Itinerary & Dining Plan...

here's how it's gonna look, tentative as I have yet to see the November Disney calendar, as it doesn't come out for a little while yet...

November 08 - Seattle, WA to Bakersfield, CA
November 09 - Bakersfield, CA to Amarillo, TX
November 10 - Amarillo, TX to Hattiesburg, MS (or Jacksonville, MS)
November 11 - Hattiesburg, MS (or Jacksonville, MS) to CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT!

On the road we'll be eating outta the car, Erin's gonna stock up on food stuffs at Costco before we head out.

onto the Disney itinerary (subject to a bit of changing once we get the times calendar from Disney).

November 11 - Check in around 6pm, Dinner at Maya Grill Animal Kingdom Lodge's BOMA!
November 12 - Magic Kingdom Day 1 - Breakfast Dinner @ Chef Mickey's
November 13 - Disney's Hollywood Studios - Lunch @ 50's Prime Time Cafe
November 14 - EPCOT Day 1 - Breakfast or Lunch @ Akerhaus
November 15 - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Breakfast @ Tusker House
November 16 - Magic Kingdom Day 2 - Dinner @ California Grill (During the Fireworks)
November 17 - Freebie day/Downtown Disney/Mini Golf - Lunch @ T-Rex
November 18 - EPCOT Day 2 - Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare
November 19 - Disney's Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios - Dinner @ The Hoop Dee Do Review
November 20 - Magic Kingdom Day 3 - Counter Service lol (no changing of park day)
November 21 - Check out in the morning and go home :'(


no itinerary for the road trip back... yet.

Couldn't Wait 'Til Tonight

Tried to book LAST night, but their phoneline was closed for the evening by the time I called. No biggie. Woke up ON TIME for a change this morning and got ready for work with enough time to spare a call down to Disney. Got the resort we wanted, though not the room type. So far we're stuck with a King bed, hopefully that can be changed (keep your fingers crossed). I've been riding a high ever since!

WDW here we come!

Booking on Wednesday

As soon as I get home from work on Wednesday, barring any unforseen expenses between now and then, I will be calling down to Walt Disney World and *trumpet fanfare* BOOKING OUR NOVEMBER TRIP!

Score!

New Plans...

Still doing Disney, still doing Disney in November...

STILL DOING A ROAD TRIP! Just going in a different direction. Instead of me flying to Montana and going through the mid-west we are now going to drive from Seattle down I-5 down to LA then across the southern states to Disney...

Call us crazy, but we're counting down the days; ha ha!

Dates are November 8 - 24, 2010. Yes, that's right, I fly home the day before thanksgiving lol.

This should give us 10 nights and 9 days in the World. We're going to try out the Dining Plan as we want to do a couple of the "signature dining" spots and this would probably be cheapest. California Grill during Wishes, here we come! <3

So everything is back on and almost as good as planned. Can't wait to book the trip, I might just do it this weekend! ha ha!

Holiday Travels

So Erin spent the week here in Alaska with me. She got in last Saturday and we immediately headed for Kenai. It was my parents' wedding anniversary so we surprised them with a "FedEx" package that was "late in arrival". Mom was so surprised she screamed, through her purse across the room and proceeded to squeeze teh life out of Erin. Hysterical.

Mom was voiceless for three days after.

Spent most of the week down there and travelled back to Anchorage this past Saturday. Roads were good till we dropped down into Portage. Fishtailed quite a bit, but survived (though to hear Erin tell it we nearly died. Whatev.)

Yesterday we saw Disney's A Christmas Carol which was FAB! go see it! and then came back to try to put our Disney vids onto disk and I couldn't find my DVD recorder's remote. We tore my room apart, still no remote, so at 10pm last night we drove all over Anchorage trying to find a replacement DVD recorder... no such luck! So we bought tapes instead and were just going to do that until I could find a DVD recorder... we sit down get halfway through the first tape and out of no where the remote appeared between us! Seriously! the weirdest thing!

So we had a good laugh.

Now we're just transferring the stuff to DVD and sitting on our bums. We didn't go to bed until after 1am last night. Crazy stuff.

erin leaves today and I am sooooooooooo bummed.

We've hit a snag...

Come to find out our trip is not official. Erin only has a week officially off, she'd been counting on a second week. Not good. She was informed this past week that there wouldn't be a second week. Hm.

So this puts us in a situation where we will most likely have to fly down. August is still an option that way, and that also brings in November as an option.

Now, my feeling is that if we're going to fly I'd rather go down in November, becasue we would hit Disney while it was in Christmas mode. That's something I've wanted to see for quite a while.

Problem is: 2010 was supposed to be a roadtrip year. So I am somewhat bummed if this is what is going to happen.

Also big problem is if we go in November - it cramps my job option style, Erin won't get to go to Haille's birthday trip to Disneyland... and it's not a road trip lol

She's going to plead her [our] case again next week. Then we'll really has out the whole plan...


so that's where we stand at teh moment... I'm torn as to how I feel...

Just sittin here day dreamin...

and trying to figure out what life would be like if we got Free Dining while we're at WDW next year...

if I understand it free dining would be the basic plan, which means one table service credit, one counter/quick service credit, and one snack credit per night we're there.

That's 13 credits of each (and for each) for our trip... that would be fantastic!

IF that's what we get then here is how I would propose we do the Table Service credits...

Hoop-Dee-Do Review = 2 Credits each (this is something Erin wants to do and we will do with our without the DDP)
Chef Mickey's = 1 credit each
Akerhaus = 1 credit each
1900 Park Fare (dinner) = 1 credit each
Boma! = 1 Credit each
California Grill (during WISHES!) = 2 credits each
Maya Grill (first night we're there) = 1 credit each
Tusker House = 1 Credit Each
Whispering Canyon = 1 Credit each
Trex 360 = I would assume this is on the DDP, but I'm not sure

and there are credits left over...

I'm going to book these TS's when the time comes even if we don't know if the DDP is going to be a promo again or not. Better to get them and then cancel than not get them at all!

Subconscious Guilt

So I had another Disney dream last night, right before I woke up (so I guess I had the dream this morning). It was a sweet dream, but now I feel guilty.

Instead of being at WDW with Erin, I was with Haille Rae... she was about the age she is now, and she was having the time of her life. We were headed to CSR (by disney ferry, though, which is impossible. go figure) and she was just so happy to be at Disney.

Enter the guilt. We're not taking her to disneyLAND until she turns five in Feb. of 2011... it's going to be a big family birthday trip. She's super excited about it.

Erin and my trip happens before her birthday. I just hope she isn't miffed/confused/hurt that we're going without her (again) as our last trip is teh reason she got promised her bday trip in the first place!

Not the best feeling to wake up with, that's for sure. I really wish I could take Haille to WDW, but it's just not feesible. She will have a grand time at Disneyland, I have no doubt, and her mom and grandma will be there so in that way it's not like she's truly missing out. But I really enjoyed that dream...

...until the guilt set in. *sigh*

Because I can...

Yes, We're Going to Disney Again...

After a lot of back and forth, Erin decided about a month ago that Disney would be more fun than Canada. As much as we were both excited for it, she was being pulled towards the world's largest People Trap. So, three days of Toni being stuck in bed with a back/neck issue calculating expenses later: we find that it'd probably run a thousand dollars cheaper than the canadian road trip. Canada is expensive!

But we had a dilema! One of the main reasons we were doing the Canadian trip was for the road trip aspect of it! So, we thought, why not just drive down to Disney World! It shouldn't take THAT long, right? And if you think about it, gas is a heck of a lot cheaper for a car than two seats on an airplane. So I'll be flying down to Montana and we'll take off from there.

Basically, we're doing the same weeks/amount of time that Canada was going to be. Which, after figuring travel time to and from Florida, gives us twelve FULL days in the parks. We're going to stay (at this point in our planning anyway) at teh Coronado Springs Resort this time - for the FULL time - and with the average heat being what it is in August we will definitely be spending quite a bit of time there at the pool/in the rooms. Which I don't have a problem with. Naps are great.

So, yes, this will make three Disney trips in three years back to back to back. Disney 2009, Disney 2010, and then Disney[land] 2011. I am not worried of Disney burnout, but we are talking of changing it up for 2012! we have to, addiction is not good... right? ha ha!

So on that note I will close out this entry. Three entries in the span of 24 hours... I'm not excited at all, am I? ha ha!



Hope you like our layout... it was a pain to put together, but we got it up!

DISHNEY BABY!!!!!!

Well I am testing this out but WE ARE ROADTRIPPING TO DISNEY!!!!!!

Disney Dreamin'

Had my first travel nightmare last night, it's actually why I'm up so stupidly early here in my room. Blah.

It basically started out with Erin and I driving up to the Coronado Springs Resort (so I assume this was, in fact, a dream about our road trip next summer) and unloading. For whatever reason I let Erin take my luggage and her luggage and she went and checked in while I guess I had a valet take her car away ?? Who knows why my brain had it that way. As I'm standing on the curb (why didn't I go in?) I noticed others also arriving and wheeling to their rooms and what not. My brain identified one as DisneyDiana from Passporters (whom I've never met lol) but she really looked like one of my coworkers! Go figure!

Anyway while I'm waiting for Erin to return with our room assignment I realize - I don't have my purse or my camera or laptop... they're back in ALASKA! All I have is a suitcase with clothes. Now, if we were really on the road trip I KNOW I would have figured that out well BEFORE we got to Disney (if I didn't have my purse I wouldn't have gotten on the plane because I wouldn't have an ID! lol), but apparently my brain wasn't thinking clearly [bad pun!].

So I start freaking out and then Erin comes back and says we'll just call my parents and they'll have to FedEx my stuff down. Um, okay, I don't live with my parents how the heck are they going to get my stuff and ship it down? Shouldn't Judy and Gaylord do that?? Then off we went to our room. We were in the Cabanas again, just a different "Cabana" lol... everything was pretty much the way I remembered it (I would hope so)... and then I woke up because I was still freaking that I didn't have my stuff.

*facepalm* is it August yet?

-Toni

Testing this thing out

This is our new home. Not just Disney travel specific, we can use this blog over and over and over. Hopefully erin and I figure this one out pretty quickly and easily. Erin is worried she'll have problems but I have no doubt she'll be on here in no time.

Can't wait to start blogging about upcoming trips!

-Toni