The "It's Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Time And I'm Livin' Hakuna Matata" Trip Report About This Page:

[revral]

I was bored so thought I'd start my trip report a few months early. Hope you enjoy the pretrip report. With that said here you go.

The PreTrip Or The "I've Been Laid Off And The Last Few Years Have Been Absolutely Horrid So I Think I'll Go To WDW" Report

First let me introduce you to the cast members for this trip. They are as follows:
Me: also known as Laura. I'm 35 and will turn 36 on December 20th. I'm owned and operated by the 3 cats that share my condo with me. I love Disney (Doesn't everyone? And really, how can anyone not love Disney?) and living north of Seattle Washington go to Disneyland at least once year. (Sadly though I have never been to WDW.) I went in March this year and will be going to Disneyland again in November followed by Disney World in December. I love to travel (thanks Mom & Pop) and have been to Europe and/or Great Britain 5 times, Canada, Hawaii and various other places around the U.S. I have a virtual "home and family" at Declutter Divas they have also become virtual and (having met some in person) real life friends.
Myself: See Me
and
I: See Myself
I first thought of going to WDW a few years ago and was going make it a 40th birthday trip in 2011. (and still may end up at Disney World for my 40th) However that was before the roughly 2 year period of time that started the end of August / beginning of September 2004 and ended August 2006 came around.. I’m just going to hit the major lowlights. In that period of time from the end of August / beginning of September 2004 to August 2006 my grandmother, grandfather, and great uncle died, the company I worked for at the time was sold, Pop (my stepdad) had major surgery, I was laid off, and my father was in a bad car accident. (We’re talking jaws of life and car totaled bad) There were other things but those are the major ones. So September 22, 2006 arrives and I go online to check the balance in my checking account and am surprised to see a direct deposit of a severance check from my former employer as I thought the check 2 weeks previous had been my last one. I decide to call and make sure that the check/deposit is not a mistake that needs to be returned before doing anything with it. Turned out it wasn’t a mistake and that my first post lay off check was for unused accrued vacation time and not severance pay. WooHoo!! Unexpected and unbudgeted money. What to do? What to do? Well, after some thinking I realized that I hadn’t had a true vacation in 10 years and that I could do with a major dose of happy, so I decided to put the money towards a vacation. After some more thinking I decided that I wanted to go someplace really fun and happy that made me feel good. That made the decision of where to go very simple and easy. There was/is only 1 place that fits those 3 criterion. That place? You guessed it, Disney. At first I was just going to go to Disneyland for a week. Well, after thinking about it some more and playing around on Disney’s website and reading posts and other information on such websites as AllEars, PassPorter, and MagicTrips, etc. I realized that for the cost of 1 night’s stay or $200 I could book either a Disney hotel room or a Disney vacation package for either Disneyland or Disney World and tale until check in or 45 days out to pay it off. I figured since that’s the case I might as well postpone my trip until December 2007 and go to Disney World. Knowing which Disney park I was going to I started reading about the various value hotels. At first I was going to book Pop then after some more reading I changed my mind and decided on All Star Music. The tickets were easy to decide on and I decided to get the dining plan. After looking at the calendar for December 2007 and deciding on dates I went online to Disney World’s website, booked my trip, and paid the deposit. It was official. By the time I went to bed on September 22 I was going to Disney World for 10 nights from December 07-17, 2007. I’d have 10 day park hoppers with water park fun and more and the dining plan. Let the real planning begin!!

To Be Continued in
The PreTrip Or “Decisions, Decisions, And Yet More Decisions” Report Continues

[TheThomasFam]

Great start-can't wait to read more!!

[disneydani]

You're off to a great start! Keep it coming, please.

danielle

[revral]

Now than, where was I? Oh yah. I had just booked a 10 night trip to Disney World. It was now time to start planning. My first decision although not strictly Disney related was to start assembling various "kits" as alot of the same stuff gets packed and unpacked every trip and I was (and still am) tired of rounding up the same items over and over again. My "kits" include a swimming kit, toiletries kit, office kit (mini stapler, tape, etc.), laundry kit, plane comfort kit (neck and back pillows, eye mask, earplanes, etc.) etc. Also rapidly decided was that I would use 1 of the mini (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") composition notebooks per day as a trip journal. They're small, fit easily in to a pocket, and the ones I got at WalMart have a stiff cover which makes for easy writing while standing in line. I also started looking at guidebooks at the library and in bookstores. After I don't know how many trips to and hours spent in the library and bookstores, Eureka!!! I finally struck WDW guidebook gold. The PassPorter. Thank heavens I did because all the other guidebooks either gave too much useless (but interesting) information and not enough useful information or they gave so much useful information in an awkward format as to be overwhelming at least to this WDW virgin. Needless to say that by the time I found the PassPorter I about ready to say, "Screw it!" and cancel my trip. I came to the PassPorter website and discovered that the 2005 books were being sold for $1 + s/h so I ordered 1. I was in love after my first 5 minutes of looking at it. I had found my guidebook and came back and pre-ordered the Deluxe 2007 edition. I then waited impatiently for my copy of the 2007 edition to arrive in my mailbox but wait I did. I was so excited when it arrived I practically danced back up to my condo from the mailbox. Once I calmed down I started reading with pen and paper handy. During the 1-2 weeks that I was waiting, ever so impatiently, for my Deluxe 2007 PassPorter I started playing around on airline websites looking at the flights available to MCO from SeaTac International Airport. (SeaTac is so named because it's south of Seattle and north of Tacoma. It's 3 letter airport code is sea) I quickly came to the decision that I would be taking an overnight flight to Orlando and an evening flight back to Seattle. The overnight flight to Orlando is necessary if you don't want to waste the first day of your vacation because of the 3 hour time difference. (Seattle is 3 hours behind Orlando)

Up Next The PreTrip Report Continues With
"Let There Be Food And They're Doing What To Alfredo's!?!"

[Colexis Mom]

Great start to your trip Hurry back with more

[KandJluvdisney]

great start
hurry back with more

[Lemap760]

Great start. Sorry about the layoff. I'm in the same boat. I've thought about taking a vacation with all this extra time I now have, but I'm a bit of a tight-wad with my money, especially when I'm not getting a paycheck.
Have fun on your trip.

[ArielsMomto2]

Great start. Hurry back with more.

[revral]

This will probably be long. So if you want something to drink or need to use the bathroom, now would be a good time to get or do whatever. Ready? Good. Than here we go. As I said before I started reading with a pen and paper handy so I could take notes. I did however take the time to print off a calendar with the dates of my trip and look up the Extra Magic Hours schedule in the PassPorter and than proceeded to plot out what days I would be where at this time my plan was to take full advantage of all Extra Magic Hours after doing that I started reading. Since I had the bare bones of my trip dealt with I decided to start with dining. So I flipped to the dining section and started making a list of table service restaurants and their locations that, based on the description, I thought sounded good. There were some I knew I wanted to try without having to think or read much about them. Those were Boma, LeCellier, 50's Prime Time Cafe, and Sci Fi Dine In Theater, and Raglan Road so I had 5 of my 10 table service credits chosen and plugged them in to my calendar by location as I didn't want to be running all over WDW just for dinner. Now came the hard part. I needed to choose 5 more table service restaurants that fit with where I was going to be on the days I had left. After repeated viewings of the menus on AllEars and multiple readings of descriptions in my PassPorter I had my list of 10 restaurants. The list was as follows: L' Orinale Alfredo, Le Cellier, Restaurant Marrakesh, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine In Theater, Raglan Road, Boma, Ohana, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Kona Cafe and they fit in the days I had available on my calendar and would not have me going from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot just for dinner.. Whew! Got that figured out. Now I just had wait for June 10, 2007 so I could make my adr's. Well, that's what I thought anyway. What happened? Disney announced Alfredo's was closing permenantly. Arrrrgh!!!!!! I had to come up with another restaurant that fit with my plan. While I was attempting to come up with another restaurant (and quite unsuccessfully I might add), Disney went and changed the Extra Magic Hours Schedule and having heard nothing but great things about him I subscribed to Tour Guide Mike.

To Be Continued in

"The Plan Changes And I Completely Overhaul My Dining Plans Or Will Planning The Dining Put Me In A Straight Jacket And A Rubber Room?"

Thanks for the encouragement. Glad you're enjoying this.

[Colexis Mom]

I hope you were able to get all your ADRs You have a great list

[DyanKJ130]

Rut roh!! No straight jackets & rubber rooms!! Great start to your TR. Sounds like you made wonderful dining plans! Can't wait to read more

[travismom]

Great start - kind of confusing - but fun to read!!! More please....

[revral]

So, where was I? Aaah. I remember now. I had subscribed to Tour Guide Mike and was now reading both Tour Guide Mike and the PassPorter plus I was reading and participating in the forums. Tour Guide Mike doesn't recommend extra magic hours and after reading his reasoning decided to change my plan and avoid the park(s) that have extra magic hours for that day. With that decided I still needed another table service restaurant and was anxiously waiting for Tour Guide Mike's least crowded parks chart for December to become available. I had decided I wanted to do Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Cirque du Soleil La Nuba so I decided to find out which nights those were availble on and decide when I was going to do those things to give me something to start working with. As luck would have it the Christmas Party was scheduled for Tuesday December 11th and I was already planning on Wednesday December 12th being my down day. So I decided to do Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on the 11th and than on the 12th I would have a lazy day and go to Cirque. Finally on Tuesday June 5th know that my 180 adr mark was the 10th I went to the library armed with the PassPorter, paper and everything else I thought I might need to figure out where I was eating and when. Tour Guide Mike had yet to release his least crowded parks chart so I didn't have much in the way of a framework to work with. This would prove to be extremely frustrating. Finally after close to 2 hours I was frustrated, starving and had the beginnings of a migraine but no plan for my dinning pleasure. Out of desperation I grabbed a pen, paper, and my PassPorter and made a list of the places I would like to try leaving out Alfredo's since it would be closed long before I arrive at Disney World. I ended up with my final 10 choices being Raglan Road, Tony's Town Square, LeCellier, Whispering Canyon Cafe, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Si Fi Dine In Theater, Boma, Spoodles, Mama Melrose with the Fantasmic package and Marrakesh. I decided to eat dinner at Tony's Town Square before the Christmas Party on the 11th and at Raglan Road after Cirque on the 12th. I knew I wanted to do something a little special for my last night which is December 16. After thinking about it and doing some reading in the PassPorter I decided to have dinner at LeCellier and than watch IllumiNations that night. So with those decisions made and not having anything else in the way of framework to work with I just plugged the other 7 restaurants in to the other days without any sort of plan. On Wednesday June 6th I called and bought my ticket for the Christmas party and also made an adr for dinner at Tony's Town Square at 5:30pm on December 11th the night my Christmas party ticket is for. Then on Sunday June 10 I called and made the rest of my adr's except for Raglan Road. I was told I'd have to call back later in the week to make the Raglan Road adr as they only take adr's starting at 180 days out from the date you want to eat there. I ended up getting all my adr's including LeCellier at 6:10pm on the 16th and Raglan Road at 8:30pm on the 12th. I was happy until a couple of days later when Tour Guide Mike came out with his least crowded parks chart causing me to completely overhaul my dining plans except for those on the 11th, 12th, and 16th. I again went to library and eventually came up with the following. The times are what got upon calling and making these adr's and canceling the others although I did keep the adr's I had for Tony's Town Square, Raglan Road, and LeCellier.
12/07 6:45pm dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe - dinner menu in the Wilderness Lodge.

12/08 6:45pm dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh - dinner menu

12/09 7:00pm dinner at Boma - dinner in Animal Kingdom Lodge

12/10 6:45pm dinner at Sci Fi Dine In Theater - dinner menu

12/11 5:30pm dinner at Tony's Town Square - dinner menu to be followed by Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at 7pm

12/12 6:00pm Cirque du Soleil La Nuba show followed by a late dinner at Raglan Road - dinner menu at 8:30pm.

12/13 3:50pm (hopefully I can get a latter time when it's closer to this date) dinner at Mama Melrose's -Fantasmic Package - dinner menu

12/14 6:50pm dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe - dinner menu

12/15 7:00pm dinner at Spoodles - dinner menu

12/16 6:10pm dinner at LeCellier - dinner menu to be followed by IllumiNations: Reflections on Earth at 9:30pm

Whew!! I'm done with the dining. Well I thought I was until several threads posted that got me rethinking my decision to get the dining plan. I made a list of pros and cons that didn't help, so I posted a thread on PassPorter's message boards and still couldn't decide. I finally called my mom (thank heavens for well traveled mom's who are former travel agents). Mom shared her thoughts and what she'd do as well as telling me what I already know. This apparently was what I needed in order make up mind about whether or not to keep the dining plan. So on Sunday August 12th I canceled all my adr's except for Raglan Road on the 12th, Mama Melrose on the 13th, and LeCellier on the 16th and I made 1 adr for Boma on the 08th at 9:15am for breakfast. I then called the Disney Travel Company and had them remove the dining plan from my package. I'm now thrilled with my dining plans. I hadn't realized how much I was dreading all of those big meals and the adr's that they went with. My dining plans now look like this:
12/07 Counter Service Only
12/08 Boma 9:15am
counter service rest of the day
12/09 Counter Service Only
12/10 Counter Service Only
12/11 Counter Service Only
12/12 Raglan Road 8:30pm dinner after 6pm Cirque show
Counter Service Rest Of Day
12/13 Mama Melrose - Fantasmic package 3:50pm
Counter Service Rest Of Day
12/14 Counter Service Only
12/15 Counter Service Only
12/16 LeCellier 6:10pm
Counter Service Rest Of Day
What I realized in talking to my Mom and if I'm honest already knew is that I would rather have the freedom that comes from not being tied to all the adr's I'd have if I was on the dining plan. I also realized that it's way too much food for me and that not only would I not eat anything close to all of it but I'ld probably end up skipping some of the adr's too. I saved $449.85 by getting rid of the dining plan,. That added to the $20/day that I was already budgeting for extra drinks and snacks will give me about $60/day and even at Disney prices and eating the occasional table service meal there is no way I'm going to spend that much money on food.
I'm not sure when the next update will as this covers the most recent events in my trip planning.

[Colexis Mom]

Great dining choices

[MickeyMAC]

Love your choices. Great Pre-Trip Report.