trip cancelled

long story, but it's likely we won't have the money for a trip this year.

the Birnbaum book has arrived

haven't looked at it yet....

used Birnbaum to plan my first WDW trips with the girls, I like the way it's organized.

guess I'm going to have to find different motivation

Universal is modifying the harnesses on the Harry potter ride so that there's more room...thought I'd have to lose weight in order to fit on the ride....gotta find new motivation for weight loss now.

planning has slowed to a crawl

we don't know what week we're going -- our time share friends haven't decided yet -- so we can't make any definitive plans.

what are you reading, part 2

Ordered the 2011 Birnbaum book today, will get it at the end of the month.

Change of plans

So we were trying to figure out hotels... On site or off, value or moderate, free dining or not...

I thought we had the beginning of a plan.

But now we have a better one.

DBF's best friend from college has a time share in Kissemmee. We will go with them and share expenses. Saves us a bundle!

back in the saddle again

so I haven't planned a WDW trip in 9 years.  9 lo-o-o-o-o-ng years.


but I'm getting back into planning mode.  I'm reading the guidebooks, visiting the websites.

we are going to have a great trip next summer, i am sure of it!

what are you reading?

I bought the 2010 Frommer's Guide to WDW, and the 2010 Unofficial Guide to Universal as well as the 2010 Unofficial guide to WDW.  Waiting for the 2011 edition of the Birnbaum book -- I used to have the 1998 and 1998 editions, they were fun to use.

Illuminations

the best view of EPCOT's Illuminations?


from a boat under the bridge near France/UK.

we did that in the summer of 2000.  that waa the summer we met up with -- Karen, Rickie and Ricke's friend (I forget his name), who wecelebrating Rickie's 21st Birthday.  we booked an Illuminations cruise and ordered champagne.

honestly, the view is slightly impaired because of the bridge, but who cared?  we sat in comfort, with our snakcs and our drinks, and didn't have to deal with the crowd.  it was a marvelous experience.

dance team

Becca did two trips with the dance team, her freshman and sophomore years.  those trips were in early March, two weeks before Jen's trips. so, for two years, i got to visit the parks twice in the same motnh.

Becca's trips were ostensibly the same as Jen's -- foru-day stays, All Star Music resort, comeptition in the Milk House.  but the dance team coach plans her trips oh-so-differently from te cheer coach.  we never travelled as a group except for practice, competition and dinnertime.  the moms might be in one park, the kids in another.  I have a photo of Becca and me at a dinner theater in Orlando from one of the trips. and I remember going to Bubba Gump's at Citiwalk for one of our dinners.  the dance team came home empty-handed from WDW (though they'd do quite well at a different open nationals in Myrtle Beach at the end of March), but the trip was fun nevertheless.  a lot of teams from Long Ialnd showed up for this competition, and it was intersting to see them in a different context.

it was during one of these trips that I first got to ride Soarin'.  it's a "must-do" for my next trip.

cheerleading!

so when you go to Central Florida for a cheerleading competition ....well, it's not like going on vacation.  the focus of the trip is competition -- the team is participating in open nationals.  but there's plenty of time for fun, too -- the package always includes admission to a theme park. 

Jen's freshman year, the team competeed at Sea World, but stayed at WDW.  Jen wasn't competing but went along for the ride.

sophomore year, the team competed at the Hard Rock Theater at Universal's Citiwalk.  We did a three-day trip at the end of January. Our package included accomodations at a hotel on International Drive, lunch at the Hard Rock and admission to one park -- the girls chose Islands of Adventure.  the girls and the moms went everywhere together! the team had a tradition of doing a stunt in the theme park -- the flyers would do a simple pose, but it would be beautiful.   I finally got to ride Spiderman (worth the wait) and I had my first meal in Margaritaville (in my pre-Parrotthead days).  and I learned that when you don't "place" but you get a trophy just for participating in a competition, and people see your team walking through the airport and admire your trophy, you don't let on....

junior year -- a four-day trip in mid-March, a different competition.  we stayed at All Star Sports and the team competed at the Milk house.    Again, we travelled as a pack -- although there was a point where some of the moms (including me) took off for Downtown Disney for a sit-down dinner.  The big excitement -- one of the other Long Island teams almost dind't make it to the competition because of the snow storm.

senior year -- the same mid-March trip, only we stayed at the Caribbean Beach.  I have a photo of Jen stunting on the beach at Caribbean Beach.  More or less the same trip as the previosu year.  One memorable meal at Ohana -- I was longing for a stay at the Poly.  that was the year one of the flyers broke her angle coming out of a stunt.  and that was the year I rode Expedition Everest for the first time. 

It was fun hanging with the moms, it was fun watching the competitions.  got my taste of the parks here and there, but it wasn't a full vacation. 

the high school years

Jen was on the high school cheer team all four years of high school.  Becca was on the dance team freshman and sophomore years.  and both teams competed in Central Florida.

Jen's sophomore year -- the team competed at the Hard Rock at Citiwalk, at Universal.  Becca (who was in 8th grade) and I went with the team.  We stayed on International Drive and spent our off time at Islands of Adventure.  My girls and I took a taxi to Downtown Disney for awhile, because we couldn't be in Orlando and not visit the Mouse.

Jen's junior and senior years, the team competed at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  Junior year we stayed at All Star sports.  Senior year it was Caribbean Beach.

Becca's freshman and sophomore years the team competed at Wide World of Sports  and stayed at All Star Music.  Becca's trips were two weeks before Jen's trips, so I got to make two trips to WDW  those years.

Spiderman!

what a disappointing experience.

we went to Universal and islands of Adventure in February 2001.


I'd heard that Spiderman was the best ride in IOA.  but every time I asked the girls if they wanted to ride it, they told me "no".


when I finally convinced them to go on the ride...the ride was down.  we never got the opportunity to ride spiderman that trip.

birthdays are special at WDW

My birthday is February 18.  our February 2000 and 2001 trips were in honor of my birthday.  a way for me to celebrate with just my children.

got to wear a birthday button in the magic Kingdom and have all the CM's wish me a happy birthday.   got to eat a birthday dinner in the Crystal Palace, along with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

and one year I planned a birthday scavenger hunt in the Magic Kingdom.  a woman who advertised on the DIS would do all sorts of special events while you were on your trip.  she hid little packages in the park and gave us clues to find them.  the final surprise was a birthday cake.

the Millenium at WDW

we went twice in 2000 -- in February and in August -- so of course we saw the Millenium Pavillion in EPCOT.   Favorite countries there?  Israel (the Temple Wall replica was amazing), Saudi Arabia (had our names written in Arabic) and Brazil (great rainforest games).  I'd love to see some of those countries become a permanent exhibit, but 10 years later there's no sign of any new countries showing up at EPCOT>

children are not allowed to be sad at WDW

summer 1998, we stayed at the Poly.

We bought lunch at ...what's the name of that place, Captain Hook?  It's not a sit-down restaurant, it's more like a grab-n-go snack bar.  And we found a table outside, on the patio.

and the birds wanted our lunch.  One of the birds was very aggressive and frightend Jen.  she ducked under the table and hit her head.

and a CM saw her crying and gave her a stuffed Minnie Mouse "because children shouldn't cry at WDW."

the door to each building at the Poly are automatic -- they slide open and closed.  except that the door to our building malfunctioned one evening and hit Jen in the arm.

one of our fellow guests was a pediatrician.  she happened to be walking by when the door closed on Jen.  she took a look at Jen's arm and said "it might leave a bruise, but I think she's fine."

nevertheless, I filed a report with the manager -- because I wanted him to fix the door so no one else would be hurt.

the next day, we came back from the parks and found....to our surprise and delight ....that the manager gifted us all with t-shirts, hats and stuffed animals. 

because no child should ever cry at WDW.

the DIS -- the good, the bad and the ugly

My parents' friend's sister is a travel agent, and she planned our first WDW trip in 1998.  I discovered the internet around the time of our first trip, and found a great little site called wdwinfo.com, with a message board at disboards.com.  It was a nice little site run by a man named Pete werner.  Disney was his hobby, and he loved to chat with other Disneyphiles.  Eventually he started a Disney-only travel agency , Dreams Unlimited.  Eventually his forum and his business grew to a point where he no longer had time to pursue his hobby of posting on his own message boards. 

I was a DIS member in good standing from 1998 until 2001, and used Dreams Unlimited to plan four of my WDW vacations. 

I got banned from the message boards by the great man himself, I'd said something sarcastic and he took offense.

You can read my posts about the DIS on my regular blog here  and here and here and here.

but it wasn't all bad.  I met lots of lovely people -- on one trip I met a fellow DISer on Maint Street in the MK, and she gave my girls pins.  I went to DIS meets here in NYC and met people who are still my firends. 

and I learned a lot about Disney planning and how to make the trip as enjoyable and magical as possible..

magic and misery

Our worset Disney mistake was made on our very first trip.

We flew from New York to Orlando on a 6 AM flight, took Mears transportation to our hotel (awful ride -- after that we always got a town car) and checked into the hotel (the Poly), dropped our stuff in our rooms and headed to Magic Kingdom in the middle of the afternooon with two tired, cranky kids.  Trust me, they were not feeling the magic ...After that experience, we learned  ....we'd fly down at 6 AM, take the town car to the hotel and check in, enjoy the pool in the afternoon and then hit one of the parks in the evening.

Or at least, that's the way it was supposed to work.

Our second trip, summer 1999, we stayed at Dixie Lnadings.  Our rooms wweren't ready, so we stored our bags and headed over to the pool.

A few days before our trip, Jen was diagnosed with strep throat, and was still on antibiotics when we flew to Florida.  You know the deal -- when one child gets it, the other is likely to get it as well.  As the afternoon wore on, Becca became tired and cranky, and soon we noticed she was feverish as well.   As soon as we got to our rooms I started to make inquiries about medical attention.   I  found out that, for a fee, the "disney doctor" will make hotel calls.  And pharmacies will deliver antibiotics to your hotel.My sisters took Jen out to dinner and I stayed in the hotel room and ordered room service for myself and my sick child.  One dose of children's tylenol brought down her fever, and by the next day she was fine.

But we missed our breakfast in Cinderella's Castle.  The girls were disappointed, they'd loved the breakfast with the princesses the year before.  but our reservation was for 7 AM, and we thought Becca should sleep a little later to allow herself time to recover.  Sigh.

but...

Later in the trip, we were in the Magic Kingdom and needed diner reservations. The CM suggested the Castle -- no characters in the evening, but lots of atmosphere.  What he didn't tell us was that our table would be right under the window, and that we'd have a perfect view of the fireworks that night.    We'd seen the Magic Kingdom fireworks from main Street, from the Beach at the Poly, from our balcony at the Poly and from the middle of Seven Seas Lagoon, but seeing the show from inside the Castle was absolutely magical.

the wonder years -- 1998-2001

In the summer of 1998 I planned my daughters' first trip to WDW.  Jen was a few months shy of her 8th birthday and Becca had just turned 6.  It was supposed to be "the trip of a lifetime", a trip where we'd do "everything" because we didn't know if we'd ever come back

We loved it so much we came back four more times -- summer 1999 and 2000 and winter trips in 2000 and 2001.  the winter trips were just me and my kids, but in the summer we were joined by my three sisters.

by now WDW had grown to four theme parks (Animal Kingdom opened in 1998), three water parks (this was before they closed river country), countless hotels, the Downtown Disney area ...

We always stayed on site -- the Polynesian Hotel (my personal favorite), Dixie Landings (now Port Orleans-Riverside) (not my favorite at all), the Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club...

Our favorite parks turned out to be MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) and Magic Kingdom. Our least favorite was Animal Kingdom, we didn't go back after the summer of 1999.  we took the girls to one of the water parks (Typhoon Lagoon?) once; they loved it but the adults were bored.

the winter 2001 trip was really a trip to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure -- we stayed at Portofino Bay -- but at the last minute I added a couple of days at Disney, i couldn't bear the thought of being in Orlando and not paying a visit to the Mouse.

over the next few days I'll post favoirte moments form the "wonder years" trips.

my first Disney trip ever -- 1987

When D. and I got maried -- June 28, 1987 -- we argued about where to spend our honeymoon.  I wanted someplace exotic and romantic, like Hawaii or the Bahamas.  He wanted to go to Central Florida -- his parents and sister had gone to Disney World and Seaworld while travelling in Florida (my in-laws were planning a Florida retirement at the time). 

Ultimately we found a solution, and a perfect vacation.

Premier Cruise Lines

this was before Disney owned a cruise line, and Premier was the official cruise line of WDW.  The package included: (1) 4 days (Monday to Friday) on the Big Red Boat, with ports of call in Nassau, Bahamas and on a private island; (2) admission to the Kennedy Space Center in Port Canaveral; (3) 3 days at WDW (Friday to Sunday)(remember, there were only two parks in 1987 -- Magic Kingdom and EPCOT); (4) off-site accomodations (ours was a hotel on International Drive); (5) round-trip airfare from NYC to Orlando; and (6) a rental car for the entire length of your stay. 

we had friends living in Fort Lauderdale, so we arranged to keep the rental a few extra days, drive down to visit our friends and fly home from Lauderdale.

We had a nice cruise -- we took a tour of Nassau, went shopping and saw a nightclub show.  we snorkled on teh private island.  enjoyed activities on the ship, including a honeymoon reception with the captain, a photo op with Mickey Mouse, a costume party and a tour of the bridge. 

we had a nice tour of Kenedy Space Center.

then we drove from Canaveral to Orlando, checked into our hotel....and watched a tropical rainstorm. decided to wait until morning before venturing over to WDW.

so the first time I set foot on Disney property was July 4, 1987.  the parks had extended hours that weekend, of course.  We got to Magic Kingdom an hour beofre rope drop, spent some time there and then took the monorail to EPCOT for awhile, then closed out the evening back at the magic Kingdom -- which stayed open until 2 AM.  did the same thing the next day -- rope drop until closing.    came back Monday morning to ride a few of our favorites one last time.

we "had" to see Carrousel of Progress and Small World, because both of us remembered those rides from the 1964-1965 NY World's Fair.  We must have ridden Space Mountain 5 times.loved the Haunted Mansion (that was the year George harrison did a video of his song "Set on You" inside the mansion!) and despite the fact that it was the 4th of July and the parks were way crowded, we managed to see "everything" in both parks. of course, the fact that we got no sleep....and that I fell asleep in the Tiki Birds....is just a minor detail....

and on Monday afternoon we headed over to Sea World.  back then Sea World had no thrill rides and was much more "real" than WDW, so it was a bit of culture shock to be there.

ah, yes, fun times.

who would have imagined it would be 11 years until my next Disney vacation?

so excited...planning another Disney trip!

I have been to Disney World in Florida many times, I am somewhat fluent in Disneyspeak.  I've also been to Universal/Islands of Adventure, but I am not as well versed in those parks. 

but I am planning a trip to both parks for summer 2011.

can you tell I am excited?