Honeymoon with Our Best Friend (aka - Christmas With The Crankiest People You Know) - Trip Report! - UPDATED 3/6/09 About This Page:

[wvugrrrl]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my distinct pleasure to present my very first PTR! Oh, how I’ve longed to type that acronym, but the opportunity simply hasn’t presented itself (who am I kidding? The motivation simply hasn’t presented itself!). But alas, I digress…and I tend to do that a lot, so bear with me. On to the real meat and potatoes of why you’re here!

The Cast:

First up – MEEEEE! I’m Molly, aka wvugrrrl.


This is pretty much me in a nutshell.As you can clearly see, I like to party, 80's style. And I might also have a kickin' mullet with bangs.

How's this one?

Little more normal? What if I told you that was Beverly in my cup? Then would you think I was wiiiilllld and crrrraaazzzy?
So here's my deets - I'm 26, newly married (in June), live in Morgantown, WV and I work midnights at a mental health facility. It's not as exciting as you may think - I answer a suicide hotline and occasionally get to certify people as nutso !
I love WDW, and have been going since I was a child, but it's been within the last 5 years or so that I've been going pretty regularly with my (now) husband (we're now Annual Passholders!) We bought into the DVC in 2007 and our home is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. My favorite park is Epcot and my favorite ride is the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster. My favorite character is Stitch, and you can always find me in the parks wearing a sweet Stitch backpack, a pin lanyard, and some Stitch ears.


Also along for the ride is my husband Travis, aka doctorhead.

I think this picture says it all...he's a pretty, pretty ladiee! Actually, when he's not being a good sport and letting me practice my stellar makeup techniques on him, he usually looks like this:


Trav is 27. He's finishing up his 4th year in medical school, and we're looking to move south for his residency. He wants to do Emergency Medicine. I was personally leaning towards him doing Plastic Surgery, but hey...beggars can't be choosers, right? Besides myself, he might be the funniest person I know.

I'm not going to presume to tell you what his favorite park/ride is. He can do that himself. But his favorite character is a certain fishy-smelling redhead. Dare I say he might be slightly...obsessed over her? Anywho...before me, Travis had been to WDW all of once. Now, you can hardly get the guy away from the place. Seriously, he went to Orlando in September to do an internship at a hospital there, and this is an example of a typical daily phone conversation we'd have.
Me: Hello?
Trav: *garbled language, children screaming, magical music playing in the background*
M: Where are you?!
T: I'm in the Magic Kingdom/on the monorail/hanging out with princesses/living it up in the happiest place on earth.
M: *sobs in a corner, with nothing but a dog and 2 cats to keep her company*

So that's us. And what would any good Honeymoon PTR be without a picture of us in our wedding finery?


Coming Up - What, you thought a honeymoon was only for two people? You thought I meant my husband was my best friend? Oh, are you in for a surprise!

[emtpej]

Sounds like quite a cast of characters!

[buzzspal2]

Molly,
Congratulations on your wedding and Happy Honeymoon

[mommadjones]

Cant wait for more

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Molly!! More please

[bsblady01]

more please

[wvugrrrl]

The Cast Cont’d

So our lineup isn’t complete. Not by any means. But for the longest time, (in fact, since we’d begun planning our honeymoon), it was. I mean, who takes extras on their honeymoon, right?

We do! So without further adieu, allow me to introduce our best friend, Joey (aka ThatGuy)!


Here are some things you should know about our friend. Joey is going to be 28 soon. He lives in Morgantown too, loves 4-H, slaves at Panera Bread, and may someday graduate from WVU…at least we hope so. His first EVER trip to WDW was with Trav and me waaay back in Spring Break of 2005, and (much like our upcoming trip) began with a conversation that consisted of, “Hey Joey, we’re going to WDW again this year. You should come along.” He did, and the rest is history, because he was hooked, and quickly became obsessed with all things Disney.

(He's also obsessed with pin-trading and lanyards, as you can see.) Joey loves both Fantasias, and his favorite character is Sorcerer Mickey.


Joey was actually house-sitting for us when we were robbed, and since Trav and I like to reward epic failure, we invited him along on our honeymoon! Ok, so maybe that’s not the entire reason…it could also have a lot to do with the following reasons:
1. Joey’s a lot of fun in general, but especially when he’s drawing attention to himself so he can be onstage at the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (as evidenced by the above picture);
2. So many new rides and attractions have gone up since the last time he came with; how could we deny our friend an even better time of his life?
3. We had plenty of space in our hotel room;
4. Bringing back pins for him every time we went kept getting expensive.
5. But most importantly, we love him to death and we wanted him to come along. (Plus he was more excited about Disney at Christmastime than we were, and when we told him about Mousefest, his head just about exploded).
So, with the purchase of a plane ticket, it was confirmed! Joey was onboard for the trip of a lifetime! And hence, the first title of this Pre-Trip Report: Honeymoon With Our Best Friend.


Here we are, after we drew pictures of Stitch at the Magic of Disney Animation. Stitch didn’t seem very impressed, as evidenced by his “mmeeeehhh…” expression.

And finally, Joey & Travis doing the Segway Tour (that I would have been included on, had I not had a drunken encounter the night before with a fountain in Downtown Disney that resulted in a sprained ankle).


Coming Up: So this thing you call Christmas…what exactly does that all entail? – All the juicy details on the where’s, when’s, and what’s.

[TheThomasFam]

Okay, so I'm hooked-bring on more!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update!! Sounds like Joey is a lot of fun!!

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!!!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Looking forward to more!

[akleos]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH GIIIIIRL! I just loves me some Molly PTR!!!! More more more more more! I would like to write more glowing accolades, but the kids are literally crawling all over me and its makling typiing difficult. ARGH! Didn't I just play with you animals 5 seconds ago???? And you said you wanted us to spend time with you! be careful what you wish for, Molly!

[snoozin]

Great so far... I can't WAIT for more!!

[wvugrrrl]

...So why Christmas? Why not just do the normal thing and go on the honeymoon...well, when the wedding ends? Part of the problem was that the week after we got married, Travis had to start school/rotations again. So that would have cut any trip short anyway, and we simply can't go to WDW for less than 7 days! Seriously. Our trips just keep getting longer and longer every time we go. And because Travis has rotations until the beginning of December, that pretty much pushed us into the holidays anyway.

So...we could've gone after the New Year...only, after watching so many Travel Channel/Samantha Brown/Food Network specials at WDW during Christmas, we'd been bitten by the holiday bug. I mean, a full-scale gingerbread house at the GF? Christmas trees everywhere? Jingle Jungle Parade at AK? Sign me up! Besides, we've been to the World every other season - spring, summer, fall...so why not winter?

After we'd tentatively planned where we were going to stay (or rather, how we were going to spend our points), we started planning what events were in store. And let me just tell you – we’re pulling out all the stops on this trip!
I started using my iCal feature on my Mac to start plotting dates, events, and many other things. I don't want to brag, but my iCal might just give Karen of the Crazy Lady Trio a run for her spreadsheet money! Not only do I have colored tabs for each event (that totally correspond to the colors here in my PTR ) – from Dining, to EMH’s (both morning AND evening!), to Confirmation Numbers and Separate Mousefest Events…well, I don't want to give all my secrets away. Let’s just say I’m on top of my game here! (Added bonus – Travis, Joey, and I all have iPhones – so we can sync those babies up to my laptop and have the same schedules in the palm of our hand. Ahhh, technology ).

So, I’ll stop my backstory verbal diarrhea, and give it to you just like it’s all laid out on my iCal!

When:
Officially vacation begins Friday, December 12th – Sunday, the 21st. Joey and I will be flying Southwest out of Pittsburgh, at 9:10 am. We’re headed straight to Orlando where we’ll be picked up by a waiting Travis in a rental. (And No, we’re not doing Magical Express – we prefer our own transportation in the parks).

[At this point, you’re probably scratching your heads and wondering why Travis isn’t coming with us. Basically, he starts interviewing for his residencies the first week of December.] His schedule is (tentatively) as follows:
· Dec 1st – Dallas TX to Shreveport LA for an interview at LSU-Shreveport on the 2nd.
· Dec 3rd – Shreveport LA to Baton Rouge LA for an interview at LSU-Baton Rouge on the 4th.
· Dec. 8th – Interview in Jacksonville FL. We haven’t decided if he’s going to drive there and stay from the 4th-8th, or if he’s going to fly home and fly back down.
· Dec. 9th – Jacksonville to Orlando for an interview at Orlando Regional Medical Center on the 11th.

Whew! I’m exhausted just trying to keep up with that mess. And who knows if more dates will be added?

But enough about Travis’ busy schedule, and back to the trip!

Where:
We’ll be staying CONCIERGE!!!! at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from December 12th-15th. We've requested a Savannah View.
On December 16th, we’re moving over to the Boardwalk Villas (nothing like killing 2 birds with one stone!) for the rest of our vacation. We've requested a Boardwalk View.


Coming up: WHAT’S happening WHEN? And WHY? And are naps part of the game plan?

[wvugrrrl]

First, some disclaimers:
1. We’re on the Disney Dining Plan. For some people, it’s a lot of food. For gluttons like us, who would never normally eat this well, or this much, it’s an affordable way to eat at restaurants we might not typically choose to eat at. We it! Especially for some of us who’d like to eat at more exotic restaurants, but are married to picky eaters who turn up their noses at EVERYTHING [Travis, I’m looking at you here], so we’re able to justify trying something new because technically, we’re not paying for it, right?!
2. As you’re about to see, while we have a lot of events planned for our trip, we also like to keep it loose and lazy. So if it seems like there’s a lot of blank spaces in-between daily scheduled events, it’s because we never know when the urge to take a nap is going to strike. Sometimes it strikes in the middle of the day on benches at Epcot (specifically by the miniature village in between Italy and Germany). But the gist is basically this – Travis can live without naps. Joey and I are dedicated nappers. Which brings me to the second title of this PTR – Christmas With The Crankiest People You Know – because that’s who we are if we don’t get naptime in!
3. We’re renting a car. Personally, I hate the Disney buses. Call it being spoiled, but the freedom of a car is being able to wait in line for a tram, travel to your parking area, find your row, sit in traffic, and just go home! But all joking aside, we’re planning on some off-property activities, so it just made sense.

Now, let’s get to the goods!

Day 1 (Friday, Dec. 12th):

· Joey and I arrive at Orlando MCO at 11:30am (hopefully. Did I mention how much I’m not a big fan of the flying?)

· We’ll head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in. We don’t really have a whole lot planned today – we’ll probably just check in, drool over the accommodations and the AKL in general , and, in what has quickly become our WDW tradition, putz on down to Downtown Disney for some pin shopping (because you know we’ve gotta get our lanyards ready for tomorrow!)

· We’ll also prolly eat at the Earl of Sandwich, which is an OBSESSION for Travis, Joey, and me. The last time we all went together, I think we tried to eat it every day!
Ø Added bonus - Since we’re on the DDP, and we’ve got a couple Signature Dining Experiences lined up, we’re saving a TS meal tonight!

· Epcot has Evening Extra Magic Hours and Joey’s never ridden Soarin’ or the new Finding Nemo. Plus, he’s never seen Illuminations…and I just signed us up for a new Passporter/Mousefest Event!

Ø Things we’re looking forward to at Epcot:


ü NOT riding Mission: Space – in fact, when I visited Travis in Orlando in August, I thought to myself, “Hey. It’s been a few years. How bad can it be?” Apparently, so bad that when Travis asked me how Gary Sinese was, I replied, “Condescending.” And I think that pretty much sums up my feelings for this ride.


ü Bar Crawl! It’s a Molly/Travis classic since the Food & Wine Festival trip of 2004.


We tried to replicate it on the trip Joey took with us in 2005, but were thwarted by an evil (rhymes with) witch in France who told us her mimosas were “Cash only,” and up ‘til that point, we’d been strictly “Cards only.” Possible hindrances on this trip – the “Half-Yard” being taken away at the Bass Kiosk in England

(note – in August, I definitely tried to buy one, was told they no longer had them, and totally made the snide comment – “Yeah, cuz there’s nothing like encouraging public drunkenness in Epcot.” To which the CM replied, “Exactly.” Well played, miss. Well played.


ü Dame Judy Dench! Take that, Jeremy Irons! While I still think there are some kinks to be worked out from what I saw in August (like, the weird gaps of no audio from the printing press up to the computer being built in a garage, and so on), I love the ending. Ooh! Chalk that up to another ride Joey’s never experienced!


ü And last, but not least, the Passporter’s 10th Anniversary Around the World Meet at 8:30pm! We’re going to watch Illuminations with Jennifer, Dave, and our fellow Mousefester’s (wow…that just doesn’t look right…festers… ). Then we’ll actually get in a nap during the American Adventure Show (seriously, does anyone really stay awake? I want proof!). We can’t wait!


So, for the most part, that's Day 1. I can't guarantee we'll get to do everything we're looking forward to that day, because who knows...we might be so jet-lagged we'll have to take a nap when we check in!