The fizz went flat: give me some Disney!! NEARLY THERE!! POST 130, PAGE 9

[mandymouse]

It sounds like it's all coming together nicely Claire. Good Luck with your flights

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Wow how did i miss your PTR Claire (hug)

I'm so happy for you and i hope you have a truly magical time!

 

[fizz13]

Hi everyone, thanks again for all your lovely comments and well wishes for our trip, and was so nice to see so many of you at the meet. i had a brilliant time and it was just what i needed, think i have been out of the dis boards loop for long enough!
I have so much to tell you all Lets start with flights. as you may recall my in-laws are taking the children camping, and i thought it was all well and truly sewn up. when i rang to get confirmation before booking flights they informed that actually they hadnt booked yet and could i hold on?!! And so i spent way too many hours flight watching, and a very anxious day where i watched united drop thier prices dramatically to £316 from what had been £434, i was all set to book us airways as they had come up cheapest over and over again, but i loved flying unitd before, they knock spots off virgin in every way so if i could bag united instead i would be very happy. the flights went up the next day and again i sweated it out, hoping my in-laws would get on with it. at one point i was just going to book as all of the flights started creeping up, and again i frantically called. nope, i needed to hold on some more.
2 days ago i spotted that united had once again dropped to £316, a big saving considering us airways were showing at £375. finally last night i got the green light, the flights stayed at £316 and i got my wishi got my low price and my airline of choice. i think all your pixiedust helped no end so thankyou very much
flight details are taking off at 7:45am from heathrow, via washington, landing at MCO at 5:43pm, which is lovely as i will have time to get to Magic Kingdom and pick up my birthday gift card, MK is closing at 10pm that night, with Spectro at 9 and wishes at 10. yep i am getting fireworks on my birthday!! Coming back flights are nice too. leaving at 6:30pm so i have a whole day to play with, flying via washington and landing back at heathrow for 10:05am oohh i am a happy bunny! drama over!

August hours were finally published and i have been tweaking and playing about with my itinerary. Colin (my OH) is trying to be tolerant but he asked the wrong question the other day which poor him, landed him a 15 minutes speil about adrs, emh, fantasmic etc. he eventually put his fingers in his ears and went la la lai dont blame him. and i am trying to be very careful not to over disney him before we even get there. but in know he is listening and paying attention and he will appreciate it all when we get there. and he is already very grateful for me saving him £60 with my savvy flight hunting

so itinerary tweaking. along the theme of not over disneying him i have been thinking about how to show him more than just rides and parks. normally when i take a wdw trip i dont actually leave property for a week, 10 days and that suits me fine, but i am not sure its fair to inflict that onto him. colin loves cars, watersports and shopping, in fact he loves shopping way more than me, i think i missed the girly shopping gene. so i was thinking how to fit it all in, i have left good gaps in our plan for the week, but sadly i am about to fill them up. bless him, i hope he wasnt planning on sleeping in

so heres the revised plan with some new exciting extras:

22- flight landing 5:43pm. get towncar to POP (have decided i will have no patience for ME). drop everything and go to MK for Spectro, Wishes and i have to ride Splash Mtn, i am the birthday girl after all

23- AK and tusker house breakfast. evening at Ohana and Poly, maybe a mini monorail tour.

24-have booked morning of watersports at Sammy Duvall watersports centre at Contemporary, would do parasailing but colin hates heights, but jetbikes, rings etc. go get changed for afternoon at world showcase, late lunch at tokyo dining, then we can snack later on and have drinks for Illuminations!

25- MK with Crystal Palace. rest and pool time. DS for mama melrose fantasmic package (reports of fantasmic scared me so am getting package). and then fantasmic. hoping to see Lights Moteurs Action last show.

26- Epcot future World with lunch at Rose and Crown. evening at Downtown Disney with dinner at Raglan Road, would do characters in flight balloon ride if colin can get over heights thing.

27-a day split with morning at Blizzard Beach and late afternoon at Premium Outlets. california grill then taxi ride to Boardwalk for exploring and maybe pop into Jellyrolls. never been so am curious, not late though.

28-DS day. Dinner at Boma then off to Old Town for Friday Night car drive by, i have to take colin to see this, had forgotten all about it but he will be in heaven. and he will love all the kitch tacky shops and silly rides. maybe get on the go-karts. if we have energy there is Epcot EMH that night.

29- pack up and hit whatever colin wants to, fav park, waterpark, whatever.
pick up about 4:30pm for airport.


so there you have it, its been tweaked, tuned, and refined. and yes it looks crazy busy and yes maybe we wont get it all done, but i am really pleased that i have managed to get in more stuff that i know he will love, and of course i will be having a ton of fun too. thats if we dont melt in the august sun and i dont pass out...i nearly did at DTD a couple of years ago, midday august sun waiting for a bus with no shade, yikes!
anyway, hope you enjoy and cant wait to update with my ADR times when i phone to book next week. oh yeah, one minor small additional detail for today:

ITS MY DOUBLE DIGIT DANCE TODAY!!!!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Congrats on your DD dance

I love your revised plans, you have something to suit both of you

 

[Pinky166]

Loving your plans Claire. I am sure Colin will appreciate all your crazy ramblings & planning when he is there.

YAY for your DD day!

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

Great plans Claire

Happy DD Dance!

 

[arieljasmine]

So pleased that your flights worked out so well. Your plans all sound so exciting.

Laur's xx

 

[fizz13]

Hi everyone,
well i thought I better come give a bit of an update seeing as I made my ADRs on Sunday, oh the drama. you should have seen me pacing the floor, i could hardly sleep the night before, i was so wound up over the recent reports, and with the new dining online system in place too with systems crashing etc...can you hear the hysteria, and this is 2 days later i had everything written down in my mickey notebook good to go, then remembered that i needed to pull my ressie no off my email so did that phew..then my grandfather turns up at 11am and says we need to go buy the kids a paddling pool, actually paddling pool is incorrect. its a 12ft monster of a pool with filter, pump etc but really, 11am on my ADR day??!!!!! i keep calm, drive to toys r us, get everyone back and then make it clear that i could be on hold for an hour+, i need total quiet, with 3 kids sure, no problem at ten to 12 i start to freak out mildly. i make sure i have my phone prompts written down to beat the hordes of other free diners about to make the same call, and i start dialling at 11:57, of course its not open yet. i hit redial about 6 times and bingo there is the fairy wand.

the prompts all go to plan and yay! straight through to a dining CM, no wait for meyes i felt a little bit smug hee hee. of course this doesnt mean i got everything i wanted, no that would have been too smooth. california grill was not available for 3 different nights i tried which was such a dissapointment as it has the best sushi and it was the one Colin saw on the planning dvd that sparked his interest in the first place. i was flipping through in my mind, Narcoossees, citricos, artist point, flying fish...and went for artist point. i love the Wilderness Lodge, i have never been to artist point, for now its a good substitution..however i am still on a mission to get california grill.

The other one that was a no go was a Fantasmic dinner package at mama melrose, and that was for 23rd, 25th or 27th, all sold out, so I have taken hollywood brown derby on 25th as a package is a package but will keep trying for mama melrose. if i keep HBD then i will pay OOP, its not worth two credits. At the time I couldnt get Crystal palace but have just phoned disney dining back tonight and got an 8:25am. Not an 8am but close enough that i will turn up early and hope they let us in, rope drop is more important to me. touring commando? moi?

So heres what I have and generally i am quite happy.

8/23: Tusker House breakfast 8:20am 1TS
8/23: Ohana 9:45pm (MK EMH is tonight till 1am so good place if we decide to go) 1TS
8/24: Tokyo Dining 2pm OOP
8/25: Crystal Palace 8:25am OOP
8/25: HBD fantasmic 3:50pm OOP
8/26: Artist Point 8pm 2TS
8/27: San Angel Inn 12:20pm 1TS
8/27: Raglan Road 8pm 1TS
8/28: Boma 7pm 1TS

Yes i know...i have too many ADRs for my credits and I reckon that i will end up paying about $100 on top for the 3 meals i am paying OOP, i have 3 days where i am eating in a table restuarnt twice. it does seem a little excessive. But it is soooo hard to pin myself to just 7 credits to be honest i would have done without fantasmic package this year but Fantasmic is non-negotiable to me and i dont want to sit there for 2 hours either. 2 hours of sitting = $47..maybe not, oh i dont know the other one i may drop is Crystal palace, but we will see on the day. if colin reacts badly to the character dining at tusker house, and no i dont mean he will be scaredI just mean that it is a disney bridge too far for him to handle, then we wont do Crystal palace. But i have this gut feeling he is going to love every second. he is just winding me up calling mickey a giant ratYou are messing with the wrong girl mister!

The other thing I have been up to is shopping, i am justifying new purchases with "oh that will be good for our holiday", "that will be perfect in that hot florida sun". Because i needed black sandals you know, white and gem silver are good, but black just goes with moreand yes 4 summer dresses are necessary, in that heat i will need to change before i go out in the evening, and i dont need to look like a tourist all the time i think its really nice to look slightly pretty when i am touring the parks, i like myself in photos a lot more in a summer dress than another vest top and denim cut offs shot! so yes i have bought shoes, i have bought dresses..i have also bought new makeup and tinted moisteriser with built in SPF, which is very funny as i hardly ever wear makeup, I bought a new canvas mickey bag to carry stuff round the parks, again very funny as i generally just run with a camera and my key to the world, and hate carrying bagsits a very cute bag though!
Most important buy still to get is a new tankini. i have plenty of bikinis but i think it is time to hang up the triangles. When we grabbed a weekend away to the sun in february i wore a bikini and was horrified of the photos on our return. and i am not self conscious at all really, i think every size is gorgeous and i admire people who stand up proud the way they are. however to bare that much skin on my body is cruel to children, cruel to adults, cruel to the local wildlife frankly! I have had 3 babies, and with recent stress i am at my heaviest weight ever. again not too bothered except my clothes are rebelling and this is a problem. so i am going to try and lose a bit before i go, happiness is not found in picnic bars and peanut butter kit-kats I agree, but in the meantime, tankini it is. why not a swimsuit? weeelll i find that while they smooth over the skin, they also cause it to form the shape of the suit, which if you are round in front i think jsut makes you look bigger. the last time I put one on (about 6 months after i gave birth to my first child admittedly) they asked my ex when the baby was dueyeah swimsuits are not figure enhancing thankyou. now a tankini allows room for movement and the top if cut right will flare out a little bit, much more forgiving. And yes the BBC did ask me to replace Trinny but I had to decline due to other commitments

Right i have wittered on quite enough for one night and i have an early date with the indoor soft play area tomorrow morning, 9:30am no less yikes! but its kind of a rope drop thing, any later and the line will be down the street and i dont do lines, not at disney and not for an overpriced play area be back soon xx

 

[irongirlof12]

I don't think that you have too many adr's they are like shoes and handbags to a girl, you can never have too many.

plans sound really good.

 

[wicket2005]

Loved that latest update, made me smile. I could identify similar feelings myself.

 

[jen_uk]

Great update!

 

[Chilly]

Glad you got most of what you wanted.

 

[Snowy-girls]

All sounds fantastic to me .Glad you+Colin are back on track,you are going to have such a fab time .x.

 

[fizz13]

Hi everyone,
wow where does the time go? I cant believe that not so long ago I was celebrating my double digit dance and here i am at 60 days. Having said that the last 4 to 5 weeks have been drama filled to say the least round here, and it had temporarily put a downer on our trip and Colin had to question whether he would be able to come at all. let me explain.

Just under 5 weeks ago we had to call an ambulance for Colin's mum, she had ben having difficulty to breathe, i had been ferrying her to the hospital for different tests on her heart etc when one night it came to a head. She looked positively grey and couldnt breathe properly even when sitting up and still, and we made the call. And we were at a & e that night for 7 hours, yep we got home when the sun was coming up!It was discovered that she had a very irregular heart rate and lots of fluid on the lungs as a result of this, and they were suprised she had not already had a heart attack. Over a couple of weeks further tests determined that she would need heart surgery to replace the heart valve as well as other things, which is all well and good except it took them another two weeks to find a spare bed at a specialist hospital. She finally had the surgery last saturday, and still not home as now her blood is clotting through the system and it would be too risky until they solve this. add to this that the hospital is an hours drive away, which is taking 3 hours out of colins day every evening, yes he goes every single evening without fail, and when she was closer i was visting every day. Sadly with the school run and visiting starting at 2pm I can only see her at weekends right now. But as you can imagine we are on a wheel of him working, visiting, me cooking for him and supporting him where i can, while i have been heading into the really busy season of end of school year stuff, shows, sports days, open evenings etc, and there seems to be a million weddings, birthdays. we are both seriously busy right now, but we are sneaking time here and there where we can, and my weekends off from the children are vitally important right now.
On top of this my grandfather will be going in for surgery on 5th july to unblock the artery in his leg, this has been pending for 2 years since his major heart attack. some of you will remember that i had to fly to Tenerife in an emergency 2 years ago as we thought he would not make it, well he did, he is a fighter. However we have been warned that in his condition this op will be very risky and we have to be prepared. He can choose not to have it but ultimately he would lose his leg, so this is to preserve his quality of life and he would not want to live the other way.
In between all this there have been weddings, concerts, school shows, hen parties to name a few, so you can see why I have been sidetrackedThere are 2 main concerns hanging over the trip at the mo: everyones health and outcomes, and money. Colin is very concerned that he is not going to be able to manage financially in time for August. The extra expense of the last 5 weeks is suprising, and he would normally have his mum paying some of the household bills as they share all this, effectively he looks after her and it is his house but right now he is on his own. We dont know how long this will go on for. But the flight is paid for, the hotel balance will be paid on the 8th, we have free dining, i changed our booking from 8 day park hoppers to 1 day base so the balance has come down by $400 for 8th July, it is going to be spending money that is the problem.
I am sending tons of pixiedust out for the exchange rate to keep rising as it is really helping right now.

Now lets get on with some positives..PHEW!!! yes there are some

How many of you have been playing with the online ADR system? me me me!! i know my ADRs were booked but I still hadnt got California Grill, I wasnt happy with some times, so I fiddled. and not only did I fiddle, I changed, tweaked, added, subtracted..after I figured out how to put in the right phone number and confirmation numbers that is. wow it wound me up!!Then i felt really stupid when i realised the errors i had made But i have a lineup i am much happier with now.
And as "on a budget" now means "super tightening of belts till you cant breathe" I have had to eliminate watersports, a shopping day and Old Town..for now anyway till we know where we are. I have swapped my days around a bit to get better ADR times, yes i know its only food and I shouldnt be dictated by it..but lets be honest i really really like foodI am also even further over my dining plan credits and will be eliminating some sooner to the time. I am also planning to phone up and book the new fireworks dessert party at magic Kingdom for the night we get there, it will be like having my own little birthday party on the actual night Oohh and a little DIS meet has been arranged at the Rose and Crown, as well as plans to meet up with my best friend from school who lives out there now. Btw she runs a realtor business in Orlando so if any of you are interested in property I know just the girl
To keep me sane I have been perfecting my touring plans for the parks and i am very proud of myself, i have even gone so far as to do one for World Showcase incorporating the times for the entertainment acts i want to see, now that is dedication, and slightly nuts ahem

ooh yes heres a question for some of you: I was going through my disney draw the other day, its where i collect mini souvenirs, like stickers, badges, thinsg from the hotels i have stayed at there, maps i got at checkin, even napkins from the restaurants and i came across two old Universal park tickets from 2004, and i know they had 1 day left on each of them, these were back when they were non-expiring, you just purchased the days. i know disney honours old days but does Universal? answers on a postcard please.

Finally, i will leave you with my updated list of ADRs and very brief plan of attack, as it has changed a bit.

22/8- arrive, MK night, Spectro and Wishes, fireworks dessert party

8/23- AK day, 8:20 Tusker House breakfast, dinner at Boma 8:35pm

8/24- morning by the pool, World Showcase 1:40pm Tokyo Dining, DIS meet at 5:30 Rose and Crown and British Invasion, Illuminations

8/25- MK day, Crystal Palace breakfast 8:25, hop over to DS for Hollywood Brown Derby package 3:50pm and fantasmic

8/26- day off, dinner at California Grill 9:20pm (wishes is at 10pm so this was a happy fluke)

8/27- Epcot day, San Angel Inn lunch at 12pm, dinner at Ohana 9:10pm

8/28- DS day, lunch at 50s prime time 12:20pm, evening at DTD, dinner at Raglan Road 8:30pm

8/29- home day, but not picked up till 6:30pm



Hugs and pixiedust to all xx

 

[jjk]

Oh claire what a stressful time for you both, sending a ton of Pixie dust for your grandad and Colins Mum and a big hug for you

I hope everything settles down for you hun x

 

[SusanEllen]

You're all set. All you'll have to do now is show up at the airport on time. Once you're in Orlando, Disney will take it from there. I imagine that the planning and re-planning was a bit more trying than usual with all that's been going on with medical emergencies and hospital stays, but I trust that the planning was also a respite from the stress. Best wishes for Colin's mother's recovery and a successful outcome for your grandfather's surgery. Hope the upcoming FL trip will give you a happy break.

 

[Chilly]

Big hugs to you

 

[CustardTart]

Claire, I am crossing everything that it all works out for you guys!!! So sorry to hear about your Grandad and Colin's Mum - talk about spinning plates at the moment!!!

You both need this trip so I'm sending you plenty of ... Hope that helps... xxx

 

[natalielongstaff]

oh hun keeping my fingers and toes crossed that your finances come up trumps xx

 

[fizz13]

omg omg i am going to disney world in 3 and a half weeks!!!!!! The closer I get the slower the time seems to be going and the more obsessed I am getting, I keep looking at the suitcases in the garage rafters and negotitating with myself when is a resonable time to get them down. I am thinking more carefully about what clothes i am putting on every day, thinking i might want to take it so probably best to leave it clean and i have been going to bed stupidly late as i keep getting caught up with disney world videos on you tubeBtw if you have time put "disney world unwrapped" into a you tube search, its a behind the scenes look at all the food of disney world, the wedding cakes make you want to cry, incredible work!

As i suspected the money is going to come together with about a week to spare, I worked out I need to take $1000, colin cant understand why I need so much so i broke it down for him and he finally got it. $400 to upgrade 1 day base tickets to 7 day hoppers (1 day we are not touching a parkshocking i know), $90 for blizzard beach tickets, $260 for extra food and drink costs (breakfasts, tips, couple of extra meals, any starters and alcohol we may want as extra to DP) and that leaves about $250 for souvenirs and pressies for the kids. See it gets eaten up fast. Colin has already given me his money for tickets but I had bills to pay which had to come first. It will all work out in the end. Anyway i have $100 already on fairfx card and the remaining $900 is about £555.

To help it along I went a bit ebay mad and have listed my snowglobes, pins and pocket dragons I had, most items have people watching and there is 6 days to run. I reckon i will make about £100 from that lot. To be fair i wont miss these items, i have so many disney ornaments, jewellery and nik naks that I cherish far more, and Colin has been so thoughtful buying me little bits here and there that i still have a really ncie collection. On the ebay subject Colin totally shocked me a couple of weeks ago by buying himself a tigger baseball jacket, this from the man who showed no inkling of disneyitisI asked him when he was planning on ever wearing this out and he said that he couldnt go to disney and not have an item of disney clothing. i pointed out that if he wore that in florida august sun he may pass out but he seems quite chuffed with it still. I may have released the inner disney child in him after all

anyway, back to cost cutting. i cancelled 4 meals this week, and bless the CM, she did ask me a couple of times if i was sure i wanted to as i sounded so reluctant on the phone, she counselled me through it like a best friend and one of them was the fantasmic dinner packageyes i know, i went on and on about how vital fantasmic is to me. But HBD was 2 credits and i was really resenting using 2 credits on a meal i didnt particularly want based on a show. So now I will have to take my chances with the masses, yikes! I do have 50s prime time for dinner that day though which i am thrilled about, that pot roast is my fav entree in the whole "world". I also snagged a Le Cellier lunch instead of San Angel Inn, a very yummy upgrade. So I have ADR wise:

Tusker House breakfast
Boma dinner
Tokyo Dining lunch
Crystal Palace breakfast
50s Prime Time dinner
California Grill dinner
Le Cellier lunch
Ohana dinner
Raglan Road dinner

Tokyo Dining was always going to be OOP, we just order sushi by the piece and the two character breakfasts are OOP as they are the cheapest, ooh so much yummy food to look forward to.

The show times for August were released, most of them anyway, so i have been able to revise my itineraries with military precision. I know this sounds insane but it really helps my inner control freak to know i am aiming for an 11:15 finding nemo, a 1:30pm lion king show..oh jeez i need therapy

The towncar has been cancelled in favour of ME, we have sorted a lift to the airport and back and saved hotel and parking costs (which is very nice of our friend to do so considering we need to be at heathrow at 4:45am!), i think any way i could have cut corners on this trip i have done it now and i am just focused on the vision of going through the MK turnstiles on the night of August 22nd, with my birthday gift card in hand and striding into guest services to get my birthday badge. And standing on Main St with the one i love, Wishes going overhead and thinking, we made it, we did it, we are here.

I just have no patience to wait any more

Please excuse the bottom of the photo, it was fancy dress and Colin went out dressed as Sylvester the cat...yes really