Disney Pre-Trip Report Post II

It was not to be. You guessed it, no online classes. That night I spent hours considering different options, moving the trip to the 1st of January, moving to a Wednesday – Tuesday trip (so that I would only miss one class), etc. Finally I went to bed at 1AM that morning with a massive headache. My husband tells me I worry to much, and I have to agree. I called the next morning to Member Services and they did have Fri/Sat available for the BWV standard view, I didn’t take it, and I am glad I didn’t. A few days later, after some serious research I decided to take a different class. Intermediate Algebra. After researching the nursing program a bit more I found out about a test I would have to take that involved a lot of advance math. I had been having a few problems in Chemistry this semester with very basic algebra, it had been 16 years since I had taken it… disaster averted. November 2nd came for enrollment, I was enrolled in Algebra. I hope I do as good this time as I did way back in 1996!

After one disaster was averted I was back to full planning mode. I had made dining reservations on October 26th (using the original plan of attack), right now we have still not decided on the Dining Plan or not… It seems by the math I am working that it is still a pretty good deal, the jury is still out though as the Boardwalk area is not heavy in counter service options. Oh the horror of having to decide on what to eat!

I am sure I will re-organize numbers until I am blue in the face. A few weeks later, after the “college class fiasco” I received $200 on my AT&T rewards card, figuring it was a great time to book plane tickets that’s exactly what I did. Flying down Saturday Night, Jan 23rd, and flying back Sunday Jan 31st, outbound we stop in Wisconsin, coming back is NS, I am waiting on the NS on Jan 23rd to open up for a decent price we shall see.

So where are we now? Free plane flights, pre-paid hotel room (I love DVC!), AP rates for the last two nights, wow its over 2 months out and I almost completely planned out! How did I ever change from a by the seat of my pants to an over obsessive uber planner?

Here we are now, barely a month out, much has changed, much has not. Still flying out on that Wisconsin flight, I can’t believe the prices have not gone down one bit! NS is now $169 ONE WAY on Southwest if we didn’t want to fly into Milwaukee. I hate Milwaukee, especially in JANUARY. Yikes. That much hasn’t changed.

I have enrolled in my College Algebra online course, that starts Jan 11th, joy. I hated Algebra the first time, I don’t imagine much has changed… :P

I have since my last report also rented our car, it started at $180 right now I have it down to $146, which is a pretty good drop, but again no where near last years $96! Oh well it is one more day, so I figured it would be a little more.

The biggest change, I am SO EXCITED about! Jeff has asked me what I wanted to Christmas, and I had no idea. Then FINALLY queue the Hallelujah Chorus the regular AP rates came out! So how is that related to my xmas present from Jeff? Actually they are pretty linked. Here’s the deal. AP rates come out end of November, the CBR room had gone down in price from $119 to $107, but I also noticed something else. Polynesian was lower then it has been in a decade, $200 a night. Yeah living the caviar lifestyle on a beer budget. I know I know. Disney trips are my one and only splurge though, I don’t spend hundreds (or thousands) on clothing every year, don’t live in a big massive house, and taco bell is my usual dine out option. (after all where else can you get a decent meal under $3? Okay decent is debatable). We had stayed at Polynesian years before, one night in 2003, and it was beyond beautiful, plus it was on the monorail line, gotta love that. Did I mention I loved the theme? South seas… in Florida.

So I discussed the options with Jeff, he was intrigued, but agreed to stay with the more rational (affordable) option at CBR. The little wheels in Jeff’s head though had begun to spin and I was in the dark, like usual. So about two weeks ago he comes out with door #3. What if we upgraded to Polynesian and that was my Christmas present? I loved that idea! Christmas is only three days from now and I still love the idea! So early Saturday December the 12th morning, as I was waking up to go to work (yuck), he tells me to book the Polynesian. I was on a high, but with a high, also comes a low, and I had the aweful thought that Poly wouldn’t be available, after all it was $200 a night, but for Poly that is a great rate.

So I called Disney… I asked if Polynesian was available for Jan 29-31st. First they offered me Magic Kingdom view… not likely to have that kind of money anytime soon! So I asked cautiously if Garden View (the cheapest Poly view) was available. Someone must really like me, because it was available. I was giddy, I was super excited, yes I was happy, like an 8 year old at 3AM on Christmas morning, seeing the pile of presents under the tree happy. I called Jeff, who was already on his way to work, and told him the news.

Jeff never gets excited he says that’s my family nitch, I get excited enough for both of us. I guess that’s true. Next I had to decide what area of the resort to request. After much searching, reading unofficial sites (love those), I decided on Tokealau, 3rd floor as some say it has partial views of the Lagoon and Magic Kingdom. Keeping my fingers crossed. Oh well, I am happy we are going, I am happy with where we are staying, I am just happy in general.

I skipped an important part in this trip report. See early December Jeff and I (as part of the American Coaster Enthusiasts) host Coaster Christmas, a regional event at Silver Dollar City. This year, despise the cold, and just being five short months after the national Coaster Con had been in town we had a decent turn out, 41 people. A good friend of ours Matt was also in attendance (well we haven’t seen Matt for awhile because he now has a girl friend), and that significant other was part of my little addendum here. See they were going down to Orlando too, and they were arriving on Jan 29th, 2 days before we were scheduled to leave L

We discussed the possibility of meeting up Saturday night for dinner, well shortly thereafter dinner turned to breakfast, and we all decided on 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. It will be my first character meal, I am excited about that too. Turns out Jeff is too. Who knew? That should be fun, and guess what, Grand Floridian is not only walkable distance from the Polynesian, but its also only one monorail stop OVER from Polynesian. It just so happened to work out peeerrffecctlly. *evil laugh*

So here we are 33 days out, (yes I count), I have a rental car, which I am now not even sure I need, we still have no hotel room for Saturday night, but hotels for every other night, dining reservations, and I have just spent the unholy amount that I will not even mention to renew Jeff’s Annual Pass, hey its for 15 months now, it’s a good deal right? ($366 BTW) I am just getting a regular park hopper ticket when we get down there.

So between now and Jan 23rd I am left with a few decisions to make. First I still have to decide on the Dining Plan or not.. I am thinking not as the counter service options at Boardwalk are not exactly overflowing. I also still have to book a hotel night for Saturday and I am looking at probably a value resort at Disney. Why? When we are going to Tampa and Busch Gardens on Sunday? Easy Tampa hotels are $100 a night, Disney is $54 a night. Why does this matter when I am paying $200 a night for Polynesian? Because deep down…. Way deep down I am always looking for the best deal. I also have to get a decision out of Jeff on whether to do any of the tours or not… probably not we have so much else scheduled, but we will see.