We're Disney Bound

Good morning and happy single digits to the Dork Twins! We are now at nine days and the hours are SLOWLY ticking by. Which is a very cruel form of torture that Father Time has put upon us. But, if this is how all of January will be I won't complain because that means our trip won't just blow by.

Anyway, our second day has been pretty set from day one. We'll be at the Animal Kingdom, we're going to eat with Donald, we're gonna just have fun. This park is always warmer, to me, than the other three so I'm planning on shorts and a tank, at least after the sun pops up... Actually I'm planning that for the whole trip, but yeah...

Day Two: Disney's Animal Kingdom
07:00a - Wake Up, get ready.
08:00a - Catch bus NO LATER than this, if possible catch an earlier bus.
08:30a - Donald's Safari Breakfast @ the Tusker House
09:00a - Park Opens / Hit Killamanjarro Safari first thing.
09:30a - Fast Pass Expedition Everest, tour Asia
11:00a - Tour Dinoland / Fastpass Dinosaur
01:00p - Lunch @ Flame Tree BBQ
01:30p - Tour Discovery Island
02:45p - Head over to Africa and find a spot for the Parade
03:00p - Mickey's Jungle Jammin Parade
03:30p - Finish touring Africa
04:15p - Head for Camp Minnie-Mickey, catch Festival of the Lion King
05:00p - Park Closes to non-resort guests / Extra Magic Evening Hours
07:30p - Head back to resort. Pool Time!
10:00p - Lights Out!

So with ten days to go I figured our plans are all pretty much set in stone, so this is our general reference. Hello to all of our 'new readers'. You are either very bored or... well... bored... if you're reading. ha ha. But we... or rather I... figured this would be the easiest way to keep everyone up to date on our travels once we are gone. We plan to log in at least once a day to let you know what we're doing, but as you can imagine, Disney internet is not so cheap, so we may not make it on as much as we want. We'll see.

Anyway... enough rambling.

Travel Info
Airline: Alaska Air
Toni - Anchorage to Seattle: Alaska Air Flight 96 Depart Jan. 11 @ 2:30a // Arrive @ 6:48a
Erin - Missoula to Seattle: Horizon Air Flight 2347 Depart Jan. 11 @ ???a // Arrive @ 7:35a
Both - Seattle to Orlando: Alaska Air Flight 18 Depart Jan.11 @ 8:45a // Arrive @ 5:00p

I get into Seattle before Erin, so I'll find her gate and prepare myself to kick her butt when she lands and exits the aircraft... because I can. :) We'll grab some food and eat on our way to our gate and off we'll go.

Once we arrive at MCO (Orlando International) we have to get to Disney's Magical Express. It's located on side B of the first level of the airport. I suspect we'll get to DME about 5:20p if all goes well and depart by 5:40p. I Suspect we'll be at the Coronado to get checked in by 6:40p. Then check in...

Home Sweet Home
We are planning a split stay, but seeing as how we don't go to our second hotel for 8 days I will leave that info for another post.
Resort: Disney's Coronado Springs
Phone #: 1-407-939-1000
Arrival: January 11, 2009 around 6:40p
Depart: January 19, 2009
Room Type: Standard Water View
Location: We've requested the Casitas

Plans for our first night is to get in, get checked in, get settled. And then feed ourselves at the Pepper Market. And just chill. We may or may not tour around the beautiful grounds... I wouldn't mind a dip in the hot tub because I know we'll be SORE from sitting on those uncomfy airplane seats for however long... plus my butt will be sore from sitting in the airport.

Erin also has to shoot footage and take pictures of me giving serious love to the resort. I plan to hug the dang thing when we get there. I am a dork. If you're just now realizing this you do not know me at all.

Next post will be our revised touring plans for the parks... again, broken up by day.

On my way to where the AIR IS SWEET!

Man, I miss the old Sesame Street!

Anyway - for reference later this week I'm sharing the link to weather.com to see what we'll be expecting for our trip. I pray that it's all sun and warmth while we're there. No rain!

http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/USFL0372?month=1

so far nothing for when we get there, but I like the looks of those temps!

Just a revision of our first day's agenda!

Day One -- Magic Kingdom

08:00a - Wake Up
08:45a - Catch Bus for Park
09:00a - Watch Park opening show (if we get there in time - which I doubt)
09:05a - Check out Main Street and Adventureland
10:30a - Grab fast pass for Big Thunder Mt. Railroad
10:45a - Head over to Contemporary (aka walk over there)
11:10a - Brunch @ Chef Mickey's
11:45a - Catch Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom
12:10p - Ride Big Thunder Mt Railroad if Fast Pass window has arrived / continue touring Adventureland & Frontierland
02:00p - explore Liberty Square
03:00p - Dreams Come True Parade (what time is the 3 o'clock parade?)
03:30p - Fast pass Mickey's Philharmagic / Haunted Mansion / ride the Liberty Belle / visit Tom Sawyer's Island
05:30p - Dinner @ Columbia Harbour House
06:00p - Head back towards main street
06:30p - stake out spot in hub/mainstreet for parade and fireworks!
07:00p - Spectromagic
08:00p - Wishes Nighttime Spectacular
09:30p - In room set wake up call for 7:00am

now I gotta revise the plan in our passporter so I don't forget AND look and see what needs revising for the other two days we have for the MK!

something, who knows what. But I am extremely bored and in want of our trip to Disney World today (like everyday) so I figured I better start revising our trip plans for probably the last time.

As was stated previously - we are now doing a split stay while we're in Disney. January 11-19 will be at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort it is a moderate resort with a deluxe feel. It is currently undergoing some refurbishments - all rooms now have queen beds - so it will have a decidedly *newer* feel to it than other resorts of its caliber.

I will probably do a write up similar to what I did for the Pop Century later this week[end]. But for now I'll just give a run down of plans.

From January 19-22 we will be staying at Disney's Pop Century Resort this is a value level resort, and is the newest of the values as it opened in 2004.

Interestingly enough, while Erin has been to neither resort, I've visited/stayed at both. Of the two I prefer The Coronado, and not because it's a "better quality" but I enjoy the fact that it's more spread out, it has a great theme, the service is above and beyond what I expected, and the busses don't just go to one central location. I like the Pop for its theming, and I hope that when we have to switch to Pop we won't be too homesick for Coronado.

Because we are staying at the Coronado from the first night we get down there, we have cancelled our Boma reservation we had set up for 8:30pm on the 11th. There was just no point to eating out when the Coronado has wonderful food service in both the Pepper Market and Maya Grill (Which is expensive but super yummy). At this point the plan is to get into the Coronado, check in, and - depending on where our room is - we will either grab something to go from the Pepper Market and take it to our room OR we'll settle into our room and then go grab something to eat. Either way will work and the first night we'll do exactly how my family did in 2007 - we'll get acquainted (or in my case reacquainted) with our vacation home... and we can SLEEP. *IF* we can sleep. Chances are we're going to rival that little kid in the ad ("WE'RE TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!")

I'm hoping to have enough energy that first night to head over to the dig site and visit the hot tub, and take some photos of the pool while there.

Have a ~*~Magical~*~ day. :)

Next post on here should be a write up on the Coronado.

We have 50 days until we touch down in Orlando, and head over to our most beautiful resort: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in the Animal Kingdom district.



And I'm off!

It seems the closer we get to the "big day" the less there is to talk about on this thing. Oh well, it's not like anyone else reads this thing anyway! haha!

I called down and paid the remaining balance on our trip this morning. Erin sent up a check for part of what she owes (the more she holds onto the less I can spend before the trip, right?). The website wouldn't let me pay that way so I had to call, and the connection was really poor, so hopefully it all goes through. It takes Disney a couple of days before the thing goes through, so we'll see.

We are at 52 days and counting. Wasn't it just last week that we were counting down from 200 and something? I am so excited. The wait is almost TORTURE. It's all Erin and I can talk about, it's pretty sad if you think of it.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, eh. No biggie, we're freaking going to DISNEY WORLD!

So the Coronado Springs didn't pan out *quite* like we wanted, but that is alright because we are BOOKED for CSR anyway! We have a room there from the 11th to the 19th. From the 19th to the 22nd we're staying at the Pop Century resort.

So it's a little bit more than what we were originally paying, but we both believe it will be worth it. It's about 200 bucks more than what it would have been before the special came out, so I guess that's pretty good... had this special not come out we would have been way over budget trying to get the Coronado.

I don't have time to do a full write up on what the Coronado Springs resort looks like or how it works, but there is a fan site out for it and can be found HERE.

My family stayed there in 2007 and I fell in love with it. I've requested the Casitas building not so much because I've stayed there before, but because that's the first bus stop and I love being first (and it's all about me!).

I'm so stinking excited that it isnt even funny!

Day Ten -- Magic Kingdom
Our final day! *sob* // Toni's 24th Birthday // SPLASH MT!!!

07:00a - Wake up
07:40a - Catch bus to Magic Kingdom
08:30a - Watch opening of Magic Kingdom
11:30a - Brunch @ Crystal Palace (Character Meal)
08:00p - Wishes from the Train Depot
08:20p - catch bus to Boardwalk*
09:00p - Illuminations @ EPCOT


* So the final night we're going to do a Disney Marathon of sorts, watch two night time shows back to back. the following is the proposed plans that are possible thanks to a member on Passporter's Message Boards.

First idea - RobDVC
Wishes - 15 minutes
Walk to CR - 10 minutes
Cab from CR to BCV - 10 minutes
Walk from BCV to IG - 10 minutes
That gives you about 15 minutes to find a spot to watch IllumiNations.
The key is to watch Wishes from the front of the park and boogie out of there as soon as it's over.
it'll be tight, but it is doable.

Second idea - Lucyinthesky
Okay, I've done this before, once. I wasn't even planning on it, I was watching Wishes from around the train station, so I was right near the exit of the park. I left as soon as Wishes ended, and jumped on the monorail. When we got over to the TTC, I glanced just across the platform at the Epcot monorail station, and I looked at my watch and thought, huh, I *could* try to make to over to see Illuminations, which is my favorite fireworks show... I thought, what the heck, and went over and waited for a few minutes for the Epcot monorail. When I got into the park, I hustled through Future World, and made it to the entrance of WS just as it was starting. I just stayed there, didn't try to get a great spot or anything, but I saw the show just fine, and it was really cool to see the two shows back to back like that.

Third idea - Ginabutterfly
What about a bus to Yacht and Beach? And then a quick run into the International Gateway? Would that work?

Fourth idea - Laughaholic
Well, what you could do is one night when you are heading out, take the bus back to your resort from the MK right after Wishes ends, and see how often the Y&BC bus comes. If you kind of work out that schedule, you could do what everyone else has said and take the bus there, then walk to the International Gateway. This could also be an alternative if the line is REALLY backed up for the monorail.

You could also probably take a bus to the Boardwalk as well, and take the boat over to Epcot, so you could just hop on that bus if it came first.

Fifth idea - jenifermg0
I just had a vision of the typical hyperactive Alaskan Husky dog team running through Epcot, past SSE, the fountains, heading for WS, past the pyramid in Mexico and China, rounding the corner headed through Germany to Italy, speeding through the American Adventure to Japan, past Morocco into France and then on to UK and finally into Canada - where they wouldn't be COMPLETELY out of place!!! MAN - talk about the Last Great Race!!!!

The last two days are basically just hitting the two biggest parks again to get to whatever we didn't get to earlier, and see our favorites again as much as possible. So there isn't as much planning involved. Mainly just food has been planned.

Day Nine -- EPCOT
Extra Magic Morning Hours @ EPCOT // Times are approximate
07:00a - Wake Up
07:30a - Head to EPCOT
08:15a - Sunshine Seasons (if open that early)
01:00p - Biergarten for Lunch (BUFFET!)
08:00p - Yakitori for Dinner (if we don't decide to park hop or something)
09:00p - Illuminations from Japan

Day Eight -- No Park Day
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day // Mini-Golf & Shopping // Hollywood Studios has Extra Magic Evening Hours.

08:45a - Catch Bus for Magic Kingdom
09:15a - Transfer to Bus or Ferry for the Wilderness Lodge
10:00a - Breakfast @ the Whispering Canyon Cafe
11:30a - Head to Downtown Disney
12:00p - Shop!
03:00p - Catch bus to the Beach Club Resort
04:00p - Early dinner @ Beaches & Cream
05:30p - Fantasia Gardens (Mini-Golf)
07:00p - Winter Wonderland (Mini-Golf)

The evening is free, no idea what we will do.. but I'm sure we can figure something out!

So the more I looked at our second day at Epcot the more I realized I was pushing for too much as far as food was concerned, so I've switched our lunch plans around a bit. This also effects our "no park day" which is the next day that I will share.

Day Seven -- EPCOT
Future World is the goal. // Future world open till 7pm, World showcase till 9pm // Magic Kingdom has Evening Magic Hours

09:00a - Wake Up (hooray for sleeping in a bit)
10:00a - Breakfast @ Pop Century Food Court
11:00a - Future World @ EPCOT
01:00p - Lunch @ the Electric Umbrella
02:00p - Continue touring Future World
06:30p - Head to Fort Wilderness for Dinner (Ferry or Bus?)
08:00p - Dinner @ Trail's End (Buffet)
09:30p - Electrical Water Pagent from the docks of Ft. Wilderness
10:00p - Head to Magic Kingdom, and either spend some time there with EMH or grab bus to Pop Century

I think this works a whole lot better than the one before. Yes, I'm crazy.

Day Seven -- EPCOT
Future World is the goal. // Park open till 9pm // Magic Kingdom has Evening Magic Hours

09:00a - Wake Up (yes, that's right, we get to sleep in a bit)
10:00a - Breakfast @ Pop Century Food Court
11:00a - Hit Future World (World Showcase will be opening then, so we should hit it about right)
01:30p - Head over to the International Gateway on route to Boardwalk
02:15p - Beaches & Cream for Lunch
04:00p - Head back to Future World and hit whatever is left.
06:30p - Leave park take Bus (Ferry?) to Fort Wilderness
08:00p - Dinner @ Trail's End
09:00p - Electrical Water Pagent
09:30p - Head back to resort? MK?

So I put a tens countdown on my ABT calendar which hangs in my bathroom. it's my 'planning' one as it's a way to keep me up to date with what the heck is going on and it gets my rear in gear when needed. Anyway I got really excited because the days fly when you only count every ten ha ha! Also noticed that January 1st marks the 10 day mark... single digits begin on Jan. 2!!!! Excitement.


I would just like to take this time to apologize, in advance, to our behavior come January. We are going to be unbearable. You've been warned. Please don't banish us!

Day Six -- Magic Kingdom
Times are approximate. // Park open till 11pm!

08:30a - Get Dressed.
09:00a - Catch bus for park.
09:30a - Breakfast at the Main Street Bakery
10:15a - Mickey's Toontown Fair
01:00p - Cosmic Ray's Cafe
01:45p - Fantasy Land & "The Hub"
03:45p - Main Street Shopping
04:50p - Dinner @ The Plaza
05:45p - Adventureland (Jungle cruise in teh dark?)
07:45p - Frontierland
09:00p - SpectroMagic Parade
11:00p - Wishes! from Big Thunder Mt. Railroad!

I honestly don't know what we'll do with the big hour gaps we've got. We'll play it by ear!

Day Five -- Disney's Animal Kingdom
This is a 'pick up what we missed, and do stuff we loved again' day, and since the park closes to early we can head to another park or back to our resort if we want.

08:00a - Wake Up
08:20a - Catch Bus
09:00a - Watch Park Opening
09:15a - Breakfast @ Kustafari Coffee Shop
09:30a - Kilamanjaro Safari
10:00a - Camp Minnie Mickey
10:30a - character stalking while shopping and enjoying rides
12:30p - Lunch at Yak & Yeti's Counter Service
03:00p - Mickey's Jungle Jammin' Parade
05:00p - Park Closes
05:30p - Catch bus to either resort or another park (EPCOT has Extra Evening Hours)

So yeah, not sure what we'll do that evening, but I am all about hanging by the pool that day if it's warm enough hee hee! Or mini golf!

Day Four -- Disney-Hollywood Studios
Because showtimes are not available not a lot of planning to be done.

08:30a - Wake Up & Shower
09:15a - Breakfast/Coffee @ Food Court
09:25a - Catch Bus
10:00a - Hit the Parks. Show times dictate what we do.
01:00p - Birthday Lunch at The Hollywood Brown Derby
03:00p - Pixar Block Party Bash Parade
03:20p - Hit up the rides. Muppets, Great Movie, Star Tours...
05:00p - Dinner @ Pizza Planet (I might get the food and then meet Erin over at Tower of Terror so I don't have to ride)
06:00p - Sit and eat and wait in line for Fantasmic
07:00p - FANTASMIC!!!!!!
08:00p - Tour our resort / Pool Time

Day Three -- EPCOT
Again, most times are approx. // Goal is to see the World Showcase.

08:30a - Wake Up/Shower
09:15a - Breakfast/Coffee/whatever @ Pop Century Food Court
10:00a - Catch Bus for Park (if we go earlier, Erin, we could take the monorail.)
11:00a - World Showcase Opens -
11:15a - Maelstrom
12:00p - Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Cabelleros
01:05p - LITE Lunch @ Le Cellier
02:00p - Explore World Show Case going counter clockwise stop and meet characters whenever possible. Don't forget the American Adventure!
07:45p - Dinner @ Cantina De San Angel, get seat close to water to watch fireworks.
09:00p - Illuminations (ie Fireworks)
09:20p - Walk against the flow and around the lagoon. Enjoy the lights.
10:00p - Catch bus to Pop Century
10:45p - Formulize a plan of attack for tomorrow.


Disney Hollywood Studios will be the park we visit next, and it will be difficult to make any sort of plan before we actually get down there because show times change so often. So until we actually get down to Florida and get a times guide the plan will just be skin and bones.

With the EPCOT plan I knew Erin would want to sleep in a bit after going non stop for two days, and there's a lot of walking still to be done so I'd like to get off my feet a bit. We're going to basically skip the future world and concentrate on the different countries. We have two more full days later in the trip with Epcot and so we'll devote most of a day to a full day at Future World and then the third day can be whatever we feel like... sort of a clean up day. We can always park hop in the evening if we want to visit another park.

Le Cellier is a fairly expensive table service resteraunt, but if we eat a lighter lunch than we normally would we can still come out on top. Something like Soup and Salad/Sandwich. It's basically just a place I've always wanted to eat. And it's all about me anyway, right? ;)

Day Two -- Disney's Animal Kingdom
All times are approximations. // Extra Magic Hours.

07:00a - Wake up and QUICKLY get ready.
07:30a - Catch the bus for Animal Kingdom
08:30a - Donald's Safari Breakfast @ Tusker House (yum!)
09:00a - Hit the park - head first to the Kilamanjaro Safari
09:30a - Fast pass Expedition Everest and head for Finding Nemo the Musical.
10:15a - Tour Asia.
12:30p - Kali River Rapids (fastpass if needbe)
01:00p - Flame Tree BBQ
01:30p - Tour Discovery Island
03:00p - Mickey's Jungle Jammin' Parade
03:20p - Tour Africa
04:30p - Dinoland USA (Fast Pass Dinosaur if needbe!)
05:00p - Park Closes / Extra Magic Hours begin.
07:30p - Resort & Pool time!

I've edited this thing while typing this up... I think this is a good enough tour plan, anyway. Ha ha! It's always changing always flowing. ;)

Yes, I know, there is such a thing as overplanning, but I'm bored out of my mind, and this is just a blue print. I'm fine with improving once we get there. But, let me keep myself occupied for the next 89 days, okay?

Anyway In the following 10 or so posts I plan to give a run down on each day and what I have in mind. This is not set in stone - save for some of the meals, and really not even then - and I'm sure I'll continue to play around with all of it... but this is what I have in mind thus far.

Day One -- Magic Kingdom
7:30a - Wake Up
8:30a - Catch Bus for Park
9:00a - Watch Park opening show (if we get there in time)
Breakfast - Something quick at a snack cart
Morning - Tour Adventureland & Frontierland
Lunch - Columbia Harbour House
Afternoon - Liberty Square and Tom Sawyer's Island
3:00p - Dreams Come True Parade (what time is the 3 o'clock parade?)
Almost Evening - Fantasyland and Tomorrowland
6:00p - Casey's Corner & find a spot in "The Hub" and park it for the evening stuff oh and it's a reason to take a break!
7:00p - Spectromagic
8:00p - Wishes Nighttime Spectacular
9:30p - In room set wake up call for 7:00am


I'm too excited to sleep!