Note: This has also been posted on another board i'm a member at, so i've included post of the posts in here. Hope ya'll enjoy this as much as my kitten is enjoying chewing on the watch i'm wearing while I type this out!
An Introduction:
I love reading trip reports before I go to WDW, or when Im in need of a good Disney fix. Ive been reading them online since I was probably old enough to go online. A day or two before my long car trip sitting in the back of the car I would copy and paste a few of the longest reports in to a word document and print it off. This use of paper was probably frowned upon by my parents and tree-huggers, but I loved reading those reports, and they made the 8 hour drive fly by. Luckily now I have my phone to read everything on, guess that makes me a tree hugger now.
Now it is my turn to add to the Trip Report community. It actually wasnt my idea, as so much my girlfriends. It took me up until a few weeks ago to tell her about my obsession with trip reports, and she was a bit skeptical on the whole idea of it.
A bit of an aside. My girlfriend will be joining my family and me on this trip. She has been to the world a few times in her life, the last time being in 2008. I think with my familys experience (roughly 30ish trips in my twenty years of existence) we will be able to show her why we are so obsessed with this place, and choose to take almost all of our family vacations to the world. So far she is starting to getting very excited to go, and I think I am even more so excited to have her joining me. Also she is going to be celebrating her birthday while we are down there, so look forward to some cute things I will be doing for her haha.
Alright, back to my writing the report. It wasnt till I showed my girlfriend Tom Brickers trip report that she got cozy to the idea of the trip reports. It was his pictures that did her in. She just received a Canon 40D from her uncle who upgraded and has really starting taking it seriously. She is very excited about taking some good pictures while we are there, and I will be inserting them into the report for all of you to enjoy.
After she had found a few Disney photography groups on Flickr she was pushing for me to write a report, I think just so I can put her pictures in and she can show off her work. If you do want to take a look at the stuff she has now on her Flickr search Corinne Whitney on it. I'll post a link once I have enough posts on these boards to gain access to it.
When I learned that my family was going to WDW this September I was stoked. I was even more stoked to learn that my girlfriend was invited to join on our now rare family trip, and that my sisters boyfriend would be joining us as well. This is the first time we have ever been allowed to bring anyone with us on our family trips, and the only requirement is that our guests need to pay for their own tickets and bring spending money for snacks and souvenirs. Not to shabby!
The When:
We decided to go during Labor Day weekend, and stay into that following week. We have been DVC members for almost 15 years now, with our home resort being OKW. I would have loved to stay there, I love the quiet surroundings and the slightly larger rooms, but my parents have fallen for the beach club villas so we will be staying in a two bedroom there. It is a nice convenience being in walking distance to EPCOT (which, gasp, neither of our guests have ever been too, honestly makes me sad), and I do love the board walk at night and in the morning, great place to start and end the day.
Since there are 6 people going (Ill be doing introductions soon, dont worry!) we will need to take two cars, which is actually very nice. My parents will be driving down in my dads Jeep, and I will be taking all us younguns in my Ford Focus Wagon. There are a few things that are awesome about this trip that cancel out that I will have to pay for my own gas and expenses to get my car trip-ready. First thing is the food that we will be able to bring.
Ever since our DVC induction we have been staying in one bedroom villas, and have becoming very accustomed to eating almost every meal in the room with the little kitchen. We normally bring sodas and cereals from home, and then hit up the Publix outside of the world to get cold foods and breads. This plan is normally stunted by how much food we can fit in the car with four people and all the luggage. Since we are now bringing two cars we have plenty of room to bring lots of bulk food from Costco and some frozen meals my dad will be making (Mexican beef, Chili, Chicken & Dumplings, ect.) that will be great for quick dinners after spending the days park hopping. It also saves a few hundred dollars a day opposed to eating in the parks every day or even doing all the shopping at Publix. Gotta love saving that money!
Also just taking the separate cars allows us younger folk to listen to what we want in the car and let us turn the drive into a mini-road trip, and what group of college aged kids dont like road trips?
We only have one ADR for the trip, and that is for Garden Grill (a family favorite) on my Girlfriends (She does have a name, Corinne, and I will call her that from here on out haha) birthday dinner, which is on the 9th towards the end of the trip.
On the ticket front we will be getting 5 day parkhoppers and then two day passes for the universal parks (have to see Harry Potter, and I am going through withdrawals of the Mummy Ride at Universal Studios). We are only going to be doing half days at the universal parks just to hit what we want and then getting out around lunch time, so we wanted to be able to get into other (and better) Disney parks at night, and the few dollars difference in a 3 day to a 5 day is worth it for all of us 1000%.
The Who:
Alright, now I guess I will finally introduce you to everyone who will be on the trip, and try and learn these names well because I will most likely be using first names during the trip report minus my Mom and Dad (cause in the south, thats just weird to call them anything other than Mom and Dad).
Karen (Mom) is perpetually 25, a great sales woman, and the whimsical person on the trip. She loves being able to act like a kid on the trip and also loves relaxing at the resort. A pen collector, and not a pin collector. Meaning the writing pens, and has quite the nice Disney collection.
David (Dad) is 43, a IT Guru, and the hit the rides hard and fast kind of guy. He loves the thrill rides and trying all the new things. He is a native Floridian and was the WDW when it opened just as the MK. A Disney veteran in every since of the word.
Adam (Me) is 20, a graphic/web designer and writer, and the small things kind of guy. I love the rides as much as the next thrill junkie, but the secrets of the world and all the little things are what keep me coming back for more. I also live off my iPhone and plan on recording some video using it and utilizing the Touring Plans Lines app and the WDWMagic What2Ride app.
Madison (Sister) is 19, a student, and a thrills kind of girl. She is very sarcastic and loves cutting loose and acting like she is five again. Not really into collecting anything, but like the rest of the family, she loves the Mickey Mouse head ice cream bars.
Corinne (My Girlfriend) will be turning 19 on the trip. She has been a few times but never like how us true Disney-ers do WDW. She is a budding photographer and will be providing most of the pictures from the trip for this report. Has never been to EPCOT before, but loves the Animal Kingdom.
Wes (Sisters boyfriend) is 19, and has only been to Disney once before. Not only is that bad, but he has never ridden a roller coaster before, ever. It has become my goal of the trip to get him to ride every coaster we go by, especially the Universal ones. If he does not ride he will be taunted for the rest of his life.
The Plan:
I have put together a loose plan, nothing like what I have done in the past. I just used the touring plans crowd calendar to pick the parks for the day, and it is a great tool. If you dont have a subscription to that site, get one. I have also broken each day in half to allow for everyone to head back to the resort in the afternoon and eat/nap/shower/swim/rest before heading out into the world again. Most nights will be what I have started calling couples nights so that people can go off and do their own thing with their cars or the busses, allowing people to go do whatever they want to visit. Nothing like everyone being old enough to just do whatever they want, it makes everyone much more relaxed.
Sunday September 5th we will be diving down to Disney to check into the Beach Club Villas, unpack, grab whatever we may need from the grocery store (Its a tradition to get Publix Chicken Fingers and Roast beef every time we go), and get ready for the night. We will be trying to hit up Fantasimic that night at MGM (or Hollywood Studios, but its always going to be MGM in my heart) since its one of the only nights its showing while we are there. Then after that we will hit up Magic Kingdom for EMH to get that feeling you get when you go to Magic Kingdom the first day you are there. Magic!
Monday September 6th is Labor day. Unsure how Universal is going to be on that day, but we will be hitting Islands of Adventures that morning, and then having a couples night that night. This is the basic outline for each day we are there, minus Thursday.
Tuesday September 7th Will be Universal Studios in the morning. I dont really see us being here long, it has never been more than a half day park for us. Im looking forward to doing Mummy again, and to do the Simpsons Ride. Also the Studios has a real starbucks inside of the park, which is great for a little pick me up. I have a gift card Ive been saving just for it! That night will be couples night, and the best parks are MK and MGM, or Downtown Disney would be a good choice for later as well. Im quite the fan of seeing whatever Disney movie is out at the AMC there.
Wednesday September 8th This will be a day of Magic Kingdom and MGM, the order isnt really decided or anything. Also it may be a sleep in day since we will have gotten up early every day before, and will be on the next day. I think everyone is going to enjoy this relaxed paced trip, just doing the things the newbies want with a few new things. Ive heard bringing a newbie helps you find even more magic in WDW, which I cannot wait for!
Thursday September 9th Is Corinnes Birthday, and we will be attending Animal Kingdom in the morning to do the fun stuff, and while everyone waits in lines for Everest and Safaris we will be walking around the trails and taking pictures and relaxing. Animal Kingdom has been a favorite of my mom and I, and Corinne loves it so we could spend a good bit there. But we wont be because we have a 6:35 ADR for Garden Grill to get cleaned up for and get to. After that we will spend the rest of the night wandering around EPCOT, where Corinne and I will break off from the group to have some special Birthday Date time around world showcase.
I hope overall the trip will be very restful and will allow us to just kind of let the newbies show us the stuff we may be jaded to. I am also excited to be giving my girlfriend a trip to WDW for her birthday, lord knows she deserves it. I plan on trying to do some special things for her while we are there, but money will be the real determining factor of everything. I will be trying everything I can, and if you have any advice let me know!w
Sorry if this is longer than some people expect from a Pre-Trip report, but when you love to write sometimes its hard to stop. Just let this be fair warning for the full trip report, but luckily the Report will have pretty pictures to look at.
If anyone has any advice or comments for the trip please let me know! I look forward to adding something to this community!
UPDATE 8/27
A little update! We have 8 days till we head down to the world, and needless to say I am more than ecstatic to be going down. More surprisingly is how much my girlfriend has caught the 'Disney Bug' and she may be even more excited than me. This makes me very happy to know that she may love disney as much as I do. I caught myself a great fish there.
I also got a camera of my own about a month ago (A Canon Rebel XTi) and have been loving my switch from digital. Corinne and I will be taking tons of pictures for the post-trip report, and I know that I will be posting many from my phone on my twitter account, if you want to keep up with those please check twitter.com/adamneely.
I just read about the Vinylmation stuff disney is doing now and I think i may have a new problem. I was addicted to the pins but have outgrown that addiction (actually, its more like i'm forcing myself not to spend an arm and a leg on them haha). I like the looks of these little toys, and I am a huge fan of being able to display toys and other little geeky things in my office (I have a nice Mr. Potatoe Head collection now too). If anyone knows more about these VMs please point me to some sources, and feel free to send me any that you want haha.
We as a family have put together a huge list of groceries we are bringing to help save some cash while we are there, and also since we have a kitchen in our room in the Villas we always take advantage of it. We are even bringing some homecooked foods to re-heat and eat while we are there. I'm pretty sure we are bringing more than we buy for a normal week.
Also, us young-ones have decided to get 6 day hoppers rather than 5 like my parents and are going to be going to a park the morning before we head back home to Georgia. We normally start driving right in the morning so we miss traffic, but i don't know the next time I'll be heading down so I want to get as much Disney magic in my system as I can. (don't tell anyone, but i'm loosely already planning a trip for next spring for me and Corinne)
Is anyone else going to be down in the world while we are there? We are there from the 5th around mid day to the 10th mid day and I would love to maybe meet-up with some DIS-ers and maybe catch a show or ride one night.
Anyways, we are stoked for this, and I am already planning out how i'm going to be writing the TR when we get back!
An Introduction:
I love reading trip reports before I go to WDW, or when Im in need of a good Disney fix. Ive been reading them online since I was probably old enough to go online. A day or two before my long car trip sitting in the back of the car I would copy and paste a few of the longest reports in to a word document and print it off. This use of paper was probably frowned upon by my parents and tree-huggers, but I loved reading those reports, and they made the 8 hour drive fly by. Luckily now I have my phone to read everything on, guess that makes me a tree hugger now.
Now it is my turn to add to the Trip Report community. It actually wasnt my idea, as so much my girlfriends. It took me up until a few weeks ago to tell her about my obsession with trip reports, and she was a bit skeptical on the whole idea of it.
A bit of an aside. My girlfriend will be joining my family and me on this trip. She has been to the world a few times in her life, the last time being in 2008. I think with my familys experience (roughly 30ish trips in my twenty years of existence) we will be able to show her why we are so obsessed with this place, and choose to take almost all of our family vacations to the world. So far she is starting to getting very excited to go, and I think I am even more so excited to have her joining me. Also she is going to be celebrating her birthday while we are down there, so look forward to some cute things I will be doing for her haha.
Alright, back to my writing the report. It wasnt till I showed my girlfriend Tom Brickers trip report that she got cozy to the idea of the trip reports. It was his pictures that did her in. She just received a Canon 40D from her uncle who upgraded and has really starting taking it seriously. She is very excited about taking some good pictures while we are there, and I will be inserting them into the report for all of you to enjoy.
After she had found a few Disney photography groups on Flickr she was pushing for me to write a report, I think just so I can put her pictures in and she can show off her work. If you do want to take a look at the stuff she has now on her Flickr search Corinne Whitney on it. I'll post a link once I have enough posts on these boards to gain access to it.
When I learned that my family was going to WDW this September I was stoked. I was even more stoked to learn that my girlfriend was invited to join on our now rare family trip, and that my sisters boyfriend would be joining us as well. This is the first time we have ever been allowed to bring anyone with us on our family trips, and the only requirement is that our guests need to pay for their own tickets and bring spending money for snacks and souvenirs. Not to shabby!
The When:
We decided to go during Labor Day weekend, and stay into that following week. We have been DVC members for almost 15 years now, with our home resort being OKW. I would have loved to stay there, I love the quiet surroundings and the slightly larger rooms, but my parents have fallen for the beach club villas so we will be staying in a two bedroom there. It is a nice convenience being in walking distance to EPCOT (which, gasp, neither of our guests have ever been too, honestly makes me sad), and I do love the board walk at night and in the morning, great place to start and end the day.
Since there are 6 people going (Ill be doing introductions soon, dont worry!) we will need to take two cars, which is actually very nice. My parents will be driving down in my dads Jeep, and I will be taking all us younguns in my Ford Focus Wagon. There are a few things that are awesome about this trip that cancel out that I will have to pay for my own gas and expenses to get my car trip-ready. First thing is the food that we will be able to bring.
Ever since our DVC induction we have been staying in one bedroom villas, and have becoming very accustomed to eating almost every meal in the room with the little kitchen. We normally bring sodas and cereals from home, and then hit up the Publix outside of the world to get cold foods and breads. This plan is normally stunted by how much food we can fit in the car with four people and all the luggage. Since we are now bringing two cars we have plenty of room to bring lots of bulk food from Costco and some frozen meals my dad will be making (Mexican beef, Chili, Chicken & Dumplings, ect.) that will be great for quick dinners after spending the days park hopping. It also saves a few hundred dollars a day opposed to eating in the parks every day or even doing all the shopping at Publix. Gotta love saving that money!
Also just taking the separate cars allows us younger folk to listen to what we want in the car and let us turn the drive into a mini-road trip, and what group of college aged kids dont like road trips?
We only have one ADR for the trip, and that is for Garden Grill (a family favorite) on my Girlfriends (She does have a name, Corinne, and I will call her that from here on out haha) birthday dinner, which is on the 9th towards the end of the trip.
On the ticket front we will be getting 5 day parkhoppers and then two day passes for the universal parks (have to see Harry Potter, and I am going through withdrawals of the Mummy Ride at Universal Studios). We are only going to be doing half days at the universal parks just to hit what we want and then getting out around lunch time, so we wanted to be able to get into other (and better) Disney parks at night, and the few dollars difference in a 3 day to a 5 day is worth it for all of us 1000%.
The Who:
Alright, now I guess I will finally introduce you to everyone who will be on the trip, and try and learn these names well because I will most likely be using first names during the trip report minus my Mom and Dad (cause in the south, thats just weird to call them anything other than Mom and Dad).
Karen (Mom) is perpetually 25, a great sales woman, and the whimsical person on the trip. She loves being able to act like a kid on the trip and also loves relaxing at the resort. A pen collector, and not a pin collector. Meaning the writing pens, and has quite the nice Disney collection.
David (Dad) is 43, a IT Guru, and the hit the rides hard and fast kind of guy. He loves the thrill rides and trying all the new things. He is a native Floridian and was the WDW when it opened just as the MK. A Disney veteran in every since of the word.
Adam (Me) is 20, a graphic/web designer and writer, and the small things kind of guy. I love the rides as much as the next thrill junkie, but the secrets of the world and all the little things are what keep me coming back for more. I also live off my iPhone and plan on recording some video using it and utilizing the Touring Plans Lines app and the WDWMagic What2Ride app.
Madison (Sister) is 19, a student, and a thrills kind of girl. She is very sarcastic and loves cutting loose and acting like she is five again. Not really into collecting anything, but like the rest of the family, she loves the Mickey Mouse head ice cream bars.
Corinne (My Girlfriend) will be turning 19 on the trip. She has been a few times but never like how us true Disney-ers do WDW. She is a budding photographer and will be providing most of the pictures from the trip for this report. Has never been to EPCOT before, but loves the Animal Kingdom.
Wes (Sisters boyfriend) is 19, and has only been to Disney once before. Not only is that bad, but he has never ridden a roller coaster before, ever. It has become my goal of the trip to get him to ride every coaster we go by, especially the Universal ones. If he does not ride he will be taunted for the rest of his life.
The Plan:
I have put together a loose plan, nothing like what I have done in the past. I just used the touring plans crowd calendar to pick the parks for the day, and it is a great tool. If you dont have a subscription to that site, get one. I have also broken each day in half to allow for everyone to head back to the resort in the afternoon and eat/nap/shower/swim/rest before heading out into the world again. Most nights will be what I have started calling couples nights so that people can go off and do their own thing with their cars or the busses, allowing people to go do whatever they want to visit. Nothing like everyone being old enough to just do whatever they want, it makes everyone much more relaxed.
Sunday September 5th we will be diving down to Disney to check into the Beach Club Villas, unpack, grab whatever we may need from the grocery store (Its a tradition to get Publix Chicken Fingers and Roast beef every time we go), and get ready for the night. We will be trying to hit up Fantasimic that night at MGM (or Hollywood Studios, but its always going to be MGM in my heart) since its one of the only nights its showing while we are there. Then after that we will hit up Magic Kingdom for EMH to get that feeling you get when you go to Magic Kingdom the first day you are there. Magic!
Monday September 6th is Labor day. Unsure how Universal is going to be on that day, but we will be hitting Islands of Adventures that morning, and then having a couples night that night. This is the basic outline for each day we are there, minus Thursday.
Tuesday September 7th Will be Universal Studios in the morning. I dont really see us being here long, it has never been more than a half day park for us. Im looking forward to doing Mummy again, and to do the Simpsons Ride. Also the Studios has a real starbucks inside of the park, which is great for a little pick me up. I have a gift card Ive been saving just for it! That night will be couples night, and the best parks are MK and MGM, or Downtown Disney would be a good choice for later as well. Im quite the fan of seeing whatever Disney movie is out at the AMC there.
Wednesday September 8th This will be a day of Magic Kingdom and MGM, the order isnt really decided or anything. Also it may be a sleep in day since we will have gotten up early every day before, and will be on the next day. I think everyone is going to enjoy this relaxed paced trip, just doing the things the newbies want with a few new things. Ive heard bringing a newbie helps you find even more magic in WDW, which I cannot wait for!
Thursday September 9th Is Corinnes Birthday, and we will be attending Animal Kingdom in the morning to do the fun stuff, and while everyone waits in lines for Everest and Safaris we will be walking around the trails and taking pictures and relaxing. Animal Kingdom has been a favorite of my mom and I, and Corinne loves it so we could spend a good bit there. But we wont be because we have a 6:35 ADR for Garden Grill to get cleaned up for and get to. After that we will spend the rest of the night wandering around EPCOT, where Corinne and I will break off from the group to have some special Birthday Date time around world showcase.
I hope overall the trip will be very restful and will allow us to just kind of let the newbies show us the stuff we may be jaded to. I am also excited to be giving my girlfriend a trip to WDW for her birthday, lord knows she deserves it. I plan on trying to do some special things for her while we are there, but money will be the real determining factor of everything. I will be trying everything I can, and if you have any advice let me know!w
Sorry if this is longer than some people expect from a Pre-Trip report, but when you love to write sometimes its hard to stop. Just let this be fair warning for the full trip report, but luckily the Report will have pretty pictures to look at.
If anyone has any advice or comments for the trip please let me know! I look forward to adding something to this community!
UPDATE 8/27
A little update! We have 8 days till we head down to the world, and needless to say I am more than ecstatic to be going down. More surprisingly is how much my girlfriend has caught the 'Disney Bug' and she may be even more excited than me. This makes me very happy to know that she may love disney as much as I do. I caught myself a great fish there.
I also got a camera of my own about a month ago (A Canon Rebel XTi) and have been loving my switch from digital. Corinne and I will be taking tons of pictures for the post-trip report, and I know that I will be posting many from my phone on my twitter account, if you want to keep up with those please check twitter.com/adamneely.
I just read about the Vinylmation stuff disney is doing now and I think i may have a new problem. I was addicted to the pins but have outgrown that addiction (actually, its more like i'm forcing myself not to spend an arm and a leg on them haha). I like the looks of these little toys, and I am a huge fan of being able to display toys and other little geeky things in my office (I have a nice Mr. Potatoe Head collection now too). If anyone knows more about these VMs please point me to some sources, and feel free to send me any that you want haha.
We as a family have put together a huge list of groceries we are bringing to help save some cash while we are there, and also since we have a kitchen in our room in the Villas we always take advantage of it. We are even bringing some homecooked foods to re-heat and eat while we are there. I'm pretty sure we are bringing more than we buy for a normal week.
Also, us young-ones have decided to get 6 day hoppers rather than 5 like my parents and are going to be going to a park the morning before we head back home to Georgia. We normally start driving right in the morning so we miss traffic, but i don't know the next time I'll be heading down so I want to get as much Disney magic in my system as I can. (don't tell anyone, but i'm loosely already planning a trip for next spring for me and Corinne
)Is anyone else going to be down in the world while we are there? We are there from the 5th around mid day to the 10th mid day and I would love to maybe meet-up with some DIS-ers and maybe catch a show or ride one night.
Anyways, we are stoked for this, and I am already planning out how i'm going to be writing the TR when we get back!
