[DawnDenise]

DawnDenise Does Disney: An Inaugural Solo Trip

I’m baaaaaaacccccckkkkk!! And here you thought you wouldn’t be hearing from me until November. Heck, I thought I was done until November. Amazing how things change very quickly. And no this isn’t an episode in the likes of Debbie Does Dallas. (Leave it to my DH to figure that out) I like the alliteration and unfortunately it sounded just like that. Get your minds out of the gutter. So, on with the show…

Cast of Character:

That would be me!! DawnDenise, otherwise known as Dawn. I’ll be 36 on this upcoming trip, which will be my 13th trip to WDW, 16th trip to a Disney Park overall. I’m a full fledge Disney addict that always seem to have 2-3 trips in planning stages. Nothing wrong with that if I say so myself. I am also a character addict. I can’t help it. I like finding those crazy furry and some not so furry characters to hug and get my picture taken with them. My absolute favorite is Eeyore with Chip and Dale becoming some new faves. This will be my first solo trip and definitely something I have wanted to do for a long time.


If you don’t already know me, this is me on my February 2008 trip with my mom. (I’m the one on the right.)

Now as I mentioned, this trip was not planned at all. On June 16, 2008, I went to mailbox and gathered all the junk mail, bills, and magazines that arrived that day. I sat it on the coffee table and went back to work as I had a lot of research to do on some cases I was working on. I take my “lunch break” (which is code for make a sandwich, heat up some leftovers, or some soup and then go back to the desk and continue to work) and reheat some goulash that I had made the night before. I decided to sort through the mail to throw away the junk mail and get the bills on Chuck’s desk. ‘Lo and behold I see something with Disney Destinations in the corner. At that moment, I knew I had finally gotten one of those elusive pin codes. I pull it out of the pile and see this:



Well, work took a back seat as I had to get more information. I looked at the calendar, came up with some dates that could work for a long 4 day weekend, and called the number provided. I spoke to Bee and she had me confirm all the personal data to make sure that I was attached to this pin code. Phone number wasn’t matching so I gave her my old one from Indy, and we were good to go. I gave her the dates I was interested in and she let the computer do the thinking to let me know what was available. After chatting about past trips for about 5 minutes, she told me she had no openings at the Value Resorts, but had some at CBR. She gave me the price for the room and 3 day PH tickets. I told her to place a hold on it, and I would think it over. She told me the deposit was due by June 30th and the final payment was due by August 5th.

I had a credit for Southwest that expired in December 2008. Just to see what flights would cost, I went to the Southwest website and put in my dates and up came the flights. I chose the only non-stop flights for both ways and clicked on continue. With my credit, it was going to cost me only $1.50. That’s right people, a whole buck fifty. I put the information aside and went back to work having taken an hour to get all this info.

Chuck comes home from work, and we had dinner. After eating, I showed him the flyer and told him the specialness of it. It was basically a huge dose of verbal diahrea. I gave him the info I had gathered and the first thing he said was I can’t get off work for those times. I already knew this and told him that it would be a solo trip. He said for that price I would be stupid not to take advantage of it. I called WDW CRO back and changed my tickets to Base tickets and to take off the travel insurance. She gave me that price, and it became even more tempting. I hung up and told Chuck the latest round of prices. He calmly walks over to his desk, gets the stimulus check he received the previous week, and hands it to me. He simply says “Go.” I had already planned to use my stimulus check (we file married but separately) that had been sitting in my savings account if I decided to do this trip. I ask if he is sure, and he said “Yes.” There are times I really wonder how I got so lucky to find and marry Chuck. He treats me like gold and spoils me a lot. I him more today than the day I married him. He called this my anniversary present since it is on Sept. 16th. Did you know that the new 8th wedding anniversary gift is a trip to Disney? I better come up with something pretty spectacular for his gift, huh? (I did get something pretty darn cool for his anniversary gift. )Anywho, I decided to sleep on it overnight and see if it is really something I needed to do. I mean, I was going to WDW in November for 8 glorious days. Did I really need to go again???

I woke up the next morning and called my mom to discuss it with her as she is the wise one. She asked some questions and said if she had the vacation time, she’d go in a heartbeat. So, I hopped on the Southwest site, and I bought my airfare. I think that $1.50 was the lowest amount I have ever put on my debit card. Next, called CRO at WDW. Talked with Kelsey, a delightful CM who was a grandmother to two girls that were coming in October for MNSSHP. She read back my reservation for 4 days, 3 nights (Sept. 19th through 22nd) at Caribbean Beach with a 3 day base ticket. Yep! She then asked why not four days. I then explained that my flight didn’t arrive in Orlando until 3:00 so I was just going to use my party ticket for MNSSHP the first day. She commented that the idea was pretty smart. She proceeded to order my party ticket, and gave me that confirmation number. Next, I paid the deposit. Holy Carp! I was actually going to do this. And it was coming in under the $600.00 mark of the stimulus check. Kelsey asked if I wanted to make any ADRs and I told her no, I was going strictly counter service this trip. She confirmed everything and advised that I would receive a confirmation in my email. I hung up the phone and literally did a happy dance in the middle of my office. This is one of those moments I am so glad I work from home. Only my furbaby witnessed this definite embarrassing moment.

At lunch, I went to the Barnes and Nobles about 5 minutes from my home and picked up the last copy of the WDW 2008 spiral bound PassPorter since the PassPorter store was sold out of Deluxe refills and the Spiral Bound. The guy at the cash register asked me if this was my first trip and gave me some tips. After I told him this was my 13th trip, he said I guess you know what you are doing then. I came home and sat it in my recliner as I had already wasted a lot of my work day already.

Coming Up: 4 Days in the World, What’s a Girl to Do?????