A Lot Has Changed Since 2003...

Our one and only trip to Disney World was in January 2003. This past weekend as we were looking through the guide books and talking about our trip I got to thinking about all of the new movies Disney and Pixar have produced since then. There should really be a lot of new characters and things for us to see at Disney. First, you have to look at the Pixar movies, the best I can remember Toy Story was the only one that had come out at the time of our visit. We did get to see Buzz Lightyear, Dakota was a huge fan at the time, he was thrilled - but you never saw Woody.  I believe we get to see him around Magic Kingdom now with Jessie. I remember riding the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin where you get to shoot the lazer gun at the targets and save the world from Zurg. This time we get to check out Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios!  I understand it's really popular and a FastPass is a must!! Then there's Cars and Finding Nemo. We will have to go see "Finding Nemo-The Musical", and The Seas with Nemo and Friends, then Turtle Talk with Crush. Who doesn't love Crush?  Monster's Inc. is another family favorite, we will have to visit the Laugh Floor. Then there are the new Princesses, Tiana and Rapunzel. And my favorite of all Captain Jack Sparrow-Pirates of the Carribean. Too bad it's not really Johnny Depp!  We didn't ride the attraction in 2003. We just ran out of time, and now I'm kind of glad. We love the movies and Captain Jack. It's definitely on our "Must Do" list for this time around. I hear he may be making an appearance at the park again with the new movie coming out, maybe he will be there while we are there. It is rumored that he will be at the parks with Black Beard's Daughter from the new movie. Then you have the attractions not associated with a move like Soarin', Expedition Everest, American Idol Experience. Something tells me we aren't going to have enough time to do it all again this time. Looks like I will just have to start planning another Disney Vacation, but there won't be 8 years in between visits again.   

A Note To All Of You Disney Upgrade Whiners

Disclaimer: Our vacation is during peak season, we are paying rack rate for our room which is at the Yacht Club Resort, Ragatta Club Level, Lagoon View. We are staying on the Magic Your Way Premium Plan. That being said...
I check out a lot of forums and blogs, pretty much on a daily basis. I see a lot of people saying "I'm going to book a cheap room and hope for an upgrade."  Here is my question to you:  Why not book the type of room you want to stay in, with the view you want, in the type of resort you want to begin with???  Aren't you just setting yourself up for disappointment? I'm not talking about getting upgraded from a standard parking lot view to a garden view, some people actually expect to get upgraded from POP or an All Star Resort to a Deluxe Resort!  I would never dream of expecting such a thing, it's crazy!!  Next, it's the people who think they should get bumped up to conceirge level.  I paid good money for for a club level room. I'm not crazy about Disney upgrading someone who isn't willing to pay for it. On the boards you read about people coming to the lounge and taking large amounts of food to their room and not leaving any for other guests.  I would never allow my son to do this, my husband and I would never do this. I am just wondering if the people taking advantage of the offerings at the lounge are people who didn't have to pay for them in the first place.
Another group of people who really gripe me are the ones who have one night on the Premium or Platimum Plan during their stay. The first thing they would tell me is that Disney doesn't stop them. While this is true, I don't think this was Disney's intention when creating the package either. This is evident in the fact the if you use the Platinum or Premium Plan for one night only you have to check out and check back in and get new Key To The World cards.  Then they use the benefits of this over the course of two days. There are actually threads out there telling people how to do this and take advantage of Disney for as much as they can. Again, I am staying for 5 days and 4 nights.  All of my stay is on the Premium Plan.
My last gripe for today is Disney offering FREE DINING!!!!  The best way to get people to complain about something is to give it to them for free. There are people who complain that they don't get an appetizer just dessert, really poor thing!  Pay for the dang appetizer out of your pocket. Then there are the ones who upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan and complain "It's too much food!"  And the ones who say they can't find anywhere to eat, there are 139 restaurants to choose from and you can't find somewhere to eat at Disney World??? In my opinion Disney has totally devalued their restaurants at this point. All over the boards it's "Does anyone know when Free Dining is going to be?" No one expects to have to pay to eat at the Disney restaurants anymore. Disney, wake up and realize people are coming to visit and they are are going to eat while they are there. NO MORE FREE DINING!!! Then we paying customers will be able to get a table at a restaurant again without having to get up at 12:01 on the morning of the 180th day before we arrive at our resort. Nice thing is the very people who can't afford to pay for dining are staying at Disney for 10 days to 2 weeks. Makes my 4 night stay seem like nothing. And they go back at least once a year sometimes 2 & 3 times a year. Honey, cut back on the number of trips and you can afford dining. Just sayin...

Must See's & Must Do's

I have a red folder I put all of our Disney info in to keep it organized. You know the kind of folder you buy for the kids when schools starts, plastic with the metal tabs that fold out to hold papers. I have put in dividers and have our resort reservations for the Yacht Club under one tab and ADR's under another. I have included a tab for each persons must do list. It's interesting to see how different everyone views a Disney vacation. Mike's list includes floating down the lazy river at our resort, relaxing on the balcony and watching the Illimunations fireworks, having room service one night, buying a cigar from Sosa's, riding the Peter Pan Ride at Magic Kingdom. If you knew my husband you would go Huh??? Mike's idea of vacation is to just relax, it doesn't matter where he is; he just wants to relax. Dakota's list includes having calamari (doesn't matter what restaurant it's from), eating at Coral Reef (because he thinks watching the fish will be really cool) and riding Soarin', he & I are even going to get over our fears and ride Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.  He says he won't mind getting autographs as long as no cute girls are close by to catch him doing it, but that remains to be seen...  Me, at Disney I'm going to be a kid, I want to meet Mickey & Minnie and all the princesses and get autographs, ride everything, eat lots of chocolate and watch the parades!!  I almost forgot SHOP!!! I guess what I have learned from all of this is to be sure you have everyone in your family be involved in your vacation planning (Disney or otherwise). I think this weekend Dakota & I will sit down with one of our planning books and choose his favorite attractions and order a customized map from Disney, I hear they are pretty cool.  Somehow I don't think Mike's going to have a hard time finding the lazy river at Storm Along Bay...    

Yacht Club Concierge Itinerary Planning Worksheet!!

Today is 184 days and counting! Dakota and I were talking Disney all weekend. I have been pouring over books trying to decide where we should eat for weeks. You know it is really hard to decide 6 months out what you might want to eat. We are not gourmet dining people, we enjoy a good meal (Mike is especially looking forward to eating some Mahi Mahi and Dakota some calamari). We are pretty laid back while we are on vacation, having something planned for every minute is just not us. So I am going to worry about ADR's (advance dining reservations) for the restaurants that I know are always hard to get into, and some of our meals we are going to play by ear. Mike wants to have "in room dining"one night and watch Illimunations from our balcony and just relax, I have seen the menu and that works for me. Coral Reef is the one request from Dakota, he mainly wants to watch the sealife in the aquariums while we eat. We have a family photo session included with our Premium Package, and this time I am planning on actually attending the LaNouba, we also want to do the dinner package for Fantasmic. Ok, I need to go and write all this down so someone can make sense out of it. I love that I just have to fill out the worksheet and send it over to the Yacht Club concierge itinerary planning staff and they will handle everything for me. Now to finish up my "must do" list so that I can finish the worksheet and send it over.