Pre-trip planning
Planning for this trip
started while still enjoying my last trip.
On the table in my room they left a flyer which has a special offer,
usually called a bounce back offer. A bounceback offer is offered to get you to rebook another
trip while still enjoying your current trip.
This current offer however is open to the general public, so while I can
call up while still a registered guest, I can also do
this when I get home. So on my last day,
I called the number on the offer and there was a automated message saying they
are having technical difficulties, and I sit on hold for a ½ hr before giving
up. I will call when I get home.
A day after I got home, I
called up and chose my dates like this, Sept 4th through the 10th
, arrive on a Sunday, leave the following Saturday. Previous years, doing the free dining offer,
even at a value resort like Pop Century, you get basic dining but no more. Now if you book a package staying at value
resort, you only get quick service dining.
Quick service dining gets you two quick service meals, 2 snacks per
nights stay, plus your refillable resort mug.
But you can pay the difference between Quick and Basic dining, which I
do, so I am booked at a value resort with basic dining.
The last couple of years, I
upgrade at the 6 month mark for the Deluxe Dining Plan. All year long, because of my job, I am eating
at fast food places. While on vacation,
I like to sit and be waited on. But I
like to make sure I get the places I want to eat at before spending the additional
money on the upgrade to the Deluxe plan.
Zoom ahead about 6
months. Time to choose my adr’s, Advanced Dining Reservations, Disney speak for
dining reservations at their restaurants.
I check out the park
schedules and I am greeted with my first bad news, no Mickey’s Not So Scary
Halloween Party while I am there. The
Previous years, when I
upgrade to the Deluxe Dining plan, where I can do three sit down meals a day, I
usually still do a quick service meal for breakfast, but this year I decide to
get the best value and book breakfast meals too.
I will always be haunted by
my 2008 trip. The start of my trip was
delayed a day by a hurricane. Amtrak canceled
all service the day I was supposed to leave along the east coast. So I left the next day, which I felt I was
lucky to do. This caused me to play
catch up throughout my whole trip. Never
really felt good about that trip. So
what I did starting in 2010, I add a day at the beginning and end of my trip,
so just in case I lose a day, I don’t feel like rushing too much.
So I see what days which park
is opened late and such. My plan of
attack is simple, for example, if Epcot is opened late on Monday night for
Disney resort guests, I go to a different park on Monday and go to Epcot on
Tuesday. My reasoning is simple. I figure extra hours will bring more people
to that park, and people won’t go to the same park two days in a row.
I also added my extra days,
which means I will be going now from Saturday, Sept 3 through Sunday, Sept
11. Since my favorite method of travel
is via train, and it takes about 23 hours to do this trip, I will be leaving on
Friday, Sept 2, and get back to New York on Monday, September 12. Some people are nervous about traveling on
9/11, but not me. This is one of the
reasons I go this time of year. This
gives me 8 days in the parks, the last day, that Sunday, since I usually hang
out in the resort since I leave back to the train station at
So I plan to do 3 days each
at
Some parks are opened late a
couple of nights a week. They are called
EMH nights, for Extra Magic Hours, which are only for resort guests. Like I stated, I try to avoid them, except
for Sunday night. In 2010, I went to Fantasmic at the Studios, afterwards I park hop to the
Saturday, Sept 3, After
checking in, I
go have my traditional first meal on property, Rib meal at Flame Tree BBQ at
Animal Kingdom. I sometimes just go to
this park, just to eat there. Dinner is
at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) So I will be spending time at Animal
Kingdom. Not sure what I will do after
dinner, perhaps Downtown Disney.
Sunday,
Sept 4, Breakfast at Boma (first time trying this),
Late lunch/early dinner at
Monday,
Sept 5, Breakfast at Kona Café (first time trying
this for breakfast), Lunch at
Tuesday,
Sept 6, Breakfast at
Wednesday,
Sept 7, Breakfast at Cape May Café (first time for breakfast), Lunch at Le Cellier, dinner at Coral Reef. Epcot day
Thursday, Sept 8, breakfast
at Captains Grille (first time eating here for any meal), Lunch at Coral Reef,
dinner at
Friday, Sept 9, breakfast at
Grand Floridian Café (first time trying breakfast here), lunch at Kona Café, dinner at
Saturday,
Sept 10, breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, maybe. This is a
quick service restaurant, no adr’s needed. Lunch at Yak N Yeti (Animal Kingdom) and
dinner at Le Cellier (Epcot) So I will be spending some time at
Animal Kingdom and Epcot today.
Sunday, Sept 11, breakfast
and lunch at my resort, even though I have the pass to go to a theme park, not
going anywhere except back home.
As you can see, I am eating
at the some of the same places two days in a row, not the same meal, lunch one
day, dinner the next for example. When
leaving and asked how my meal was, I say it was so good, that I will be back
here tomorrow :)
Some
thoughts about my dining plans.
Last year I had breakfast at the Wave, had a
southern. Basically it was eggs with pork
loin. But looking online at the menus,
they no longer offer this. But this year
I notice that Grand Floridian Café offers breakfast, so I plan to eat there one
morning. Last year, I wanted to eat
Steak and eggs at Kona café, but decided to sleep in,
so I never had that for breakfast. So I
am pschyed about this.
Even though I booked right at
the 180 day mark, I couldn’t book ‘Ohana for one, but
I was able to book it for two.
Everything else was booked for one.
Now people have spoken about this before, I just never did it. Over or under booking the
amount of people eating. People have always said, this is no problem. I hope this is
right.
Some other
plans and unforeseen events.
Since the second year
traveling on Amtrak, I got their rewards card. After accumulation x amount of points, I get
to travel for free. They had a offer, get their Amtrak Visa card, make a purchase, and
get 30,000 reward points, more then enough for round trip travel to
Unforseen event.
The end of March, I hurt and
found out later, I tore my right calf muscle.
For months, I could hardly walk without a bad limp, and I am going to be
able to walk miles at
So I start to look into renting
a ECV aka scooter. I find out all the
companies that offer them for rent. Now
anyone who ever went to
I also learn about what is
called a Guest Assistance Card, GAC for short.
You get a GAC card at guest services at the theme parks. This helps the Cast Members (CM’s) operating the rides tell them how they can help you
on the rides. My problems are easy, if I
put pressure on the muscle, like walking, standing still, and the walking
stairs, I am in pain, so I need to avoid these things.
2010 problems and how I am
correcting them for 2011. I had a number
of problems on my 2010 trip, so my 2011 trip prep work is taking care so I
don’t have a repeat.
My trip started off bad when
the handle extension on my luggage didn’t extend when exiting the train. So I
started to watch what eBags had for sale on their
website. I found a piece that was 33
inches tall, 19 wide. The 19 inch wide
part is important, as this is just about as wide the
piece can be and still fit through the passages on the train. This piece is also taller, can put more
things in it.
If you read my 2010 trip
report, I had several issues to bring to Disney’s attention that I felt they
failed to live up to my expectations. So
I wrote them a letter about it. In
December, I received a call, and they offered me something called ‘priority
passes’, 4 each at each of the theme parks.
I am not sure what it is, but guessing its go to head of line type of
deal.
Last year I used for internet
connection a usb modem. I found I had reception problems with the usb cell phone modem.
So this year I got what is called a Mifi cell
phone modem. It connects to computers
through a Wifi signal. I figure I could place the Mifi by the window in my room, and use my laptop anywhere I
wanted, not have to be stuck in a location where I have a decent cell signal.
Last year I sat outside my room even.
My android
cell phone. Last year, I seemed to be constantly be trying to charge my cell phone, as the battery died in
less then 4 hours. I even thought at one
point, the cell phone broke. I wasn’t a
happy camper sitting through Fantasmic thinking I had
no cell phone. So for this trip, I did a
couple of things. I purchased a second
battery for my cell phone, and a drop in charger that can not only charge my
cell phone, but the second battery too.
But I also bought a pay as you need Cell phone, just in case my Android
phone gets lost or broken. Just feel
good about having a emergency cell phone. Someone told me, to save battery life,
instead of having the android phone use its own internet connection, have it
use the mifi.
So I will see if that will help or not.
Pretrip anxiety
Since 2008, I am constantly
worried about a hurricaine impacting my trip. This year, it’s a storm called Irene. While Irene was heading up the east coast a
week before I am due to leave, I foolishly think, Irene wont
impact my plans, it’s the next one that will.
I leave Friday morning. Its Tuesday. I am
reading tweets from Amtrak, due to storm damage in
I am sick to my stomach. No time given when the tracks will be
repaired, as the tracks are under water.
I call Amtrak, and feel better. I
am told, that while there currently is no service, they are still able to book
passengers on Fridays train, so they didn’t cancel the
train yet.
By Wednesday, they announce
service will resume tomorrow, so it finally feels like I will be going. A
weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Its Thursday night, I am all
packed, batteries fully charged, my new luggage weighs a ton. I usually take the Subway to the city, but I
don’t think I can carry the luggage up all those stairs; it’s the weight and
the strain on my leg, still swollen and aches most of the time.
So my plan is this, my father
will drive my mother (who will accompany me to the train station) to nearby