We're Disney Bound

...so, Erin had planned to get a pedicure a few days before our trip to Disney so her feet could look fab on our trip. That fell through due to her work schedule and she was bummed.

I told Judy earlier this month about it and Judy got a fantastic idea to book a pedicure there at the Coronado Springs Health Spa for Erin. She ordered a Disney Gift Card so that we could pay for it and not worry about the cost.

So, after playing phone tag with them for three days I finally booked an appointment for Monday January 12th @ 9am. So I guess we'll sleep in that morning after all. It was funny because the lady I was talking to had called me on Sunday morning at 4:30 (!!!) because she didn't realize that I was in Alaska, so she apologised and then said I probably didn't want to book the very first appointment of the day (which is at 9am) and I said that it wouldn't be a problem and the earlier the better. So now Erin is her very first apt. on Monday before we head over to eat with Chef Mickey. I have NO idea what I will do while she's getting her pedicure. Maybe just walk around and take photos... that way Erin's not stuck going around the place with me...

soooooooooooooooooooo now........ yet another revision...

Day One -- Magic Kingdom

08:30a - Wake Up
09:00a - Erin gets her pedicure
10:00a - Head to Magic Kingdom
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



I've also planned a Passporter Meet Up with another PP member for the 15th (our Disney-Hollywood Studios day) but I will be posting our revised travel plans next week when we pretty much know our plans are set in stone! ha ha!

13 days till WDW, baby!!!

It's getting so close we can taste it. It's insane how fast time has seemed to fly by. Not gonna complain, but at the same time... if life is going by THIS fast when we're sitting here waiting for Disney, how fast is it gonna go once we're there??

I tink we both got a lot of great things this Christmas for our trip. I know I did anyway! Erin was fantastic and got me an Ipod, even though we promised we wouldn't get each other anything (the bum) oh well, just means she gets something good at the parks.


Erin got a gift from Judy for a pedicure when we get down there to WDW. I tried to book it yesterday and all I could do was leave a message. Then, this morning at 4:30 (that's right A.M.!!!!!) they called me back. We were not amused. They haven't tried to call again, so I will call down in a bit or wait until tomorrow...

*sigh*

New dream to share. This one I believe was totally brought on by Erin and my conversation from last night. The sooner this trip gets underway the sooner my nighttime sanity will return! lol

Anyway it started off in the Magic Kingdom (where else, right?) and we'd just come back from breakfast (I assume Chef Mickey's if my dream was following the itinerary. Anyway we're in line about to get on our favorite of rides - Big Thunder Mt. Railroad. We get on and away we go, screaming our heads off... but then I look to the front and it's no longer a train we're on but Goofy's BarnStormer - which would explain why the ride is different too (mind you I've never been on Goofy's ride).

Anyway we're flying around the track and just like that it's over. But before I can get off the dang thing it starts moving back up the que. I was able to get off as others got on there (nevermind in Disney that'd never happen, but whatever) and I walked down to some area that I don't know where we were but it looked more liked EPCOT than the Magic Kingdom. Anyway Erin had made it off the train and was waiting for me and while she was waiting she got soaked to the bone in a sleet storm going on outside, but it was okay because she went and bought a ton of crap (all Pirates merchandise lol including steak knives in the shape of pirate swords) and she was surrounded by bags! LOL

We took pictures of ourselves together there in the area whereever we were and debating what we would do next.

and then I woke up.


25 days cannot go by fast enough!

I'm tempted to write a song to the tune of BNL's "One Week" but I don't have time! lol

4 weeks till Disney. Yeah. We're not excited at all!

31 days from now we will be in WALT DISNEY WORLD! *boogies*

Received our travel info packet today from Walt Disney World in the mail today! We're all set now.

34 days and counting!

It came early! We have our luggage tags and vouchers for Disney's Magical Express! I got all giddy! They're for the Coronado and everything! *boogies*

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!

So Erin and I chatted for two hours on the phone last night. Surprisingly our topics of conversation did not result in hours of Disney talk OR slinging insults at each other. Sometimes we can be a bit mature.

However towards the end Erin did mention that she wanted to meet Chef Mickey if it was possible. Considering she's a chef and I've always gotten her a Chef Mickey something when I go down to Disney she just assumed there was a shop that had the big cheese for photos. No such luck - there's just the resteraunt Chef Mickey's.

I've never wanted to eat at the Contemporary (well except for Cali Grill but until I become a billionare...) but since I get to eat with Donald Duck at the Animal Kingdom it's only fair she gets to eat with Chef Mickey.

Problem was that we are down to a month and six days and Chef Mickey's is incredibly popular. I was worried we wouldn't be able to get the day that we had open. It just happens to be our first day and we are planning a day at the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully, the Cont. is not only close to the kingdom (I believe it's in walking distance) it's also on the monorail system so transportation is not as tricky as it would be to some of the other resorts.

Sooooooooooo I called down today with our first choice of breakfast on Jan. 12 with a back up plan of Dinner on the 15th.

Surprisingly they had two openings for bfast on the 12... 7:30a and 11:10a - neither one of them is a prime choice, but I took the 11:10. I don't want to get up at the buttcrack of dawn two mornings in a row, especially since it'll be our first day and we'll have no doubt been doing the "we're too excited to sleep" reenactment that night.

So we'll sleep in a bit, and then head over to the Magic Kingdom for a bit, then walk over to the Contemporary and eat with the gang, then take the monorail back to the Kingdom and ride us some rides.

Erin's paying for that breakfast lol she owes me! ;)




x-posted on my LJ.

39 days till WDW, baby!

Nothing else to report, is it weird that Erin does not have a countdown to Christmas going this year because she's too busy waiting for Disney? I think it's weird.

Today is not just Thanksgiving, it's also the 45 day mark for our Walt Disney World Trip. This is the last day to make payments - which we don't have to worry about, paid in full weeks ago - and anything change wise after this could ultimately mean a fee be placed on the ressie because of change. This applies only to our park tickets and room resservations as our dining reservations don't require $$ up front.

It's so close and yet still far enough away that I am a basket case! haha! 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 day till we touch down at MCO, hitch a ride on Disney's Magical Express, and visit the Coronado Springs! Disney's almost here!

Yes, that's right! New Disney dreams ran through my head. The first one was pretty tame. We were in one of the parks (I think it was the Magic Kingdom, I don't remember) and Jen was with us. She was apparently working there, but she forgot part of her costume... she had 'puppy's body on but the head was missing. And we were wandering around trying to decide what we were going to do.

Then the second dream was another one that was panic ridden. I was getting ready to head to the airport to go to WDW and Judy comes in and tells me I have to repack because I used the wrong suitcase. So I try to get everything packed and miss my flight. I'm still packing when Erin calls and asks where I am and I start ranting, and she's not even listening because she's already in the parks. She's in Epcot watching the Fountains. UGH! It was awful! I woke up ready to cry! LOL


46 days till WDW! If the wait doesn't kill me, these dreams will!

I stayed at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in June of 2007. I absolutely love the resort, it's big and relaxing and it doesn't matter to me that it caters to Convention goers, it just means more room on the bus to the parks.

Originally we were planning on staying at Pop, but with the buy 4 get 3 free promotion Disney has going right now we decided to go ahead and book a moderate. Again, I gave Erin the choice of which resort to stay at because I'm just that nice (And I really didn't want the responsibility). I gave her the links to all of the moderates with as little bias as I could, but she chose CSR anyway.

Not that I'm complaining, since I love the place. Come to find out that's why she picked the resort, she knew how much I enjoyed my time there. I have the best best friend.

Anyway, this is the write up about the resort. As with the Pop Century write up, I'm going to be giving my bits here and there, but also copying some of the info from AllEars.net.



Coronado Springs is another of Disney's moderately priced resorts that opened on August 1, 1997. The complex has 1,967 rooms and suites situated in three villages around a 15-acre lake called Lago Dorado.
This is Disney's first moderately priced convention hotel. There is a 95,000-square-foot convention center that includes a 60,214 square-foot. ballroom, as well as a full-service business center. The ballroom can accommodate 5,000 for a sit-down dinner or 6,500 meeting-style seats. There is also a 20,000 square- foot Junior Ballroom.

The resort is built around a 15-acre shimmering lake, Lago Dorado. Named for European explorer Francisco de Coronado, CS is a showcase of native architecture and landscaping. There is a stepped Mayan pyramid towering over an elaborate 120'x90' pool area with a water slide and a playground that doubles as an archeological dig site for kids. There is a jaguar perched over the water slide spitting water at guests as they slide down... and be sure to look for the Hidden Mickeys.
Coronado Springs is definitely a huge resort, but its expansiveness is also part of its beauty. From almost anywhere at the resort you can look across water and see the other areas.



The scenery that surrounds the Resort is stunning. Like I said, it's so relaxing, but it's also just a warm and homey feeling. It was always so nice to come back to the hotel after a long day in the parks and walk around the lake or take a dip in the hot tub... or just sit out by one of the fountains and watch the sun set. You can even see the high pyro of Epcot and the lights from Downtown Disney.

When the Sun goes down the lights go up and the lake is just a southwestern fairytale. The ambiance just can't be outdone.



The average guest room is approximately 314 square feet. There are 60 rooms with king-size beds; 1,718 have two queen beds; there are 1,181 non-smoking rooms and 99 disabled-accessible rooms.

Standard rooms accommodate up to four guests.The Casita Guest Rooms and the Cabana Guest Rooms are identical in size and furniture. The Coronado Rooms have only 1 sink and not the double sink setup that the other three Moderate Resorts have.

Guest room amenities include 4-cup coffee makers (with decaf and regular coffee packets) plus limited room service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each room has a three-drawer armoire with television, small table with two chairs, night stand, ceiling fan, and small wall safe. Hair dryers, iron, and ironing board, and small refrigerator are also standard. Available on request are cribs, bed rails, refrigerators, and wheelchairs. There is no charge for wheelchair use at the resort. Newspaper delivery is $1.50 per day. There are several newspaper vending machines throughout the resort, located near the elevators.

The Rooms are *roomy* and are currently under refurbishment. All rooms on site now have queen beds, and they're switching out furnature all of this year. They've started on the Casitas and are going floor by floor, which is great. I'm hoping we can get a room in the Casitas (whether refurbed or not) when we go down as that's the first bus stop on the route around the resort.


The Coronado does not share a bus with any other resort, and has about a five minute travel time during slow times from any one park. It is in the Animal Kingdom district, and so it's closest to that park. It's in walking distance of the Blizzard Beach Water Park as well as the Winter Wonderland Mini Golf Course - which is a huge plus for Erin and me!


While the resort is big you don't have to walk to get to your room, there's an internal shuttle system (a longer version of a golf cart) that will gladly pick you up and take you to wherever you want to go.


Another great thing about the resort is El Centro. This is the lobby, dining, and shopping area of the resort. This is where we check in. It also is home to Panchitos, the quaint gift shop (with GREAT scrapbooking stuff!) that has a very Spanish flair about it. Pepper Market, located a little off the lobby has a GREAT flavor to it (litterally) and has a lot of yummy menu options for all times of day. The Maya Grill is their big sit down resteraunt and it hosts a nice menu (but pricey) as well. Yum!


Then there's the "Dig Site" which hosts the main pool (complete with mayan temple water slide) and the "spa" (aka HOT TUB!). It's on the opposite side of the lake from El Centro, and it is impressive just to look at it. I especially love the lighting system they have. Over all it's just stunning.

For Hidden Mickeys check carefully at the Hieroglyphs on the temple at the feature pool.

The Coronado Springs Quiet Pools are the first on Disney property to use Bromine instead of Chlorine!

The Pressed Penny Machines are off the Main Registration area near the phones.


I freaking CANNOT WAIT!

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!

Wow. I almost made it a week before posting again. Is that a record as of late? I'm not sure.

Still tryng to get into the Coronado Springs Resort. There seems to be a pattern with the CMs I get on the phone, the guys all try to get me exactly what I want within our price range. The girls are always upgrading me to deluxe rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Erin and I were tempted to take them up on the offer, but it was just shy f 1300 bucks for 10 days and 10 nights, and I don't think we could handle that. The only other option I think that might make it, but I don't think we'll do, is if we split our stay where it's 4nights at pop and 7 nights at AKL... but I don't think it's worth all the moving around.

So we're still currently at the Pop Century, but we're still hoping against hope that we'll get CSR.




1 month, 4 weeks, 1 day till WDW!

So the deal that came out tonight saved us a little bit of money. 4 nights/tickets get three free for up to 10 nights plus a $200 gift card. Now, we had 11 so it took a bit of finagling but we got it all situated.

Erin and I wanted to upgrade our 10 nights with the freebie deal to the Coronado Springs, but no such luck. None of the other moderates are open at the moment either.

I'm hoping that if I call back I can get into something... I'm sure AlaskaUSA is loving that I keep spending this money only to get it refunded back! ha ha!

If you ever call down to Disney and get a guy named Tucker, OMG, you will get one of the nicest Cast Members I have ever had the pleasure to talk to! I think I developed a phone crush that is totally legal and non pornographic! ha ha!

I'll be honest, I'm bummed about Coronado.. and the fact that I had to shell out another deposit... but it'll all work out in the end.

If the lyrics to A Dream Is A Wish are true then Erin and I have some very odd wishes.

First - this past week Erin informed me that she had a dream about our trip where we were riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when we suddenly started fighting. She got mad and pushed me out of the car and I died. If that's her wish I'm really thinking I should not go with her on this trip.

Then again before our Disneyland trip in 06 she dreamt she pushed me out of the car in Mr. Toad's wildride and ran me over. Obviously I'm still here. But I may still request to not sit with her on BTMRR!


Second - I just woke up from one of the oddest Disney dreams I have ever had. I think it was a mix of Erin and My trip to WDW and the planned birthday in Disneyland for Haille Rae when she turns 5 because Judy and Haille's family were with Erin and me... and we were in WDW. Anyway started out fine, we were all headed to Epcot, we get to the turnstiles (which were in Spaceship Earth for some reason) and I realize I don't have my ticket to get in OR my passporter with the touring plan and our confirm number for lunch at Le Cellier which we were supposed to be at in 45 minutes. So I hustle back to our hotel (which apparently is the Haunted Mansion judging by all the dead things and cobwebs that were suddenly all around me) I couldn't find my ticket in our room and that's about the time I woke up because it was freaking me out.


I'm really worried that if I'm already having these types of dreams that the week leading up to the trip I won't have any restful nights because I'll be tossing and turning with nightmares! ACK!


In other news, MouseSavers.com is advertising a new special offer/discount that will be for the first half of 2009, but they won't tell us! First it was "will be announced on Thursday, Nov. 6" now it says that but at "5pm EST"... UGH! Talk about FRUSTRATING!