Our Magical WDW Adventure - May 2008 Pre Trip Report

[ariel2006]

Pilot

So after what has seemed like literally forever, we are finally going back to the Magical Walt Disney World . In reality it has been about 17 months (not that I have been counting the days or anything), but that 17 months has been the most depressing and frustrating time ever. That was until August last year when eventually it was decided we were definitely going back...and nothing or no-one could stop us

So with 8 whole months to wait I began thinking of ways to pass the time, and thats when I decided to do a trippie, well a pre-trippie anyway. I have read so many brilliant trip reports and pre trip-reports that I thought I would give it a go. The idea for the titles may not be original (and they are far from it), however they are fun to think of and will give you a sneak peak of what is to come, and what will be in the reports is truly original .

Anyway, enough of the waffle, on with the show...



The One With The Cast

Me, Ariel, 22


A major lover of all things Disney / Florida / America.

A typical girly-girl who loves the usual girly related things – shopping, clothes, jewellery, anything pink, sparkly and pretty.

My favourite movie of all time is The Little Mermaid and my favourite Disney character is Ariel.

I have been watching and loving Disney movies since I was born thanks to my wonderful Mum, sparking what some may call a ‘mild’ (term used very loosely) Disney obsession. What started as watching the odd Disney movie and having the odd Disney teddy slowly grew into um, we’ll call it a Disney inspired lifestyle, complete with a whole Disney room and regular trips to the Disney Store (and no trip would be without a souvenir would it). And since my first visit to Disneyland Paris (then Euro Disney) aged 9, I have become not only a Disney obsessive, but a Disney theme park obsessive. Now life would not be complete without an annual trip to Disney, and all the fun that goes into planning and waiting for the trip to come.

Here's me:



Disney Boyfriend, Robin Hood, Nick, 23

Loves Disney of course, Robin Hood being his favourite film. Can sometimes be heard singing the Mickey Mouse March when he thinks no-one is listening.

Loves typical boy things – cars, Top Gear, anything gadgetty, computer games and most sport – both playing and watching, especially Cricket, Rugby and golf. Luckily went to a posh school so got to play a lot of sport at school which took him to some amazing places including Australia, South Africa and Barcelona.

Here's Nick:



We met on our first day at university and have been together ever since. We have now been together for over 4 years and during that time have done some amazing things together. We have so much in common, we love the same things, share a lot of the same passions and have the same dreams and aspirations in life. From the moment we met we were completely comfortable with each other and have great fun planning our future.
Despite having a lot in common we have quite opposite personalities, I am a bit of a worrier, very particular and organised (Nick swears I have OCD but I find nothing wrong with colour-coding my wardrobe and having specific places for my DVD’s) as opposed to Nick who is so laid-back and takes everything as it comes…if it ever does. We therefore balance each other out perfectly which means we live, work and play together without killing each other in the process. It is also great because it means I get to make most of the decisions…like where we go on holiday!

One of our main passions is travelling and we’ve visited some amazing places together including Thailand and Cuba. We loving reading about the countries, planning the trips and experiencing the culture, the countryside and especially the food and drink.

We also love going to the theatre and have seen some brilliant shows including 4 different Cirque du Soliel’s, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Chicago and our particular favourite, We Will Rock You.

Here is a few pictures of us:

[purple myra]

looks good so far, looking forward to reading about the rest of your plans

[ely3857]

Brilliant introductions! I swear, in about 4 places I thought you were writing about me! (Euro-Disney as a kid / Alike but Opposite / You decide on holidays / Fella likes cars!)



Jodie

[orlandobaby]

Hee Hee cool! I'm looking forward to reading more. Nice piccies too dude!

[AndyJ]

Whooo! Enjoy guys!

A.

[ariel2006]

Thanks guys, next part coming up in a bit

[ariel2006]

Now that you have met the cast its time to relive with you our Disney history in classic fairytale style...

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Queen who had 2 little princesses. The Queen liked to treat the 2 little Princesses by showing them magical Disney films and buying them small Disney gifts, starting a little Disney obsession in the smallest princess. Therefore when the magical Euro Disney first opened in 1992 the 2 Princesses begged the wonderful Queen and the boring old King to take them to this magical land of fairies, pirates and wondrous creatures. The Queen and King promised that in 1993 there wish would be granted ~ much to the Princesses delight.

But like in every good fairytale disaster struck and the boring old King left the beautiful Queen and the 2 Princesses, and their dream of visiting the wonderful and magical Euro Disney was left in pieces.

However, True to fairytale tradition a handsome and wonderful Knight came riding in on his beautiful black stallion to save the day. In 1994 The beautiful Queen and wonderful Knight took the 2 Princesses and the Knights young son to the magical World of Dreams, the most magical and wondrous surprise the young children had ever encountered.

Fortunately this was just the beginning of the magical adventures the young Princesses and young Knight would enjoy to this magical place, full of dreams and wishes.

And, of course, They all lived Happily Ever After"

So like the story tells in 1994 my wonderful Mum and step-dad took my older sister, myself and my younger step-brother to Euro Disney as a surprise. They told us some story about going to visit my Step-dad’s brother who worked on a ferry as a chef, except when we got on the ferry began to move. My Mum told us to all bet where we thought were going and the person who came closest would win a pound (talk about big money). Not knowing many places abroad, or perhaps it was my Disney-intuition, I said Paris. The journey down to Paris took a while but as soon as we close and started seeing the signs for Euro Disney I twigged and nudged my sister. When we eventually arrived and drove under the large wooden Davy Crockett Ranch sign, surrounded by trees and empty fields we were most disappointed. What we didn’t know was The Davy Crockett Ranch was a Disney resort. When we finally arrived at the park we were all so excited and couldn’t believe we were finally there, the place we had dreamed about going since it was first announced. My Mum and Step-dad had done such a good job keeping this a secret and were so excited to see our reaction, which of course was sheer amazement. We all instantly fell in love with the place and were so sad when it was time to leave.

Heres a few pictures:




I'm the little one in the middle

Luckily we got to visit a few times over the next few years, one of the most memorable trips was for my 16th birthday in 2001. This was my little sisters first trip to Disney (although I had made sure she had been brought up on Disney films) and it was just as amazing to see her reaction to everything as it was to actually be there.


1995


2001 - My baby sisters 1st trip to Disney

In 1998 I was lucky enough to have my first visit to WDW. My Dad (yes the boring King) decided to take my older sister and I along with his girlfriend and her 8 year old daughter to Florida to visit his sister who had just moved to Fort Lauderdale (her husbands in the Navy). We went for 2 weeks, spending 1 in Fort Lauderdale at my aunties house and the other on I-drive. Within a week we managed to visit Magic Kingdom, Epcot (on the 4th of July), Animal Kingdom (which had recently opened), Universal Studio’s, Seaworld, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon all in 7 days. I instantly fell in love with Disney World, Orlando and America in general, and I still have magical memories of that first sight of Cinderella’s castle as we floated across Seven Sea’s Lagoon, the beautiful grandeur of the Grand Floridian, imagining all the rich people inside, so lucky to stay there, and the Crystal Palace, sitting outside and seeing all those lucky children inside meeting some of my favourite characters. Unfortunately my Dad wasn’t the organised type which meant we were rarely at a park before 11am and due to lack of funds and lack of liking good-food all our meals were either in the form of a large ponderosa breakfast to keep us going till tea, then KFC, McDonalds or fries. Although the holiday was magical and was the kind of holiday I thought only rich people could only ever afford, I really missed my Mum and baby sister and wished they were there to enjoy it too.

Fast-forward to 2004 and Mum and my Step-dad mention the possibility of going to Colorado skiing in January 2005. After picking up a load of brochures and pricing up options I decide to price up Walt Disney World, never dreaming we would actually be able to go there. However thanks to some great prices from First Choice which included staying onsite and a bit of sweet talking my parents (who didn’t actually take much convincing) we booked up to go for 2 weeks in January 2005, staying at the All Star Movies (my Mum, Step-dad, little sister and I). The trip was amazing, and it was even more amazing to be sharing it all with my parents and little sister. The first glance at the Cinderella castle as we floated across the Seven Sea’s Lagoon was as magical as the first time, and instead of sitting outside the Crystal Palace watching all the lucky people inside, I was actually one of those lucky people ( and I will stay in the Grand Floridian one day soon). We hadn’t done much planning (apart from reading the Brit Guide from front to back many times) and had booked no ADR’s. Fortunately for us this was fine for this time of year. The holiday was everything we had dreamed it to be and so much more and we had so many magical moments and memories. Unfortunately though it had to end all too soon.

As soon as we got back we started planning on our next trip to WDW, however this time Nick was coming for his first ever trip to Disney (and America) and it was going to be a big one. Due to various school / university / work commitments we had to go in the summer holidays but this did mean that it would coincide with my 21st birthday, both my little sister and Step-dad’s birthdays and would be just after Nick and my graduation. Therefore we decided to go for a month, spending 2 weeks in Port Orleans, 1 week in Animal Kingdom Lodge and the final week in Miami. This time we planned, planned, planned, and planned some more, made lots of ADR’s, lots of plans and were much more prepared. Again we had the best holiday ever and added many more magical memories to the collection. Unfortunately this time when we got back we knew we wouldn’t be going back for some time.

Here is some of my favorite pictures:

















However for New Year 2006 we were able to visit Disneyland Paris again (this time with Nick as well who had now joined us in becoming a Disney park fanatic) and spent a few days there enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, the outdoor ice-skating and wonderful Tinkerbell dinner show.

For my birthday this year Nick took me to Disneyland Paris again (our first Disney trip just the two of us), staying 2 nights in Disney’s lovely Newport Bay hotel. I had a wonderful birthday and Nick spoilt me loads but the more time we spent there, the more I missed WDW.

In August 2008 it’s my Mum’s 50th birthday and she mentioned visiting New York. So we began looking at prices which is when I mentioned that maybe WDW could be an option, especially since it would be during the free DDP time. However after some careful considerations it was decided that New York would be a better option for my Mum’s birthday (my older sister didn’t want to come if we went to WDW and my Mum wanted her there too), which left me upset at the thought of another year away from WDW. Luckily, Nick came to the rescue and proposed that we went just the two of us, saying he too was desperate to go back (it only took one holiday to convert him). We began talking about it, planning it and double checking that Mum definitely couldn’t go for her birthday and that she wouldn’t mind us going. With that sorted we decided to go for it, just the two of us…and so this Magical WDW adventure began.

Coming up next... The One With The Forgotten Cast Member

[ariel2006]

Ok so I introduced Nick and myself but there is one more member of the cast you need to meet. He has a real sense of adventure, loves traveling the world and has come with us on all our trips...and of course will be joining us on this one.

Here he is, the one and only Piggles:


Relaxing in the Bahama's


Playing Poker in France


Eating at Annettes Diner, Disneyland Paris


His favorite place...Ohana

He cant wait to ride Sheikra, get his picture on Splash Mountain and drink more cocktails in Ohana. Keep an eye out for him, he could pop up at any time or any place...

Coming Up Next... The One Where We Start Planning

[orlandobaby]

Piggles! He likes Wagamamas too!

[ariel2006]

Yes, particularly Katsu Curry and Duck Gyozas