WDW in Pearls
Monograms and Minnie Ears
- Joined
- May 5, 2013
Hello everybody!
I wanted to make a trip report about my trip September 14-19, but I've never done it before so I'm sure I will mess it up along the way somehow so if you have any pointers, criticisms, whatever, feel free to post.
Anyway, the intros seem to be the customary first post, so here goes...
That's me! My name is Sam. As I post this, I am now 27 years old but my birthday was September 14th, the first day of our trip. This was trip number 15 for me; the first being when I was 18 months old. We lived in New York until I was 6 and now PA, so it's really only feasible for us to go once a year or less because of the amount of days off from work required. I was raised by a Disney fanatic of a mother who, as a teen, I thought was "like, soooo embarrassing" but as I get older I realize I've turned into her. Our vacations were pretty much always at Deluxe hotels (mostly the Poly) club level, deluxe dining, theme park view...my family spared no expense. Paying for vacations on my own has been quite a wake up call! Plus, the price increases since we were kids are pretty significant; even my parents have cut back on their own trips.
This is John! John and I have been together for 2 1/2 years. We don't have kids or anything so this trip was just us, and this was our second trip together. John's Disney experience is much different than mine; for starters our first trip together was his first trip period. He sees Disney with a bit more logical of a set of eyes, and can better rationalize what extras are actually worth it while we plan. John is also about 14 years older than me so he's a little bit better at budgeting and being responsible with money than I am. No, I don't troll bars for older men, it just kind of happened this way. We used to work together and I don't think either of us knew quite how large the age gap was until we were already interested in each other. I rarely even notice the gap now (except when we talk about popular music, fashion, etc. when we were in high school and college!).
We chose to stay in the Wilderness Lodge again. Our first trip together was our first time there and we loved it. I originally tried it as a compromise; the tiki theme at the Poly didn't appeal to John at all and he loves camping and the outdoors and hopes to travel to Northern California in the near future. That being said, WL seemed like the perfect choice. Surprisingly, my Poly loving self fell in love too! It has a lot of the same luxuries as the Poly (minus the monorail) for significantly less. Plus, it's a lot quieter with a lot less visitors from outside the hotel.
We took advantage of a free dining week so of course I made some ADRs. I didn't plan every meal because last time we did and it cut into so much park time!
Saturday, September 14th (arrival day)
Chef Mickey's 6:00 PM
Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party 9(?) PM
Sunday, September 15th (this was the day we were celebrating my birthday even though it was actually the day before)
'Ohana 9 am
Tony's 7 pm
Monday, September 16th
Akershus 3:45 PM
Tuesday, September 17th
Cape May Cafe 9 am
'Ohana 6 pm
Wednesday, September 18th
Be Our Guest 6:30 PM
Thursday, September 19th
NONE
I'll work on more later but I'd love to hear your feedback in the meantime!
I wanted to make a trip report about my trip September 14-19, but I've never done it before so I'm sure I will mess it up along the way somehow so if you have any pointers, criticisms, whatever, feel free to post.
Anyway, the intros seem to be the customary first post, so here goes...
That's me! My name is Sam. As I post this, I am now 27 years old but my birthday was September 14th, the first day of our trip. This was trip number 15 for me; the first being when I was 18 months old. We lived in New York until I was 6 and now PA, so it's really only feasible for us to go once a year or less because of the amount of days off from work required. I was raised by a Disney fanatic of a mother who, as a teen, I thought was "like, soooo embarrassing" but as I get older I realize I've turned into her. Our vacations were pretty much always at Deluxe hotels (mostly the Poly) club level, deluxe dining, theme park view...my family spared no expense. Paying for vacations on my own has been quite a wake up call! Plus, the price increases since we were kids are pretty significant; even my parents have cut back on their own trips.
This is John! John and I have been together for 2 1/2 years. We don't have kids or anything so this trip was just us, and this was our second trip together. John's Disney experience is much different than mine; for starters our first trip together was his first trip period. He sees Disney with a bit more logical of a set of eyes, and can better rationalize what extras are actually worth it while we plan. John is also about 14 years older than me so he's a little bit better at budgeting and being responsible with money than I am. No, I don't troll bars for older men, it just kind of happened this way. We used to work together and I don't think either of us knew quite how large the age gap was until we were already interested in each other. I rarely even notice the gap now (except when we talk about popular music, fashion, etc. when we were in high school and college!).
We chose to stay in the Wilderness Lodge again. Our first trip together was our first time there and we loved it. I originally tried it as a compromise; the tiki theme at the Poly didn't appeal to John at all and he loves camping and the outdoors and hopes to travel to Northern California in the near future. That being said, WL seemed like the perfect choice. Surprisingly, my Poly loving self fell in love too! It has a lot of the same luxuries as the Poly (minus the monorail) for significantly less. Plus, it's a lot quieter with a lot less visitors from outside the hotel.
We took advantage of a free dining week so of course I made some ADRs. I didn't plan every meal because last time we did and it cut into so much park time!
Saturday, September 14th (arrival day)
Chef Mickey's 6:00 PM
Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party 9(?) PM
Sunday, September 15th (this was the day we were celebrating my birthday even though it was actually the day before)
'Ohana 9 am
Tony's 7 pm
Monday, September 16th
Akershus 3:45 PM
Tuesday, September 17th
Cape May Cafe 9 am
'Ohana 6 pm
Wednesday, September 18th
Be Our Guest 6:30 PM
Thursday, September 19th
NONE
I'll work on more later but I'd love to hear your feedback in the meantime!