[LLaffinPlace]

When: February 6 - 17, 2002
Who: Bob (54) and Larry (45), both WDW veterans, long-time friends and co-workers: Bob is the keeper of the PassPorter this time
Resorts: Wilderness Lodge (2/6 - 2/13), Caribbean Beach Resort (2/13 - 2/17)
Background: This is our fourth trip to WDW together. Previously, we have met my sister and her family, Bob's sister and his nephew's marching band and chorus and, in 2001, just to go back to Mickeyland! This time we will be meeting up with Bob's sister a week into the trip.
The Planning: [img]graemlins/read.gif[/img] Good planning will take care of everything, right? Well, perhaps not when it's an excellent WDW adventure--you just can't plan for every contingency.... Prior to Christmas, Bob and I worked on the picking the first place to stay: would we return to Dixie Landings, now Port Orleans Riverside? Go to the Wilderness Lodge? What about the Animal Kingdom Lodge--I had received a "special" rate offer in the mail? Well, we decided on the Wilderness Lodge (WL), but would eat one meal at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) to scope the place out for a potential future stay. After the holidays--in consultation with Bob's sister--we decided on a return to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR), where Bob and I had stayed the year we met my sister's family in 1995. Reservations for our flights had been made in December as soon as we set the dates and, with some judicious online tweaking, we managed to get seats together for 3 out of the 4 flights (Huntsville to Atlanta to Orlando and back). This left much serious discussion of priorities for where to eat during our stay, and what Priority Seating (PS) reservations to make ahead of time and which to put off until our arrival. We identified Artist Point at the WL, Boma at the AKL (to check the place out), and Flying Fish (a favorite [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) as the "first tier" spots. Others, such as Kona Cafe, Narcoosee's, and Le Cellier were strong possibles; the first two were new ones for us to try. I should point out that this obsession with eating is somewhat ironic as collectively we have managed to lose 150 pounds! But part of a vacation for us is to relax the usual regimen and eat stuff we would not ordinarily allow ourselves. [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

[ 03-02-2002, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: LLaffinPlace ]