Recent Empty Nesters Go To Disney **updated 11/5 TWICE** - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Cast of Characters:
Recent empty nesters:
Tracy, aka Belle of Ohio, 44
Jack, DH, 58
October 18-24, POR
First, THE dining decision, yep decision, just one ADR for our entire trip. Lunch at Mama Melrose on October 19. I know we will fill up on the great offerings at the F&WF, so table service would really be a waste for us this trip. This is quite a change for us. We usually have at least one ADR for each day, but this year we are going to wing it. Totally out of character for me, but for some reason I am okay with it this year.
Sorry that wasn’t much of a dining report, but I do plan on lots of sampling at the F&WF. At least I will be able to report on that.
Now on to the dorky clothing decisions. This became dorky when I told my son, Conor, that I had ordered matching Halloween shirts for MNSSHP for his Dad and myself. He said that wearing matching shirts was dorky. I told him that was our costume…..a dorky old couple wearing matching clothes.
Here is the shirt I ordered from zazzle.com for the party.
I think it is cute and in no way dorky….even if Jack is wearing the exact same shirt.
We also decided to pay tribute each of our boys. We have decided to do this by getting our picture with their favorite character while wearing a shirt from their respective schools or branch of the military.
For Matthew-Air Force shirt-picture with Donald Duck
For Conor-Ohio State shirt-picture with Pluto
For Ross-Capital University shirt-picture with Goofy
The shirts Jack and I do not match exactly for this endeavor, so hopefully we won’t be too dorky. Although while packing I keep reminding Jack to pack his dorky clothes. He is a good sport and just going along with whatever I say. Maybe this is why we have been married 22 and a half years.
Of course I needed new shirts to accomplish this feat and this is what I bought.
I am not sure why the Cleveland Indians shirt is in there. I definitely don't have a son that plays for them. I guess I just like it.
If the shirts help anyone recognize me, feel free to say hi.
How fun! I'll be there at the same time and look forward to meeting you both at MNSSHP. I'll definitely be on the look out for your special shirts on the other days.
__________________
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Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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Here are our final plans. They are pretty loose this trip.
Saturday, October 18
8:00 AM Drop off Daisy (our sweet dog) at the boarders
9:00 AM Leave to drop off Jack’s vehicle at work. One of his employees will drop us off at the airport, which is only a couple of minutes away from work. That way we can leave the vehicle there and not pay for parking.
11:35 AM Flight leaves for Orlando
2:00 PM Arrive in Orlando, take Magical Express to POR
Once we get checked in, we will probably get a small bite to eat at the food court. I know we will be starving by then.
We are going to head to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. I know it will be crazy on a Saturday night, but we just want to see the castle.
Sunday, October 19
DHS in the AM
Lunch at Mama Melrose
Afternoon break
Fantasmic
Monday, October 20
AK for EMH
Afternoon break
Epcot in the late afternoon to eat our way around the world
Illuminations
Tuesday, October 21
Epcot in the AM to explore Future World
Lunch will be the F&WF
Afternoon break
MNSSHP with a Passporter Meet
Wednesday, October 22
AK or Epcot
Afternoon break
La Nouba at 6:00 PM
Thursday
Finish up anything we want to do or see, most likely Epcot
Friday
Flight home at 1:00
That’s it. We can’t wait to leave Saturday.
See you all when we get back.
I see that our days overlap as well. Have a safe flight and see you soon!
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
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Welcome to the empty nesters club!
I have three sons - all grown and gone. I am still getting used to it!
Your plans sound great! I hope you La Nouba! We really did!
Have a wonderful time and come back and tell us all about it!
What great plans...I think you decision to drop the DDP was a good one considering the F&WF is going on. After looking at the offerings I could definitely see myself perfectly fine dining on samples for a week
Congratulations on your DH for his weightloss what a great accomplishment.
Can't wait to hear all about your first trip as "empty nesters" while I am sure that there will be some melencoly moments when thinking of the boys I am sure this will be an amazing trip for the two of you...
Hoping to see tons of PhotoPass pictures when you return.
We arrived home a little over a week ago from a magical, wonderful trip. I did not take notes during our trip and quite frankly my memory is terrible. Remembering what we did in what order on what day is just not going to happen. Therefore, I decided to take a slightly different approach to my trip report and break it down by stuff rather than days. I can remember stuff much better than specifics. The first part is going to be all the practical stuff.....transportation and hotel. My second will be on the parks, third will be food, and finally will be all the extras (which includes MNSSHP, LaNouba and a Passporter meet).
As a reminder we are:
Me, Tracy (Belle of Ohio)
DH, Jack
We traveled October 18-24
Here is part one:
The Practical Stuff.....modes of transportation and hotel.....
Southwest
This was the first time that we had used Southwest Airlines. It was
great. We had a wonderful trip down and back.
I had checked in online on Friday, October 17, at exactly 11:35 AM for our
Saturday flight. I snagged us A22 and A23. We were among the first to
board, but it didn't really matter as the flight was not full. We ended
up in Row 6, with Jack on the aisle and me by the window. It was the best
kind of flight, uneventful.
For our return trip, we were able to stop by Guest Relations at DHS and
check in online. There were a couple of people ahead of us, so we didn't
get to check in right at 1:00, but only a couple of minutes after that.
We received A31 and A32. Guest relations couldn’t have been nicer about
printing up our boarding passes and wishing a safe return home. It was
super service from them, and I was glad that I had read here on the
Passporter boards that I could do that.
Both our flights were early. Our arrival flight was about 5 minutes
early. On our trip home we landed a good 25 minutes early. We were off
the plane and had our luggage before we were supposed to land.
I give Southwest two thumbs up and will use them again in the future with
no hesitations. DME
This is the third time we have used DME. We have never had any problems
or delays and this trip was no exception. Once I checked us in at the
counter we walked right on the bus and departed right away. We stopped
first at Saragota Springs, then Port Orleans French Quarter and finally
our stop Port Orleans Riverside.
The return trip was slightly less efficient, but still very good. Our
pick up time was at 10:00AM, but the bus didn't show up until 10:10. We
then headed to Port Orleans French Quarter and the driver got off the bus
and went the luggage service area and was in there for a good 10 minutes.
I am not sure what he was doing, but I was starting to get antsy even
though we had plenty of time to make our flight. He finally got back on
the bus and we left for Saragtoga Springs. Only one couple got on there
and we were finally off to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time for
our flight. Disney Park Busses (they were GREAT)
When we go to Disney, Jack really does not want to drive anywhere. He has
to drive a lot for work and a few days of letting someone else drive makes
the vacation even better for him. We have had problems in the past with
the busses, but this trip was absolutely perfect! We called it our
magical bus trip. We never waited more than a couple of minutes for a
bus. I am not kidding! Every time we left a park, a bus was waiting for
us. We would literally walk on a bus. When going to the parks, in the
mornings we used the South bus stop at POR, because it was near the food
court where we had breakfast. If it was any other time we used the West
bus stop because it was close to our room. Every time we would walk up to
a bus stop the bus was either waiting for us or it would be the first bus
that pulled up once we got there. We thought our luck had run out on our
last full day. We were headed to DHS and the first bus coming around the
corner was Epcot. Just before it got to our stop it changed from Epcot to
DHS! We were convinced that we had magical bus powers this trip. I am
not sure what Disney has done, but whatever it is the bus system was
FANTASTIC this trip. Port Orleans Riverside
This is our fifth time staying at POR and we still love it. I did not
send a fax or make any requests for our room location this trip. Check in
went well. We only had a couple of people in front of us in line and we
were being helped before long. Our CM, Israel, was earning his ears and
he did a good job. At the very end he gave us our room location, which
was building 34 room 3464. When he pointed out on the map, I said
something to the effect of "way out there?" His response was
"it's not far". I wasn't thrilled with the location, but
decided to go with it. It really wasn't bad and I did end up liking it.
It was quiet and we had a corner room. But I did want to go back to
Israel and tell him that "it was far". Every morning on our
hike to get my morning Diet Coke and I was a little caffeine deprived,
Jack would tell me don't worry that "it's not far" when I
grumbled about how long it was taking. That became our motto for our
trips up to the food court or the front desk. It's not far.
The room was clean and mousekeeping did a great job daily. On the first
morning we realized that we didn't have any soap. I usually bring my own,
but had forgotten to pack a new bottle and only had a small bottle with
just enough for one day. I left a note with mousekeeping to please leave
soap. They did.......EIGHT bars. I guess when I underlined the word soap
they figured I needed a lot of it.
Here we are in front of Building 34
Up next is the parks, with more pictures now that I have my photopass CD.
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And I can understand filling up on offerings from the Food and Wine Festival - we plan on doing that too. 
Reese
The first part is going to be all the practical stuff.....transportation and hotel. My second will be on the parks, third will be food, and finally will be all the extras (which includes MNSSHP, LaNouba and a Passporter meet).
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