"How soon is too soon for planning?" "Right about now" May 2014 PTR **03/24**

[MarieLightning]

I am so sorry to hear of Amber's cancer. That is a rough road. I am glad you guys are still planning your trip. What a thing to look forward too!

It is, but every day things get a little better, so we're on the right path And we are definitely looking forward to it! It's gonna be so nice to have a whole week of just having fun with our friends and not having to worry about check ups and all those other medical things! It's also a nice goal to have - be back in shape for Disney

 

[MarieLightning]

Things Don't Always Go According To Plan

So, while we are still planning on doing this trip, a few modifications had to be made along the way. Some of them out of our control, some of them to accommodate our budget due to my not having made any money since June.

First thing is that our group has gone down from ten to eight. Veronica's boyfriend, Jeremy, will not be able to join us due to his job (he is, after all, in the Air Force, and hasn't been for very long, and there's apparently some conflict of schedule for him to get time off in May). Thankfully, that won't stop Veronica from joining us.

The second who will not be making the trip is Andy, and that is our decision. We realized, down the road, that we just wouldn't have the money to pay for so many people - at first we had no worries about it, none of what happened this summer was foreseen, so budget was not so much of an issue, and we were more than happy to pay for our closest friends' partners as well as themselves. Well, that's just not doable anymore. We decided it was only fair to establish the same rule for everybody - after all, we weren't gonna pay for Jeremy, and if Merranda or Eli had wanted to bring their boyfriend, he would have to pay for himself as well.

So, while we would obviously still be okay with him joining us, we told Traci we couldn't pay for him. Unfortunately, with being in college and having limited funds, he most likely won't have the funds to join us. Alternatively, we gave the same rule for Rai's boyfriend, who might be good to make it. We'll also be saving some more money through the fact that both Merranda and Veronica will be paying for their own food - Merranda actually offered to pay for the whole of her trip, but we didn't want to have her do that, and we didn't think it would be fair to have her pay but still pay for everybody else.

Now, Amber and I are gonna be going to Disney in less than a month, to celebrate her being done with chemo and less than a month away from done with all treatments, and I think Amber deserves this trip.

Another decision we made, now that our group is down to four, is to change our hotel. We were very excited about staying at the Art of Animation, but there really was no reasoning to pay for a Family Suite when there's no need for it. Also, the Little Mermaid rooms don't qualify for the room discounts promotion, so we figured we might as well save up as much as we can if we're not gonna be staying in the Cars section.

We won't be moving very far though - we decided to go for the Pop Century. We'll be sharing our room with Merranda and Eli, and Traci, Veronica, Rai and Rui will have the other room.

The rest of the trip is mostly remaining the same. Eight days, same restaurants planned - but a lot less money spent by just those small modifications we made.​

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Glad t hear there is a chemo end in sight! Pop looks so fun, and you are still close enough to AoA to enjoy the theming! !

 

[MarieLightning]

Glad t hear there is a chemo end in sight! Pop looks so fun, and you are still close enough to AoA to enjoy the theming! !

Thanks! And exactly We can probably spare a bit of time to go look around AoA if we want! But in the meantime, Pop should be a good choice regardless, and it's saving us money, so that's another plus there

 

[MarieLightning]

More Changes, But It's A Go!

Life gets craaazy! Seriously, what has this year even been? We started planning this trip over a year in advance, now we're less than 6 months away, and a bunch of insanity has happened in the meantime, but we've gotten through what's been thrown at us so far, and God willing, we'll get through the rest as well!

Amber hasn't received her radiation yet, but it's starting this week - three to three weeks and a half at very low dosage, to clear up everything and make sure there are no microscopic traces of cancer left. Then, it'll be done and over with with treatments! We'll just need to be very health conscious for the rest of our lives, but that's not a bad thing.

But that is unrelated to our upcoming trip - which, by the way...

IS A GO!





But enough bouncing

Basically, I got back to work on December 2nd, and on December 4th, I got to bid for my 2014 vacation time. Woot!

Even better - I got off from May 9th to May 19th!

Because with my current level of seniority, I get two weeks paid, plus what they call a floating day (basically two weeks plus one day off paid). So I was gonna get the week of May 12th (which gives me the weekend of the 10th and 11th, and the weekend of the 17th and 18th) and tag along my floating day for May 19th, since we're doing May 11th to May 19th.

But lo and behold - May 19th is actually a statuory holiday in Canada! Victoria Day, woooot! So I automatically had it off, and so I got Friday May 9th to have an extra day to get ready for our trip.

So we are officially going to Disney World on our hoped for dates, which is awesome, because we didn't want to go later in May (falling into Memorial Day weekend, nope nope nope), nor in June or July, not only because most of our friends have summer jobs, but me + Florida summer heat = (which, I know it won't be much better in early May, BUT LET ME HAVE THIS). August was also a no go because one of our friends goes back to school fairly early, and she also had a friends' wedding to be in, so May was really our only option at this point!

Now, about changes!

First of all, we have once again changed our destination - seeing as money hasn't exactly been flowing in these past few months, we have to be budget conscious in some aspects, and while we don't want to have to let go of everything we had hoped for, we chose to change our resort once again and go with the very cheapest option we could get.

That means we will be staying at the All-Star Sports!

*queue applause*

*crickets*

...

Okay, just kidding. The All-Stars aren't bad - just, you know, not great either. We had an underwhelming experience at the Music in October, and that could explain our slight disappointment at having to settle for this property again, but hopefully things will turn around! We decided to go for the Sports because it's the theming Amber actually likes best of the three All-Stars (which is ironic since she is so not a sports person), and also, if bus sharing there needs to be, we will be first to get picked up, and first to get dropped off. We would have stayed there in October as it is, but the food court was being re-done, so we move on to the next resort.

We're hoping to get two connecting rooms so we can keep the party going all night (or more like for ten minutes after we get in until we collapse on our beds and fall asleep), and hopefully the fact that out of 1920 rooms, 960 are connecting (I am pulling these numbers out of my memory cause I'm too lazy to look it up, but I think they're about right), our odds of getting this request will be good!

Now, the only thing that'll make us change resort is if by some miracle, one of those magical, amazing Pins comes to one of our emails and offers free Dining for our dates. I know - I'm aiming high. If that happens, we'd do the Cabins with the Free Dining, because even though the pricing itself is higher, the difference in price between the hotels would be lesser than what we have to put down for food.

Oh, but how would we fit in a Cabin you may ask (if you have been following along and haven't forgotten our original group). Well, here goes another change.

Unfortunately, Rai and Rui will not be able to join us. It is sad as we had been looking forward to meet Rai, but there will be other times - and we can't be entirely too sad seeing as it does save us about 1,500$, which, if we were less responsible people, we would say something like, let's pay the 600$ difference between two ASSports room and one Cabin and enjoy the close proximity to the Magic Kingdom since we are saving over a thousand dollars from two more people dropping out! Damn being reasonable (maybe. I'm actually trying to work something out here, but don't tell anyone).

That brings our group down to six - all girls!



And I have to admit, I am pretty excited about having an all girls trip! I think it's gonna be awesome!

And then, last but not least, the final few changes we've made are in terms of the restaurants we'll be eating at! All our ADRs are done, and here is what it looks like!

May 13th - Mama Melrose (Fantasmic Dining Package) at 12:00 pm

May 14th - Teppan Edo at 12:00 pm

May 15th - 'Ohana at 6:35 pm

May 16th - Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at 12:20 pm
(We may change this one for dinner, but we're not sure yet)

May 17th - Via Napoli at 12:45 pm

May 18th - Be Our Guest at 4:40 pm


The major changes here was replacing 50s Prime Time Cafe with Mama Melrose - with the news of the tiered FP+ system most likely sticking around, it really messes up the FP selections that can be done at Hollywood Studios. With all the good rides being major rides, and Fantasmic as well, we didn't know how to split it. We decided it would be worth it, on one occasion, to do the dining package to see Fantasmic rather than use a FastPass on it. Also, we ate at 50s Prime Time Cafe in October, and while the food was good, it wasn't anything memorable. The thing that makes this meal is the experience - but that's not a guarantee, it's a 50/50 chance of getting a good waiter or waitress, and we didn't want to bet on those odds. Plus, Amber adores her Mama Melrose steak, and since it's a fixed price, she doesn't feel bad over getting it!

We also decided to drop Planet Hollywood - we weren't too sure how our Animal Kingdom day would go, if we would want to stay until closing or leave early, and we didn't want a dining reservation to restrict us as to leaving earlier than we would like, or aimlessly (hungrily) wandering around because we left two hours before closing time and still have too much time to kill before our ADR. We still want to head to Downtown Disney that evening, but we decided to go a cheaper and simpler route - they have plenty of good and not too expensive quick service locations (I just really want my Earl of Sandwich BLT, okay?)

And finally - my most beloved change - from Liberty Tree Tavern lunch to Be Our Guest dinner! We had planned to get a FP to eat lunch there (which was really efficient when we did it in October), but that was because I'd never imagined I would manage to get a reservation there! Since our reservation isn't made yet, that allowed us to start making ADRs exactly 180 days in advance, not 180 + 10, and I figured that 10 would be enough to make it all go away before we got a chance to touch it.

Turns out we got lucky! Sure, it's an early dinner, but we don't mind that. If anything, it'll give us more time to enjoy our last full evening at the Magic Kingdom.

Aside from all those good things, we've also made minor QS changes, but those are never really fully fixed in stone. Some we do want to eat at for sure (Liberty Inn, La Cantina de San Angel, Toy Story Pizza Planet), but others could really end up being anything, depending on our mood at the time and what we want to eat. We still plan ahead because of budgeting for food OOP, but it shouldn't affect that too much anyhow!

So that's it for now - all our changes done, the time drawing nearer though it's going sooooo slooooow at the same time. But we're over half a year closer to it than we were when we first planned this, and that says something!

Where has the time gone?​

 

[MarieLightning]

Getting Closer!

It's been a while since I've updated, and there's been more and more planning done, along with a few more changes here and there!

We got several good news in the past month - first, we heard back in January that she is officially in remission, as her latest petscan (post radiation treatments) shows no more tumor or trace of cancerous cells! And just a few days ago, we also heard back from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and her application to become a permanent resident has been approved!

This is all combining to make it a great start of 2014 when 2013 hasn't been quite up to par, and we're definitely super excited for May to keep the awesomeness going!

Almost everyone has their flights booked at this point - save for Traci, as she's got a few things to get settled first seeing as the beginning of her trip and the end of her school year are a tad conflicting, but she said she would get things fixed.

Now, one of the changes we've made is yet again about dining. We ended up dropping Be Our Guest for dinner - for one thing, it was just too early, and for another, we figured we could show the girls around the place by doing lunch and save some money that way. So I'm currently tracking the Be Our Guest Lunch FP website to try and get something set, but there's just no way of knowing when it'll open up - I'll not lose hope though, and just keep on checking!

We did decide to treat the girls to a character meal, and so on our very last day, we booked Crystal Palace for breakfast - and the best part is that it's before park opening! This will be a first for us, and we're definitely looking forward to strolling down a virtually empty Main Street U.S.A! They don't know about it, so we plan on surprising them the morning of.

And of course, we now have all our FP+ selections done!

Here is our days' scheduling as it currently stands

Sunday, May 11th - Magic Kingdom (open until 1 am)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - 4:25 to 5:25
Space Mountain - 6:00 to 7:00
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - 7:25 to 8:25

Monday, May 12th - Animal Kingdom (8 am to 6 pm)
Kilimanjaro Safaris - 9:20 to 10:20
Expedition Everest - 10:55 to 11:55
Kali River Rapids - 1:35 to 2:35

Tuesday, May 13th - Hollywood Studios (9 am to 12 am)
Star Tours - 9:15 to 10:15
Toy Story Midway Mania - 11:00 to 12:00
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - 1:55 to 2:55

Wednesday, May 14th - Epcot (9 am to 9 pm)
Test Track - 9:30 to 10:30
Mission: SPACE - 11:00 to 12:00
Living with the Land - 1:35 to 2:35

Thursday, May 15th - Magic Kingdom (8 am to 11 pm)
Meet Anna and Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall - 12:55 to 1:35
Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall - 4:00 to 5:00

On that day, we also have a 'Select Experience' FP+, valid between 9 am and 11 pm to use at any ride listed (which doesn't include all of them, but it includes Meeting Ariel which we were planning on doing). This happened because we had a FP+ to meet Rapunzel with a Visiting Princess before they switched things around and brought in Anna and Elsa, so our previous FP selection went weird. Thankfully we were able to grab the two that matter, which is Anna and Elsa and Rapunzel and Cinderella.

Friday, May 16th - Hollywood Studios (8 am to 10 pm)
Lights, Motors, Action! - 11:30 to 11:40
Star Tours - 4:15 to 5:15
Fantasmic! - 8:25 to 8:45

Saturday, May 17th - Epcot (9 am to 9 pm)
Soarin' - 9:15 to 10:15
Spaceship Earth - 10:15 to 11:15
The Seas with Nemo & Friends - 11:25 to 12:25

Sunday, May 18th - Magic Kingdom (9 am to 1 am)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 9:05 to 10:05
Splash Mountain - 10:05 to 11:05
Jungle Cruise - 10:00 to 11:00

We actually plan on changing the Jungle Cruise FP+ for a Wishes FP+, so I'm definitely tracking for that as well and having a look every day!

For the most part, we're pretty happy with our selections. Of course, the tiering in Epcot and Hollywood Studios makes it really frustrating, but we're hopeful we'll be able to work around it.

Everything is starting to take form though and we're just so excited and bouncy! We're also gonna make our Disney movies countdown list soon, for the last 30 days before the trip (today is 48 days left!), which is pretty much becoming a tradition that might just get set in stone!​

 

[amberg93]

This PTR should be renamed Something about not being able to make up our minds or having it be constantly changing

 

[MarieLightning]

This PTR should be renamed Something about not being able to make up our minds or having it be constantly changing

Shhhhhhh

I started this PTR like, a year in advance. Of course things are bound to change. But I think it's pretty well fixed in place now!

 

[librarygeek]

I just found your PTR and now your trip is almost here! Very exciting. If it makes you feel any better about the weather, we went the last week in April last year and there was only one day where it felt really hot-hot. The rest was quite pleasant. You just never know with Orlando weather!

Personally, I really like your idea to do a big trip with your family and friends instead of an actual wedding. I think it's something that you'll have fantastic memories of for a long time to come, and it's something really special. I feel like you're doing something for a whole week instead of just one day and that's pretty neat!

Oh my goodness, I'm so so sorry to hear about Amber's cancer. I hope she's been recovering well and this trip lifts her spirits

I think you'll have a lot of fun with a girls trip. I've done that once before and it was a blast! I'm going with another group of girls in October.

 

[MarieLightning]

I just found your PTR and now your trip is almost here! Very exciting. If it makes you feel any better about the weather, we went the last week in April last year and there was only one day where it felt really hot-hot. The rest was quite pleasant. You just never know with Orlando weather!

Personally, I really like your idea to do a big trip with your family and friends instead of an actual wedding. I think it's something that you'll have fantastic memories of for a long time to come, and it's something really special. I feel like you're doing something for a whole week instead of just one day and that's pretty neat!

Oh my goodness, I'm so so sorry to hear about Amber's cancer. I hope she's been recovering well and this trip lifts her spirits

I think you'll have a lot of fun with a girls trip. I've done that once before and it was a blast! I'm going with another group of girls in October.

I know it's so crazy to think we started planning this trip over a year ago, and now it's finally here! And hopefully that's what the weather will be like then, because I'm not that good with heat

Thanks We just figured it was a good way to go about it, since we knew we wouldn't really be as satisfied with our wedding as we would hope with how much of the budget would have gone in just getting people to the wedding. That, and we're two girls with different tastes, so that makes planning a wedding tricky but we agree that we love Disney so that was a no brainer Maybe someday we'll have enough money to do a vows renewal at Disney!

She is doing better now, in remission and completely off of her meds, so she's definitely been doing good and she's very, very excited for this trip!

All the other girls are first timers so we're definitely hoping they'll love it as much as we do!