Drizzt's Family goes to WDW May 2010

[TokyoDina]

Hi! My name is Dina. My DH and I are planning on going to WDW resort for a second time in May again this year. I can't wait. I've already booked our hotel room at The Shades of Green and I've got ADR for all four parks.

Cast of Character?....only two!

Me (26) currently serving with DH (25) in the USAF and Drizzt (2). Both super busy and need some time with each other. Since DH asked me to marry him while we were serving in Japan at Tokyo Disneyland, Disney has been a very special place in our hearts. So special it's very hard for us to share a trip with anyone else. We prefer it just the two of us cause we have a system of working the park. It works for us since I'm a slow walker and like to take the whole park in rather than rushing from ride to ride.

When I found out about a new promotion Disney is offered I jumped on it.

I already booked our room at The Shades of Green, which is really exciting to me because we've never stayed there and I heard it's really really nice and we still get Magic Hours~! Yay~~

Like I stated before I've got our ADR already made. As a matter of fact I just got off the phone with Disney.

The plan so far is:
Day 1 Travel and eat on resort maybe go to PI.
Day 2 ADR for CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE~!! DH said just go all out and take in the full amount for our first Character Meal. So I did..I hope it's great~!
Day 3 Chefs de France. We had a great great great great meal there last time! We ever got to meet Remy. Not sure if he is still around but the found was awesome and I wanted to eat there again!
Day 4 Mama Melrose's. Heard good and bad about the place, but I love pasta so why not I say?
Day 5 Tusker House. No Character Meal, but I wanted to try the food since I've never had African food before.
Day 6 back home to Drizzt.

Still have to work out the other places we are gonna get and have to make time to pick up the tickets from the base when I'm not running all over the place asking people if they are wearing hearing protection. Ha!

We are planning a little romantic get away at The Hotel Congress here in town. I think I might do it at the end of this month to mental prepare ourselves for the arrival of the in laws next month.

Mom in law is coming for her birthday. I plan to surprise her by taking her to this awesome place called North which just happens to be north of us in La Encantada. I also wanna get her this very nice display of flowers. Just gotta decide on what I want.

Then lastly planning a trip for Presidents day to Las Vegas to see the other father in law. Gonna spend the night at the Luxor. DH loves Egyptian stuff so I said why the heck not? We need to splurge on each other a bit. Luxor will require a lot of haggling on my part. But thank fully "Grandpa" loves Drizzt so he won't mind keeping him for a night.

Wheee more plans! More plans for WDW now I'm off to eat some Dinner~!

 

[RachelNinja]

I'm here! I can't wait to read your TR since you said you're a slow walker because that means you'll probably catch all the things that I may have been missing all this time! DBF will be soaking it all in and taking tons of pictures so that'll probably slow me down. I tour the park commando-style in the mornings because I always feel like I need to get everything done. It's so tiring though! I'm glad DBF will slow me down.

It's so cool that you guys are in the Air Force! How did you end up there? Was it always a lifelong goal? I'd also love to hear the proposal story at Tokyo Disneyland!

BTW, LOVE your Stitch ears! I'm on a mission to one day find Tigger ears. Looked last trip and over Christmas, I asked a student who was vacationing there to look, but she didn't have much time.

 

[TokyoDina]

Ohhh I don't have time today to post the proposal story but I will later.

My reasons for going into the AF was because I was at a dead end job in GA and I couldn't even cough up the money to go to school. Even though I was a military brat I waited too long to take the tutition assitance from my dad. So I said I'm done and joined the AF. I really wanted to see the world and all that stuff. So far we have. My husbands reason are that he really wanted to just see what it's like then go from there. We were both military brats so we missed moving around. And they sent us to Japan where we meet, that's a funny story too!

Thanks for being on board! Can't wait to read the rest of your TR~~! and PTR!

 

[TokyoDina]

@ Hirosaki Castle in Hirosaki Japan waaaay up north near Aomori.

So a little more background. DH and I met in Japan because of a friend. It took us about 10 months of dating and then the next thing you BOOM! We are married. I think I've always loved Disney, but when DH asked me to marry him, I think my love for Disney took on a life of it's own.

My DH waited until September to pop the question. I wasn't really hinting or anything like that. I was just happy to be with him. Of course he was getting ready to leave to go to a different base in 6 months but I figured we could try long distance and see how it works from there. I have to say I wasn't ready for when he asked. He was acting kind of funny alllllllllll day at Tokyo Disneyland. I suggested going down there cause I remember as a teenager going there when we visited Japan the first time. It was soo much fun and exactly how I remembered it!

I had a feeling something was going on that day...but of course I wasn't sure what. So he popped the question after riding Splash Mountain 3 times. He had to make sure it was perfect! It was! He asked me about a couple of seconds into the ride, it's a little different from the American versions. Of course I said yes. I was really scared I was going to lose the ring within 2 minutes of getting it but I didn't lose it! I have to say there was almost tears but I kept them in. A few Japanese girls behind us were so excited about it they wouldn't stop cheering the whole RIDE! They wanted to take pictures of us and everything it was just crazy funny!

I would have written a TR for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea if I could remember all the crazyness that went on while were, there but we power walked that place like crazy....so I included just a couple of pictures in here from the past 4 visits.

Anyways. SoG is booked! I'm super excited about that! I can't wait to go I tell ya!

It's been a busy week and is only going to get busier! Geez thank goodness MLK is coming up so I can get some time off to relax and recharge after all the holiday insanity!

Which drives me into saying I think I'm going to actually start that program. Right now I do cross-fitness which is really really really hard but gets you into shape. But my coach friend told me about Insanity which is suppose to be 10 thousand times worse than P90X. So I'm going to try it out. Ugh wish me luck! Need to stay in shape!

All of these pictures (expect for the top one) come from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea.

 

[TokyoDina]

Now it works!

 

[TokyoDina]

I'm here! I can't wait to read your TR since you said you're a slow walker because that means you'll probably catch all the things that I may have been missing all this time! DBF will be soaking it all in and taking tons of pictures so that'll probably slow me down. I tour the park commando-style in the mornings because I always feel like I need to get everything done. It's so tiring though! I'm glad DBF will slow me down.

It's so cool that you guys are in the Air Force! How did you end up there? Was it always a lifelong goal? I'd also love to hear the proposal story at Tokyo Disneyland!

BTW, LOVE your Stitch ears! I'm on a mission to one day find Tigger ears. Looked last trip and over Christmas, I asked a student who was vacationing there to look, but she didn't have much time.

Oppes I forgot to tell you about the ears. I got those while I was in Tokyo Disneyland. They are the second love of my life and bring a lot of undue attention whenever I go to the parks but the CMs seem to want to talk a lot more when they see me with me. I found a site that you can get them and Tigger ears at. There about $20 but it's not horrible price I've seen worse. But you can get them from WDW too just gotta find them they are more than likely near Pooh's ride. I have Marie's Ears from TDL too I've just never worn them. I freak out about my hair a lot it's hard for me to put them in there since they are little clips. If I wear my hair down at the parks some day I might put them in...but I have a feeling no one will know who Marie is....

Here is the website.

http://www.treasurekingdom.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?

 

[RachelNinja]

I love the proposal story! I kind of bug Weird a little about whether or not he would propose in April at WDW even though it would still mean a long engagement. I just figure, there's no other opportunity for something so big because we never thought we'd actually get to go together before we were married!

Haha, it must have been fun when all the girls were cheering on Splash Mountain!

Post more pictures! Photobucket works; I see that that's what you used for your first installment picture.

Oppes I forgot to tell you about the ears. I got those while I was in Tokyo Disneyland. They are the second love of my life and bring a lot of undue attention whenever I go to the parks but the CMs seem to want to talk a lot more when they see me with me. I found a site that you can get them and Tigger ears at. There about $20 but it's not horrible price I've seen worse. But you can get them from WDW too just gotta find them they are more than likely near Pooh's ride. I have Marie's Ears from TDL too I've just never worn them. I freak out about my hair a lot it's hard for me to put them in there since they are little clips. If I wear my hair down at the parks some day I might put them in...but I have a feeling no one will know who Marie is....

Here is the website.

http://www.treasurekingdom.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?

I've actually seen the Tigger ears on that site! Weird linked me before when I kept talking about how much I want them. But I know the ears headbands really only cost $10 at the park, so I can't bring myself to buy those for $20 and still have to pay shipping. I'm hoping to find them this trip. I actually just had a student go during Christmas and I asked her to look for me, but she didn't really have the chance. If I can't find Tigger ears first, I may choose something else!

 

[stacy347]

First off, thank you both for your service to our country!

Second, what a great story about the two of you and I can't wait to read all about your trip.

 

[TokyoDina]

First off, thank you both for your service to our country!

Second, what a great story about the two of you and I can't wait to read all about your trip.

Thank you for thanking us! It's hard sometimes for us so it's nice to hear things like that!

I can't wait to go either! It's just around the corner~~!!

 

[TokyoDina]

I love the proposal story! I kind of bug Weird a little about whether or not he would propose in April at WDW even though it would still mean a long engagement. I just figure, there's no other opportunity for something so big because we never thought we'd actually get to go together before we were married!

Haha, it must have been fun when all the girls were cheering on Splash Mountain!

Post more pictures! Photobucket works; I see that that's what you used for your first installment picture.



I've actually seen the Tigger ears on that site! Weird linked me before when I kept talking about how much I want them. But I know the ears headbands really only cost $10 at the park, so I can't bring myself to buy those for $20 and still have to pay shipping. I'm hoping to find them this trip. I actually just had a student go during Christmas and I asked her to look for me, but she didn't really have the chance. If I can't find Tigger ears first, I may choose something else!

Thanks Rachel~! I wanted it to work with FB...but oh well can't changed the world I suppose!

That would be soooooooooo awesome if Weird asked you to marry him at WDW. There is nothing wrong with a long engagement. Before I joined the military I used to work at PetSmart and one of the managers I worked with was engaged for about 10 years. They just wanted to make sure the time and place was prefect. I mean that's a really long time to be engaged but no rush you know? DH and my marriage was quick because of the circumstances. But then again it's pretty common for military people to have very short engagements or none at all and whirl wind marriages. We haven't had a ceremony and I think at this point we more than likely never will. I'd like to but.....can't cough up the dough. Maybe we'll so something quick in Vegas or go back home to GA to include my family but right now we are just happy taking "Disneymoon's" every so often.

 

[TokyoDina]

I think this was our second trip to DL and we found club 33.


-------

So we had a little problem with work schedules so we had to change out dates. I almost had a little freak out because I was scared SoG was going to charge us for a date change. After we explained why they said they understand out constantly changing schedules so there was no need to worry. Thankfully the woman that I talked to on the phone was really nice! We even had no problems changing our dinner reservations. It's just two weeks later than we originally planned but it's going smoothly.

A woman from my last office purchased the "2009 Pass Porters Guide to WDW". Ha! I think it's a little bit obvious that I'm in love with that place! I've been using it so far. It might be a year outdated but I'm sure it works just the same. Where is Club Cool? I'm sure it's the same thing as the Coca Cola Factory but I'd like to go taste Cokes around the world again.

 

[TokyoDina]

Worked out some more kinks in the plan. At the moment we are winging it as far as rides go. We hope to hit Splash Mountain cause that is our ride of course and we hope to get on ToTT and RRC. But overall this time our aim to just actually see the park. Last year we went and it rained everyday but the day we went to MK! So like I said we really just want to take in the parks instead of trying to hide from the rain the whole time. I don't think this trip at least. It won't be a big deal for us if we don't make it on the rides or the wait times are really long. I think it'll be okay. But sadly there is only two days that we can take advantage of the EMHs. Which is okay. I heard it's bad to go on those days so maybe we'll luck out with our last two days since those days don't have the EMH in the parks we want to go to. I planned out a couple of more food places to eat at that are just counter service.

The plan so far is:

Day 1 --- Travel and eat on resort maybe go to PI not totally sure any suggestions on places to eat for dinner at PI? I was looking at Bongo's or Wolfgang Puck's Express...but I guess it really depend on how tired we are once we get to SoG.

Day 2 --- Eating breakfast at the Express Cafe or maybe going to the Garden Gallery @ SoG for breakfast not sure which one depends on what time we get up.
ADR for CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE~!! DH said just go all out and take in the full amount for our first Character Meal. So I did..I hope it's great~!
Eating dinner at Pinocchio's Village Haus or maybe the Cosmic Ray's Cafe depending on what vegetarian options they have. Still trying to decide. I remember the lounge singer guy in Cosmic Ray's for a trip there a few years back. So it really depends on which one is a bigger draw to me as the trip gets closer.

Day 3 --- Eating breakfast at the Express Cafe or maybe going to the Garden Gallery @ SoG for breakfast not sure which one depends on what time we get up.
Grabbing lunch at either Tangierine Cafe or Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe they both look good! I can't decide...I really like Mediterranean food since I'm from Turkey....but I've heard so much about Kringla's School bread and their open-faced sandwich's....don't know which one I want to go to more. Yet!
ADR for Chefs de France. We had a great great great great meal there last time! We ever got to meet Remy. Not sure if he is still around but the found was awesome and I wanted to eat there again!

Day 4 --- Eating breakfast at the Express Cafe or maybe going to the Garden Gallery @ SoG for breakfast not sure which one depends on what time we get up.
Mama Melrose's. Heard good and bad about the place, but I love pasta so why not I say?
More than likely gonna grab dinner back at SoG.

Day 5 --- Eating breakfast at the Express Cafe or maybe going to the Garden Gallery @ SoG for breakfast not sure which one depends on what time we get up.
Tusker House. No Character Meal, but I wanted to try the food since I've never had African food before.
Think we are going to do the Flame Tree Barbecue for Dinner. DH loves BBQ so I said we might as well try it and it's got rave reviews so it can't hurt right?

Day 6 back home to Drizzt.

We are also planning on getting a locker and putting some reserve water in it and maybe snacks. Not sure if that's a good idea or not but from what I've seen it might be. It all depends really on how big of a breakfast we eat that day.

Now I gotta decide on what shows I really have/need/must see this trip ha!

@ TDS in Aggrabah right next to the Sinband ride.

 

[stacy347]

I think this was our second trip to DL and we found club 33.


-------

So we had a little problem with work schedules so we had to change out dates. I almost had a little freak out because I was scared SoG was going to charge us for a date change. After we explained why they said they understand out constantly changing schedules so there was no need to worry. Thankfully the woman that I talked to on the phone was really nice! We even had no problems changing our dinner reservations. It's just two weeks later than we originally planned but it's going smoothly.

A woman from my last office purchased the "2009 Pass Porters Guide to WDW". Ha! I think it's a little bit obvious that I'm in love with that place! I've been using it so far. It might be a year outdated but I'm sure it works just the same. Where is Club Cool? I'm sure it's the same thing as the Coca Cola Factory but I'd like to go taste Cokes around the world again.

Glad to hear you got everything worked out at SOG and with your dining!

I love, love, love the Passporter! It is the most practical WDW book, IMO (don't get me wrong, I'll collect any of them that I can get my hands on, LOL ~ but that one rocks!)

And to answer your question about Club Cool ~ it is right down from Innoventions West Side. We love popping in there ~ some of them are really yummy and it's a great place to cool down from walking in the heat.

Fingers crossed that the weather holds out and you don't have all the rain this time!

 

[TokyoDina]

Glad to hear you got everything worked out at SOG and with your dining!

I love, love, love the Passporter! It is the most practical WDW book, IMO (don't get me wrong, I'll collect any of them that I can get my hands on, LOL ~ but that one rocks!)

And to answer your question about Club Cool ~ it is right down from Innoventions West Side. We love popping in there ~ some of them are really yummy and it's a great place to cool down from walking in the heat.

Fingers crossed that the weather holds out and you don't have all the rain this time!

Let's hope for the both of us since we are going at the same time that it doesn't rain this year! I'm glad it worked out too~~

Thanks for letting me know where Club Cool is we are going to check that place out for sure!

 

[RachelNinja]

That would be soooooooooo awesome if Weird asked you to marry him at WDW. There is nothing wrong with a long engagement. Before I joined the military I used to work at PetSmart and one of the managers I worked with was engaged for about 10 years. They just wanted to make sure the time and place was prefect. I mean that's a really long time to be engaged but no rush you know? DH and my marriage was quick because of the circumstances. But then again it's pretty common for military people to have very short engagements or none at all and whirl wind marriages. We haven't had a ceremony and I think at this point we more than likely never will. I'd like to but.....can't cough up the dough. Maybe we'll so something quick in Vegas or go back home to GA to include my family but right now we are just happy taking "Disneymoon's" every so often.

That's what I told him too; I wouldn't mind a long engagement. It's just because the opportunity to propose at Disney is just so for us! I think sometimes it's easier to just have a "whirlwind marriage," as you called it. Because the point of marriage is for the two people to join together; it's not about the party and the stress that comes along with it! Hehe, I really would rather have TWO Disneymoon's instead of just one if it meant not having a big wedding and reception here

Thankfully everything at SOG worked out! Yay for getting an understanding woman on the phone. Of course, they would understand that your schedules are constantly changing, but it's still nice to have a pleasant conversation.

I love going to Club Cool! I had read about it, so I told my family we had to go and try out the sodas. My dad loves it because it's free drinks! You can technically just get your drinks in Epcot from there if you had the time and energy to trek back over there! I can't wait to see Weird taste Beverly, but I don't think there will be much of a big reaction.

Lastly, if I had to plan out meals and ADRs, I'd be so stressed! I'm hoping to just go to the parks and see if there are any random openings because I can't plan that far in advance. I guess that means I'll never get to go to the popular places, but at the same time, I'm very happy with chicken fingers and fries or a salad!

 

[ladybugmom]

Hi Dina!! I'm joining in!! So what are the dates that you'll be in WDW? I wasn't sure I read that anywhere!! Praying for better weather this year!!

 

[TokyoDina]

That's what I told him too; I wouldn't mind a long engagement. It's just because the opportunity to propose at Disney is just so for us! I think sometimes it's easier to just have a "whirlwind marriage," as you called it. Because the point of marriage is for the two people to join together; it's not about the party and the stress that comes along with it! Hehe, I really would rather have TWO Disneymoon's instead of just one if it meant not having a big wedding and reception here

Thankfully everything at SOG worked out! Yay for getting an understanding woman on the phone. Of course, they would understand that your schedules are constantly changing, but it's still nice to have a pleasant conversation.

I love going to Club Cool! I had read about it, so I told my family we had to go and try out the sodas. My dad loves it because it's free drinks! You can technically just get your drinks in Epcot from there if you had the time and energy to trek back over there! I can't wait to see Weird taste Beverly, but I don't think there will be much of a big reaction.

Lastly, if I had to plan out meals and ADRs, I'd be so stressed! I'm hoping to just go to the parks and see if there are any random openings because I can't plan that far in advance. I guess that means I'll never get to go to the popular places, but at the same time, I'm very happy with chicken fingers and fries or a salad!

That's what we do every time we go to DL. We just wing it! The only planning with where to leave Drizzt. In San Diego with the in laws or drive half way and drop him off with the sister in law in Fallbrook. I've only made one ADR for The Blue Bayou and then we do whatever we want. I have to be careful cause I'm a vegetarian and I get sick of eating veggie burgers they just aren't that great! I hated eating them at ALM when we stayed there last year. Ugh! So I try to spice it up.

I went to go see my folks in GA and visit the Coke Cola factory which has the same thing...I didn't really like any of the drinks from Africa or the Beverly very much. My favorite is of course from Japan because they use real sugar. ))))) Can't wait to try it now!!


ladybugmom Thanks for telling me! I can't believe I forgot to put that! We are heading out there the 16th of May till the 21st of May. So let's hope against hope it doesn't rain the whole time we are there. Ha! It was bad! I decided that wearing canvas shoes (chuck taylors) would be a good idea...yeah in hindsight that was a really bad choice and at the end of most days my pants were so soak the water made it up to my mid thigh. I tried bring along extra socks each day and even tried flip flops one day but I almost tripped and feel. Then poor Stitch! I wear Stitch ears when I go to the parks he was soaked it looked like he was suffering. Normally the ears are all up and perky but as soon as water hits them they flop down. So there was a running joke that the rain was mildy effecting Stitch's density on E-Arth! The CMs got a kick out of it and Mulan tried to console Stitch it was funny.

 

[TokyoDina]

Found two pairs of shoes I need to go try on if they have them at DSW. They have great reviews, just need to check to see if they are really as comfortable as they say. I think I'll buy insoles to put in them just in case. I think both of them are really cute~! It'd be totally worth it if they rain doesn't come pouring down on us this May!

http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/catalo...&sort=&category=cat20096&prodId=196988&brand=

http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/catalo...&sort=&category=cat20096&prodId=196987&brand=

Now I must continue the hunt for bags!

 

[RachelNinja]

I think the Sasha one is cute with the twists in the top. You're okay wearing heels in the parks? I don't know what I'm going to wear ... either my New Balance or my crocs. I have flat feet so this'll be the first year that I actually have something good for my feet! Beforehand, I usually wore Skechers.

Yay for bag shopping too! Haha, mine arrives today.

 

[TokyoDina]

I think the Sasha one is cute with the twists in the top. You're okay wearing heels in the parks? I don't know what I'm going to wear ... either my New Balance or my crocs. I have flat feet so this'll be the first year that I actually have something good for my feet! Beforehand, I usually wore Skechers.

Yay for bag shopping too! Haha, mine arrives today.

For the most part I'm okay with it. (I'm so Japanese in this respect! Japanese girls usually wear 3 to 4 inch heels to TDL no problems...it's crazy! I can only pull off 2 and below) We always take a stroll around the park. No rushing anywhere. I did it at DL last year. But I just need support for my arches cause they get super tired regardless of what shoe I'm wearing. Last year I wore flats with no supports and that killed me. I like to wear dresses to the parks too so....lol I can't wear sneakers with it. And my chucks have seen better days..

I still want to go out and try some shoes. Cause I love flats.....I just need support and no rubbing on my heel. I hate that! These are not set in stone but I really wanna go look at them.

Need bags. I found one that I really wanna get it's one of those bag that will match everything cause it's a print. But I just gotta wait till it comes back or else I'm going to have to continue the hunt somewhere else.