BrerGnat
05-15-2011, 03:23 PM
My trip is officially one week away! That means it's Pre Trip report time!
The Cast:
-Me (Natalie), 32
-DS (C)--she likes to protect her privacy. ;), 30
The Resort:
-Boardwalk Inn
Dates:
May 23-28, 2011.
Background:
I wasn't supposed to go to WDW this year. My sister, friend, and I typically go every other year for a girls trip. This year, though, what with my upcoming move to the east coast, I didn't think there would be time (or money) to go on our trip. We made peace with that. :)
Rewind 2 months. I had a tentative "house hunting" trip planned in Washington D.C. area for sometime in May. In the meantime, I'm scouring online ads for rental places. In the middle of all this, I end up with health issues requiring an unplanned surgery! DH takes pity on me, I think, and says that if it looks like I'll be able to travel in May to house hunt, why don't I use some AMEX points to detour to WDW for a few days, and take an entire week of "momcation". He suggests I take my younger sister along, both because she is sad about no WDW trip this year, and because he'd rather me not be alone while house hunting. I call her up, let her know what I'm thinking about doing, and she agrees to it before I even finish my explanation. "You had me at Disney World..." ;)
I mention our plans to our friend, who, unfortunately is just finishing up her last year at art school, and will not be able to join us. :( She'll be there in spirit, though.
In the meanwhile, I found a house! So, we're not so much "house hunting" as "house visiting". I'm glad to have that weight off my shoulders, and now we can spend an entire day in D.C. as tourists.
Debbie from MJ got us all booked at the Boardwalk Inn for 5 nights, using the Military Salute 40% discount. :thumbsup: This will be our first time staying there!
I purchased our 4 day Hoppers on base (again, Salute promotion), and made all the travel arrangements. Three one way flights, two hotels, and a car rental reservation and all I am paying for is the Disney portion! We had LOTS of AMEX points. Score!
We will be flying in on Monday afternoon. Our Disney park time will begin Tuesday, and we will spend 4 days hopping here, there, and everywhere.
On Saturday morning, we will bid WDW adieu and fly up to Dulles. We'll be there Sat and Sun, and fly home on Memorial Day.
Extras:
DEFINITELY renting Water Mice this trip! We haven't done this since, like, 1998, but we had so much fun back then that we are going to do it this time come heck or highwater! :D
DEFINITELY hitting up Jelly Rolls. (Never been there, but had planned on it the past two trips...illness squashed those plans).
MAYBE doing Characters in Flight. I want to do it, so we will if the weather cooperates the (probably) one time we visit Downtown Disney.
MAYBE playing Mini Golf. C is a big fan, and since we can walk, we might actually do it this time!
HOPEFULLY, not getting sick! I've been dealing with a monster virus since May 3. I just finished antibiotics for a sinus/ear infection. Still not feeling 100%. Hope I'm better in a week, and nothing new comes along. Last "girls trip", I spent 3 days in our hotel room with this bug: :ack:
Other than that, we don't have firm plans. We're in the camp of "what park do you feel like doing today." We go where the mood takes us.
As for dining, I made a few ADRs and then realized it was an exercise in futility. Who am I kidding? I don't like ADRs. I hate having to plan like that. It's too complicated. I did make an Ohana ADR for our arrival night, because we LOVE 'Ohana and I missed it the last two trips (see above: :ack: ). I also made an ADR for lunch one day at Via Napoli, because I REALLY want to try it. I made a couple more, but then cancelled them when I realized that dining seems virtually wide open for the week we are going. We'll try our luck with walking up, and if that fails, we are perfectly content doing CS and snacking as needed. I had to cancel the 'Ohana ADR when we ended up making plans with some family in Orlando for that night, but we plan to try our luck with a walk up one day at 5pm. Fingers crossed!
I'll be on my way next Sunday night!
The Cast:
-Me (Natalie), 32
-DS (C)--she likes to protect her privacy. ;), 30
The Resort:
-Boardwalk Inn
Dates:
May 23-28, 2011.
Background:
I wasn't supposed to go to WDW this year. My sister, friend, and I typically go every other year for a girls trip. This year, though, what with my upcoming move to the east coast, I didn't think there would be time (or money) to go on our trip. We made peace with that. :)
Rewind 2 months. I had a tentative "house hunting" trip planned in Washington D.C. area for sometime in May. In the meantime, I'm scouring online ads for rental places. In the middle of all this, I end up with health issues requiring an unplanned surgery! DH takes pity on me, I think, and says that if it looks like I'll be able to travel in May to house hunt, why don't I use some AMEX points to detour to WDW for a few days, and take an entire week of "momcation". He suggests I take my younger sister along, both because she is sad about no WDW trip this year, and because he'd rather me not be alone while house hunting. I call her up, let her know what I'm thinking about doing, and she agrees to it before I even finish my explanation. "You had me at Disney World..." ;)
I mention our plans to our friend, who, unfortunately is just finishing up her last year at art school, and will not be able to join us. :( She'll be there in spirit, though.
In the meanwhile, I found a house! So, we're not so much "house hunting" as "house visiting". I'm glad to have that weight off my shoulders, and now we can spend an entire day in D.C. as tourists.
Debbie from MJ got us all booked at the Boardwalk Inn for 5 nights, using the Military Salute 40% discount. :thumbsup: This will be our first time staying there!
I purchased our 4 day Hoppers on base (again, Salute promotion), and made all the travel arrangements. Three one way flights, two hotels, and a car rental reservation and all I am paying for is the Disney portion! We had LOTS of AMEX points. Score!
We will be flying in on Monday afternoon. Our Disney park time will begin Tuesday, and we will spend 4 days hopping here, there, and everywhere.
On Saturday morning, we will bid WDW adieu and fly up to Dulles. We'll be there Sat and Sun, and fly home on Memorial Day.
Extras:
DEFINITELY renting Water Mice this trip! We haven't done this since, like, 1998, but we had so much fun back then that we are going to do it this time come heck or highwater! :D
DEFINITELY hitting up Jelly Rolls. (Never been there, but had planned on it the past two trips...illness squashed those plans).
MAYBE doing Characters in Flight. I want to do it, so we will if the weather cooperates the (probably) one time we visit Downtown Disney.
MAYBE playing Mini Golf. C is a big fan, and since we can walk, we might actually do it this time!
HOPEFULLY, not getting sick! I've been dealing with a monster virus since May 3. I just finished antibiotics for a sinus/ear infection. Still not feeling 100%. Hope I'm better in a week, and nothing new comes along. Last "girls trip", I spent 3 days in our hotel room with this bug: :ack:
Other than that, we don't have firm plans. We're in the camp of "what park do you feel like doing today." We go where the mood takes us.
As for dining, I made a few ADRs and then realized it was an exercise in futility. Who am I kidding? I don't like ADRs. I hate having to plan like that. It's too complicated. I did make an Ohana ADR for our arrival night, because we LOVE 'Ohana and I missed it the last two trips (see above: :ack: ). I also made an ADR for lunch one day at Via Napoli, because I REALLY want to try it. I made a couple more, but then cancelled them when I realized that dining seems virtually wide open for the week we are going. We'll try our luck with walking up, and if that fails, we are perfectly content doing CS and snacking as needed. I had to cancel the 'Ohana ADR when we ended up making plans with some family in Orlando for that night, but we plan to try our luck with a walk up one day at 5pm. Fingers crossed!
I'll be on my way next Sunday night!