It's been three years but it's official: I'm going back to Disney and I'm SO EXCITED! I've been taking a break from the boards because, honestly, I just get way too bummed when I don't have a trip planned and I read about other people's trips. Now, I'm way better at keep at PTR than I am at finishing a TR. In fact…I've never finished a TR.
We'll see if that turns around this trip because, as always, I intend to really finish a TR this time!
I know, I know, but hope springs eternal.
Let's get down the nitty gritty.
Who's Going?
Well, I am, obviously.
My name's Katherine and I'm a Disneyholic. I was a CM at my local Disney Store for a time a few years ago. I loved interacting with the guests and getting to infuse some Disney magic into people's days. Also, I went to school in Orlando (UCF. Go Knights!) during which time I spent a LOT of time at WDW. APs are expensive but I definitely got my money's worth. I finessed my schedule so I didn't have classes on Fridays- freeing up important Disney time.
Being able to take it as slow as you want because you can just come back next week is really nice but it's definitely different from the vacation experience. Mostly because…well, you aren't on vacation. It's wonderful to have a Disney respite so nearby for a moment away from your life, but you're still driving home at the end of the day. A Disney Vacation isn't better, it's just different. Certainly the excitement level can't compare.
I'm back living in my home state of North Carolina now. My mom and I took my grandmother to Disney in early October 2013 and I haven't been back since. For me, this is the longest I've ever gone between trips since my first visit in 2009 (talk about first world problems, right?). I'm not going to lie, 2013 was not my best Disney trip. I was sick and lost my voice for the majority of the trip. All the other gregarious Disney fans understand how much that sucks, I'm sure. Randomly chatting with total strangers is an integral part of the Disney experience! This was also the trip where I confirmed my incompatibility with my grandmother for extended periods of time. We are very different people and, while I will never regret taking her to Disney, I found it emotionally and mentally exhausting to spend that much intense time with her. I'm not meaning to whine. I'm just making the point that, for a number of reasons, I'm EXTRA excited about this upcoming trip.
And who's my partner in crime, you ask? Well, his name is Marq (yes, pronounced "Mark" but spelled with a "q") and he is a purple-haired weirdo, whom I adore. All of the best people are weirdos.
He's one of those family friends who's more family than friend, you know? He's basically like an uncle to me…or, more accurately, like a cousin who happens to be numerically older than I am. That "older" thing is a more a technicality than anything because Marq's inner child is often more outer than inner. Like me, he talks up a storm, and we can be a volatile mixture- especially when alcohol gets involved. Let's just say that the "wine" part of the "Food and Wine Festival" is likely to lead to some fun shenanigans.
By day, Marq works in the videogame industry and lives in his own version of the Animal Kingdom Lodge…well, kinda.
His wife trains dogs professionally, primarily in herding. Some are working dogs that put their skills to use on clients' farms and some compete in trials. I swear, she can train a dog to do ANYTHING, though. Herding means you need a herd, of course! So they have lots of livestock: sheep, goats, ducks, a pig, a cow, the list goes on. A current member of their household is a bottle-fed lamb (named Mia Lamb, because she has coloration on her legs that looks like soccer shin guards
) that has taken a shine to Marq and likes to nibble on him while he's working from home.
We're renting an ECV for him for the week basically as a preventative measure to keep health stuff from flaring up due to the sheer amount of walking. Hopefully scooter usage will mean Disney fun without undue pain/fatigue. We rented an ECV for my grandmother on my last trip so, luckily, I already know a little bit about "scootering" the World. Primarily, that it's a good idea to practice parallel parking a bit for the buses. Queues shouldn't be a problem so we are probably just going to park the ECV at attractions and use the regular line. I tend to not wait in lines longer than 20 minutes anyway (you BET I use that TouringPlans.com subscription!
)
This isn't Marq's first visit to WDW but he's never been for longer than a day before. I'm so excited to be with him for his first "Disney Vacation" experience.
NEXT QUESTION!
Why are we going?
To be blunt, Marq and I have both been having a crappy time lately. So far, 2016 really isn't my year. The details are unimportant in something as magical as a Disney PTR
but rest assured, I could use a visit to my happy place. Things have actually started to generally look up since we started planning. Is it a Disney snowball effect?
Anyway, we were chatting about Disney and I said (as I'm wont to do), "I miss Disney." It's a wistful proclamation I make with regularity because it's true. Marq said, "We should go to Disney in the fall." I laughed out loud at this because there is absolutely no way I could afford a Disney vacation right now. I informed him of this and he replied, "You know what…it's on me." I didn't believe him at first (would you?) but it turned out that he was totally serious.
Once I had been finally convinced of this I zipped off to draw up a few estimates. I'll admit, I still had some lingering doubts. Sometimes people who haven't done the Disney trip thing before are…um…surprised (read: horrified) by the cost. Between tickets, lodging, and food (not even counting airfare) Disney isn't a cheap vacation destination. So, it was with moderated expectations that I drew up estimates for a weeklong stay (the amount of time Marq wanted) at a value, a moderate, and a deluxe resort in the fall. I also decided to do an estimate for food. I've priced out meals at Disney so many times it's almost automatic now. Every time I feel the need to be CERTAIN that OOP is cheaper for than a DDP and every time it is by at least $100 (when you spend enough meals being more tempted by alcohol than dessert, a DDP is almost never the way to go). So, along with the ticket quote and room estimates, I proposed two meal plans: one where I basically had us eating wherever I wanted and a more moderate option.
This took a few hours, not that I noticed. I put my head down in the morning to do the Disney math and when I looked up it was afternoon.
I sent Marq the numbers with a little trepidation…
And he said we should splurge!
I was thrilled, as you might imagine.
So, what does that entail?
Six nights in a Savanna-view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge! We're also planning on going to MNSSHP, thoroughly enjoying the F+WF, and eating at a number of scrumptious places. More details on all that in a later post.
We'll be checking in on Monday, October 24, 2016 and checking out on Sunday, October 30.
The next thing to ponder was: how are we getting there?
Marq and I debated this question a little bit. We considered both driving and flying- and then I had a brilliant idea. I don't know about you guys but an upcoming Disney trip always means reading Passporter trip reports for me. There are some I love so much that I even re-read them like a favorite novel.
One of the TR writers I adore is Jillybean, who has taken the train to Disney, both solo and with family, on many of her trips. So, I pulled up the Amtrak website and plugged in our travel dates. I live in central NC, so it's about a 12-13ish hour train ride from here to Orlando. Driving takes around 10 hours if the traffic gods smile on you and you have a sturdy bladder. The flight is a little over 2 hours, direct. However, it turns out that taking the train maximizes our Disney time. Whuh?
Why?
Well, flying means following the airline's schedule. The flights I was looking at has us arriving in Orlando in the afternoon and leaving in the morning. That's the OPPOSITE of what I want.
So, we'd be arriving much more quickly but we would still have less time on property. The train, on the other hand, leaves around 9 PM the day BEFORE we check-in to our hotel. So the bulk of those travel hours are overnight (far earlier than we could safely do in a car). That would be torturous in a regular seat but I looked at roomette prices and it's (a little) cheaper for us to share a roomette than to fly (and actually, Marq sprung for the upgrade to an actual room. Which mostly means we get a private bathroom/shower). Trains aren't always precisely on schedule but we'll still be getting there in the morning and leaving in the evening. Having actual beds means we have a chance of (gasp!) ACTUALLY BEING WELL RESTED BEFORE A DISNEY TRIP. I know, crazy, right?
Mostly, though, we're taking the train because it's an adventure. We've joked about me wearing a 1940s getup with a hat and everything like a girl out of a Hitchcock movie. It's not a significant enough savings over flying to be "worth it" on a purely financial basis, but I think it's going to add a fun element. It actually seems fitting, too, to take a train to Disney because Walt loved trains.
Ok, that's probably enough of an info dump for the first post! Thanks for reading. I should be back relatively soon to talk about our plans in more detail.
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