brivers222
Former DVC member
- Joined
- May 19, 2004
I am going to try my hand at this trip report stuff. I can't guarantee anything spectacular because let's be honest, I really hate writing but I will try to find time to keep a log about our trip.
Anyways, lets get right into the Pre-Trip report.
Oct 2010 Cast of Characters:
(Brandon) : Me <-- will be referred to from here on out as "I"
(Adrianne) : My Fiancee <-- Will be referred to from here on out as YO!... Her dad and G'pa were boxers, you get it?
Oct 2010 Trip Set-Up:
Last Year, Oct 16th to be exact YO! bought her first house and the deal was going to be that I would be living with her to help share the costs.
The Realtor was a long time family friend of mine who worked with me to knock YO!s socks off. Upon stepping into the house for the first time after she got the keys at closing, I started dancing with her in the empty living... Humming "All I ask of you" from The Phantom of the Opera (its our favorite Musical and i thought it was fitting. As I got more into it I started verbalizing the lyrics until the very end when I got down on one knee and said, "Adrianne, Marry me...That's all I ask of you" See what I did there? Changed "Love Me!" into "Marry Me!" well of course flash forward a year later I am venturing to Disney to Celebrate our 1-year Engagement... You can guess what her answer was! Sadly it was a No... I am with a new lady now (I am both a bad dancer and Singer it turns out)! Just Kidding, well I am really bad at dancing/singing, but she did say yes!!!! Okay how is that for an ice breaking anecdote?!
Oct 2010 Planning:
I will admit, I am the planner in the family... I take after YO!s step mom who like excel sheets and all that jazz. I have many excel sheets I created listing ADRs, Park Hours, and much more fun stuff. YO! is the type to just go with the flow and take it lazily... I am guessing this hardcore planning I am doing will be more a guideline actually. I have placed all my ADRs and as of today (10/6/10) I do solemnly swear I will not adjust them....much. You can see the ADRs I picked out and what we "may" be doing each day below...I am wondering if we will stick to those or venture off the beaten path.
While we both love staying on disney property, my parents joined this BlueGreen timeshare which they loved so much they went like triple Platinum on points... So they gifted us a 9 day Home Away From Home at The Fountains. Amazing that the rooms are 1,190 sq ft. It was pretty much a no brainer to accept their most gracious offer. I am a former DVC member (only being able to stay at SSR before I had to sell due to the Auto Industry in Michigan) so I am kind of excited to see another vacation clubs rooms. The Brainwork really started when I realized staying off-site (which we used to do as a family when i was a wee little lad) offers a bit more work in planning. I really didn't want to rely on their "free" shuttle and the alloted times to arrive and return so i knew we had to A)Rent a car or B)Drive down. If we rented a car though, we would still have to pay for Airline tickets and be restricted on what we could bring... So I decided to go the route of driving. In March I bought a 2010 Honda Fit, so this will be the Maiden Voyage of the Black Pearl. I dubbed it that because its color is called (black pearl) and it has Jolly Rogers on either side... forget the fact that the license plate is (BK Prl). Now we wont be restricted to the shuttle times and if we need to do some quick shopping at say the local Walmart or what have you, we will be free to go. But Driving also brings into the fact that instead of a 3ish hour flight we now face an 18hour drive. Since YO! doesn't get much vacation time at her work so time is of the essence. I have driven the route from MI to FL straight through a few times so I am going to do a brunt of the driving while she rests in the passenger seat. I am predicting many rest stops to stretch our legs haha As a kind of "reward" for her making the long trip I have scheduled in a Swedish Massage (the the head, neck, shoulder add-on) at the Grand Floridian Spa upon arrival... before our Dinner ADR and after we checkin offsite.
So, last night we did our pre-trip shopping... wow we bought a lot and spent a lot, now i see the benefit of a restricted luggage airplane ride... haha. Everything is laid out and ready to go. I am taking Friday off to sleep in so that I am well rested for the long trip ahead of us. I stocked up on the Made in Michigan 5-Hour Energies for the trip.... those little guys do come in handy late at night.
I normally go in early May so I was excited to check out the food and wine festival. YO! is a self proclaimed Wine-o, I am still using training wheels. For added thrills I decided to book not one (1) but two (2) MNSSHPs. The reasoning behind this is that YO! likes all things "NOT SCARY" and I was kinda in no EMH withdrawls staying offsite. So instead of buying two one-night hotel for around $120 each to get the EMH, I decided to get my party on!
Being away for 10 days will be the longest I have been away from my little GusGus (2 year old kitten) and Corky (16 year old Cat)...thankfully my parents have agreed to check on them and make sure they are fed and watered and litter box cleaned.
Alrighty enough about all this stuff, the real fun starts after work tomorrow when I know after 1 sleep we will be leaving for WDW!!!!
Eeeeeeeee Okay so the ADR's are official...it has been printed off... it is written in stone... sorta... maybe
2010 Engagement Celebration Dinning Menu
Day 1 (Arrival At Disney after a 19hour car ride / Magic Kingdom after Dinner)
DINNER: 1900 Park Fare
Day 2 (HS / Epcot)
LUNCH: Sci-Fi
DINNER: Chefs De France
Day 3 (Animal Kingdom / MNSSHP)
LUNCH: Tusker House
DINNER: Tonys
Day 4 (Hollywood Studios)
LUNCH: 50s Prime Time
DINNER: 'Ohana
Day 5 (Water Parks / Downtown Disney)
DINNER: Hoop Dee Do Revue
Day 6 (Epcot / MNSSHP round 2)
BREAKFAST: Akerhaus Princess Breakfast
Day 7 (Epcot / DTD)
BREAKFAST: 'Ohana
DINNER: Spirit of Aloha
Day 8 Our Anniversary (Epcot / MK after dinner)
BREAKFAST: 1900 Park Fare
LUNCH: Via Napoli
DINNER: Cinerella's Royal Table
Day 9 Leaving Day (MK then Epcot)
LUNCH: Crystal Palace
DINNER: The Garden Grill
I am curious to see just how closely we follow these guidelines
Anyways, lets get right into the Pre-Trip report.
Oct 2010 Cast of Characters:
(Brandon) : Me <-- will be referred to from here on out as "I"
(Adrianne) : My Fiancee <-- Will be referred to from here on out as YO!... Her dad and G'pa were boxers, you get it?
Oct 2010 Trip Set-Up:
Last Year, Oct 16th to be exact YO! bought her first house and the deal was going to be that I would be living with her to help share the costs.
The Realtor was a long time family friend of mine who worked with me to knock YO!s socks off. Upon stepping into the house for the first time after she got the keys at closing, I started dancing with her in the empty living... Humming "All I ask of you" from The Phantom of the Opera (its our favorite Musical and i thought it was fitting. As I got more into it I started verbalizing the lyrics until the very end when I got down on one knee and said, "Adrianne, Marry me...That's all I ask of you" See what I did there? Changed "Love Me!" into "Marry Me!" well of course flash forward a year later I am venturing to Disney to Celebrate our 1-year Engagement... You can guess what her answer was! Sadly it was a No... I am with a new lady now (I am both a bad dancer and Singer it turns out)! Just Kidding, well I am really bad at dancing/singing, but she did say yes!!!! Okay how is that for an ice breaking anecdote?!
Oct 2010 Planning:
I will admit, I am the planner in the family... I take after YO!s step mom who like excel sheets and all that jazz. I have many excel sheets I created listing ADRs, Park Hours, and much more fun stuff. YO! is the type to just go with the flow and take it lazily... I am guessing this hardcore planning I am doing will be more a guideline actually. I have placed all my ADRs and as of today (10/6/10) I do solemnly swear I will not adjust them....much. You can see the ADRs I picked out and what we "may" be doing each day below...I am wondering if we will stick to those or venture off the beaten path.
While we both love staying on disney property, my parents joined this BlueGreen timeshare which they loved so much they went like triple Platinum on points... So they gifted us a 9 day Home Away From Home at The Fountains. Amazing that the rooms are 1,190 sq ft. It was pretty much a no brainer to accept their most gracious offer. I am a former DVC member (only being able to stay at SSR before I had to sell due to the Auto Industry in Michigan) so I am kind of excited to see another vacation clubs rooms. The Brainwork really started when I realized staying off-site (which we used to do as a family when i was a wee little lad) offers a bit more work in planning. I really didn't want to rely on their "free" shuttle and the alloted times to arrive and return so i knew we had to A)Rent a car or B)Drive down. If we rented a car though, we would still have to pay for Airline tickets and be restricted on what we could bring... So I decided to go the route of driving. In March I bought a 2010 Honda Fit, so this will be the Maiden Voyage of the Black Pearl. I dubbed it that because its color is called (black pearl) and it has Jolly Rogers on either side... forget the fact that the license plate is (BK Prl). Now we wont be restricted to the shuttle times and if we need to do some quick shopping at say the local Walmart or what have you, we will be free to go. But Driving also brings into the fact that instead of a 3ish hour flight we now face an 18hour drive. Since YO! doesn't get much vacation time at her work so time is of the essence. I have driven the route from MI to FL straight through a few times so I am going to do a brunt of the driving while she rests in the passenger seat. I am predicting many rest stops to stretch our legs haha As a kind of "reward" for her making the long trip I have scheduled in a Swedish Massage (the the head, neck, shoulder add-on) at the Grand Floridian Spa upon arrival... before our Dinner ADR and after we checkin offsite.
So, last night we did our pre-trip shopping... wow we bought a lot and spent a lot, now i see the benefit of a restricted luggage airplane ride... haha. Everything is laid out and ready to go. I am taking Friday off to sleep in so that I am well rested for the long trip ahead of us. I stocked up on the Made in Michigan 5-Hour Energies for the trip.... those little guys do come in handy late at night.
I normally go in early May so I was excited to check out the food and wine festival. YO! is a self proclaimed Wine-o, I am still using training wheels. For added thrills I decided to book not one (1) but two (2) MNSSHPs. The reasoning behind this is that YO! likes all things "NOT SCARY" and I was kinda in no EMH withdrawls staying offsite. So instead of buying two one-night hotel for around $120 each to get the EMH, I decided to get my party on!
Being away for 10 days will be the longest I have been away from my little GusGus (2 year old kitten) and Corky (16 year old Cat)...thankfully my parents have agreed to check on them and make sure they are fed and watered and litter box cleaned.
Alrighty enough about all this stuff, the real fun starts after work tomorrow when I know after 1 sleep we will be leaving for WDW!!!!
Eeeeeeeee Okay so the ADR's are official...it has been printed off... it is written in stone... sorta... maybe
2010 Engagement Celebration Dinning Menu
Day 1 (Arrival At Disney after a 19hour car ride / Magic Kingdom after Dinner)
DINNER: 1900 Park Fare
Day 2 (HS / Epcot)
LUNCH: Sci-Fi
DINNER: Chefs De France
Day 3 (Animal Kingdom / MNSSHP)
LUNCH: Tusker House
DINNER: Tonys
Day 4 (Hollywood Studios)
LUNCH: 50s Prime Time
DINNER: 'Ohana
Day 5 (Water Parks / Downtown Disney)
DINNER: Hoop Dee Do Revue
Day 6 (Epcot / MNSSHP round 2)
BREAKFAST: Akerhaus Princess Breakfast
Day 7 (Epcot / DTD)
BREAKFAST: 'Ohana
DINNER: Spirit of Aloha
Day 8 Our Anniversary (Epcot / MK after dinner)
BREAKFAST: 1900 Park Fare
LUNCH: Via Napoli
DINNER: Cinerella's Royal Table
Day 9 Leaving Day (MK then Epcot)
LUNCH: Crystal Palace
DINNER: The Garden Grill
I am curious to see just how closely we follow these guidelines
