool to see! I love the old clips of Walt Disney introducing some of them, too. I don’t imagine I’ll see anything related to these at WDW, but they’re really cool to watch, anyway!

Figaro cartoons on YouTube—I somehow discovered that my favorite cat appeared in several cartoon shorts with Minnie and Pluto, as well as three of his own! He’s a star! I scoured YouTube for clips. I need a stuffed Figaro now. It’s decided.

Disney DTV specials on YouTube—This was soooo my childhood. They were never released on video, so you can only find them on YouTube, in terrible quality, ripped from someone’s old VHS tapes of when they aired on TV. They’re just clips from old Disney shorts and movies synced to pop music, but I love it. I watched Romancin’, Monster Hits, and [most of] Doggone Valentine.

I love learning more about Disney as I prepare for my first trip. I love my new obsession!