You & Me & the Wheelchair Makes Three Take Two! A November/December PTR

[SeanofStarCommand]

Hello and welcome to our second pre-trip report! Uh, no, I don't have any prior trip reports to send you to, why do you ask? Oh! You're noticing I said this was our second pre-trip report, eh? Well, all I can say is that our intentions were good.
You & Me & the Wheelchair Makes Three! December 2011 PTR

If you skipped over the link above because you are not at all interested in a pre-trip report I wrote last year about a trip that has no trip report to back it up, let me tell you a little about us.

My name is Sean. I am a 29 year old stay at home dad to Daisy, a 1.5 year old retriever/lab/greyhound, and Porkchop, our 5.5 year old cat.
I am considered disabled as I've been officially diagnosed with lupus for almost 10 years with the recent addition of fibromyalgia thrown into the mix this year. I consider myself 99% able, reserving that teeny tiny 1% for trips that require lots of walking and stamina...namely, WDW and shopping at Ikea. For these wonderful excursions I use a manual wheelchair. We crunched the numbers once and figured out I would, at maximum, probably make it two days at WDW without it - two days filled with extreme pain and crankiness. Nobody wants that, trust me.
On a side note, the ears I'm wearing in the above photo appeared magically one day in the hands of a UPS man at my front door.

Apparently DGF and I had a conversation about how I never had a pair of original mickey ears and wanted to get some. My name is embroidered on the back.

Basics
Name: Sean
Age: 29
Number of WDW Visits: This will be my 5th. Do I get a special button for that?
Favorite Character: Buzz Lightyear, Perry the Platypus, Meeko, Sorcerer Mickey, Donald...wait, did you mean only one?
Favorite Disney Movie: Robin Hood, Toy Story
Favorite Disney Song: Fastasmic! Full Attraction Audio
Favorite Disney Attraction: Everything except the things I don't like

Food!
Favorite WDW Snack: Dole Whip, School Bread
Favorite WDW CS: Sunshine Seasons for breakfast, Restrauntasaurus for lunch, Pecos Bills for dinner
Favorite WDW TS: I enjoy buffets, especially the desserts at a buffet. There is very rarely a meal I meet that I don't enjoy. That being said, it's been 4 years since most of our TS meals and since we have proven terrible at keeping notes for a trip report (which is the reason this is the first one) I have no idea what my favorite is.

This Trip:
Most looking forward to returning to: Florida. I also really like Fantasmic! and palm trees.
Most excited to try: Not looking goofy in every single photopass picture, Chef Mickey's, parking the wheelchair and walking around the park a little more.

Next up is my DGF, Amy, who originally started this pre-trip report. Both of us are DISers but she forgot her password which is why I'm posting on behalf of us both. It also gives me an all access pass to edit anything she writes to paint myself in a better light.
Amy is 34 and an up and coming mogul in the field of Higher Education. (Okay, I may have added the mogul part...) She enjoys the movie Clue, playing slot games on her iPad, and rolling around on the floor with the dog. She is a huge fan of lurking on the DIS and reading everyone else's trip reports. When you get the feeling that someone is looking over your shoulder as you're typing up a report, it's most likely her. Amy is a lifelong fan of all things Disney and is the Chief Operations Manager in Charge of Planning and Executing our yearly trip. She is also our Fastpass runner. If you were paying attention at the beginning of this report, you'll know why.

Basics
Name: Amy
Age: 34
Number of WDW Visits: somewhere between 15-20
Favorite Character: Minnie, Mike Wazowski
Favorite Disney Movie: Aladdin, Monsters Inc.
Favorite Disney Song: Wishes
Favorite Disney Attraction: Tower of Terror! Wheeeee! I could ride all day!

Food!
Favorite WDW Snack: Cream Cheese Stuffed Pretzel
Favorite WDW CS: I'm with Seanie on this on...Sunshine Seasons- love the chicken ceasar salad and that strawberry shortcake
Favorite WDW TS: I loved Le Cellier for lunch- oh, that soup!

This Trip:
Most looking forward to returning to: the overwhelming feeling on Magic!
Most excited to try: Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom- we are trying to see how many days we can play, and visiting the FLE

Chapter 1: No-hio

(The following is written by Amy.)

After our 3rd WDW in as many years, DBF and I committed to trying something else. Isn’t that what people do? We landed on Ohio- for no particular reasons other than it was drivable for only 1 driver (me), had interesting attractions, and everyone we knew that had been really enjoyed it.

So, we got tons of brochures from their Chamber of Commerce, and began our diligent online research. We planned to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the botanical gardens and, of course, Cedar Point. I secured time off work, set dates for the end of July, and we even sketched a basic calendar or where we will go when. And then we sat. And sat. And sat some more. The brochures began to collect dust. Finally, we thought we ought to sit down and firm up some hotel plans, at least. We spent a lot of time looking specifically at Cedar Point, sort of as the centerpiece of our vacation. Then we began doing the math. The numbers added up pretty quickly, but we smiled at each other, and didn’t book a thing.

A few weeks later, unprompted in the kitchen, we finally said, “We’re not going to Ohio, are we?” DBF looked at some possible WDW dates, I changed vacation dates at work, and within the day were booked November 26-Dec 3 at ASMu. And it felt right. The excitement was-and is back- we cannot wait to return to our favs, enjoy new experiences, and above all, plan,plan, plan. I know that’s not fun for all people, but it sure is for me. I feel like it totally extends the vacation.

Chapter 2: Good thing Sean looked down on his phone: Simba, Timon and Pumbaa told him there was free dining!

We have been very lucky to enjoy free dining every year we have been going to WDW as a couple. In 2009, we got free TS for staying at a value in mid August- without paying the upgrade. In (the infamously freezing) Dec 2010 and 2011, we stayed with the Quick Service plan. When we originally booked, free dining hadn’t been announced yet, but we were definitely hoping! I was sitting at my desk when all of a sudden DBF texted me- he was on his way to the bus stop to meet a friend and happened to see the announcement that free dining was starting. I frantically tried to remember when we had already planned each park. I called around 11:30am, and it only took a few minutes to secure free dining. I made reservations for each day, that of course, we have changed a few times already. I love the online dining reservation options! (What an awesome T Shirt!)

As I'm sure other DISers can relate, we went through a number of iterations. Some ones that didn't make the cut (this year-lol) were GF Cafe, Kouzzina, Yachtsman, CP. These no longer fit into our schedule for this trip.

(Edit: What she failed to mention is that I am opposed to signature dining. Unless we are on the DxDP with three meals a day, I think using 2 credits when I only get 1 table service a day is wasteful. Plus, I'm not a very fancy guy so most signature places will most likely make me feel under dressed and self conscious. I have promised DGF that at some point I will go to a signature meal...just not yet.)

For now, we have
11/26: Liberty Tree Tavern Family Style dinner. Had a great lunch there in 2009 and am excited to return.
11/27: Teppen Edo lunch- excited to try. We both really enjoy Hibachi.
11/28: Yak and Yeti lunch- Another one we did back in 2009. We will be in AK at lunchtime, and we are not down with Rainforest cafe. They are abundant up here. Plus….Cream Cheese wontons!
11/29: Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner: New for us
11/30: Garden Grill dinner: New for us.
12/1: Mama Melrose lunch: new for us
12/2: no TS
12/3: Chef Mickeys breakfast! I can’t believe I have never been here!
(End Amy.)

That's all for now, folks! With 29 days left, we'll be sure to update when it gets closer so stay tuned!

 

[SeanofStarCommand]

Amy: Happy 28 days! Sometimes the countdown just seems so long, but then you finally get under 30 days, and all of a sudden you get to say things like- under a month, in a few weeks, when I go to WDW THIS month (looking forward to saying that on Thursday!). Pure awesome sauce.

I don't think I said this, but we are staying in the All Star Music Resort. I/we have stayed in all of the values, and this and ASMo are my favs. We are hoping to stay at AoA next trip, and plan to stop in a for a meal there this time.

At home, I'm the early riser, taking care of the dog and raring to start day. Sean, in part because of his trouble sleeping from his meds, is not exactly what one may call a morning person. He's more like a mid afternoon person. (Sean: Think teenage boy with more pain and less appetite.) At WDW, however, Sean subscribes to the rise and shine theory no matter what. And no matter how many times we see her, Stacey is some part of our morning routine.

We are rope drop people. We like to eat a small breakfast in the room or food court and be on the bus about 45 minutes prior to rope drop. We utilize both am and pm EMH, park hop and often take a mid day rest- this really helps us.
(Sean: Our midday rest is where Amy takes a nap and I take a loooooong shower. While using the wheelchair helps, I'm still plagued with joint/muscle pain, fatigue and general malaise. I find sitting under the shower helps this a lot. So if you're staying at ASMu while we're there and you're wondering why there isn't any hot water, I apologize in advance. )

As a child, my family members were the classic commando-style tourists. It worked for us, and we had a great time. Mom is affectionately known as “Clipboard Mary”. In 2009 when DBF and I went together for the first time, I was a little worried about the chair. I knew it was critically important, but wasn't used to pushing one and didn't know how it would impact the trip in the only way I knew how to do WDW. (Sean: I prefer to wheel myself because Amy is more likely to clip the ankles of the people in front of us. ) It was so helpful, and I cannot imagine now not using it. The one thing I don't like was some people's assumptions that it (the wheelchair) is some sort of a front of the line pass (the non-WDW people in my life). Not true. In many cases, you enter through an exit, and now with new rides coming online, it seems that universal design is part of the planning. Personally, I'm glad for that because those queues are pretty cool.


So far, we have the basic itinerary set, and it is time to start filling in the details. We can adjust on the fly, and don't get bummed if we need to change gears.

Right now we're gearing up for Hurricane Sandy to hit and preparing to lose power. We'll be sure to update more once the storm has passed!