Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter J

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Jump for Joy:No one would say I am in good shape. I am overweight, have bad knees, bad feet, and sleep a lot. I was very worried about how I was going to be able to keep up with my sister. I mean if I was traveling with my husband,there wouldn't be a problem. He uses a cane and walks slower than I do and we take a lot of breaks.

But, it was November, I had no time to start an exercise program or change my food consumption in time to make a difference for the 9th of December. Although I was very excited to go on the trip, ecstatic in fact, I was very depressed about walking for hours and spending long hours in the Parks. How was I ever gonna do it????
 

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter I

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Internet, Websites and Pinterest:When you want the latest and most up to date information available, who you gonna call- Disney? Naw, go on line.

I never realized what a huge experience going to a Disney Park is for people. I must be in my craft room too much. Bunches of people go every year. Many go several times a year (where do they get the money?) And lots of people who go regularly write blogs or administer websites or post pictures on Pinterest to aid novices like me, its amazing!

Top Ten Toilets At Disney (Pinterest)

Pinterest

There are statistical charts about the temperature history for any given month. People tract the attendance flow from year to year. There are reviews of the best, most costly, the most family friendly restaurants and times of day you can get seated the quickest. Some sites help you pack your suitcases, some give lists of what to carry in the bag you will take into the Parks each day. How about times when a certain Park opens early or closes late. There are even places to find what attractions are closed for refurbishing.

Pinterest.

Price Finder- Animal Kingdom Lodge.

You don't have to be a whizz at computer research to find any of this information. Type in "Disney Vacation", "Christmas at Disney", "what should I bring to the Resort" and more than you can ever read will pop up for your perusal. This is marketing at its finest.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter H

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Holiday Hype: Alison and I booked the 9th through the 14th of December for our trip. Disney World would be decorated for the Christmas Holiday, the weather would be cool but not cold by Orlando standards and that week has a history of low crowds. Seemed like a win-win situation all around.

We both go all out in our home decorating so we were looking forward to seeing how Disney handles the bigs and littles of outfitting for the winter holidays. We had managed to get tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party which is an all evening affair. Fantabulous.

All photos below were found on Pinterest under Disney World Christmas Decorations.

 

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter G

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Goofy Characters: I have a great dislike of clowns. Don't know when this happened (don't like parades either with the same sort of feeling), but I figure somewhere back in the dark mists of childhood something must have happened. So I am choosy about the cartoon characters I admire. 

When I was a Children's Librarian, I used to hire a performer who would don costumes and entertain the kids. Winnie the Pooh was my favorite, I was comfortable with that persona although it was the same person under any of the big heads and paws.

I noticed I was planning on spending 6 days in a place populated with big heads worn by cast members (employees) who would be acting with clown like motions. So I made a mental list of those to avoid if at all possible. Goofy came up at the top of the list. In fact, after reviewing the books and websites to look at as many Face Characters (those who don't wear head covering costumes) and head covered characters who populate the streets of Disney World, the only one who seemed to cause that uneasy sensation to rise along my spine was poor Goofy. Poor half man/half dog/half witted clown like guy.

After some thought, I have decided to track down Goofy while I am at the Park and give him a hug and have my picture taken with him. He won't know, but I will feel better.

www. magicalears.com

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter F

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Fast Pass +: I think you begin to get the idea that Disney and all its Magic was beyond my imagination. Alison explained about the great airport to airport service that staying on Disney property affords you. A shuttle bus meets you at the airport, takes you straight to the resort you will stay at (we had booked the Port Orleans Resort- Riverside) and then at the end of our stay we meet the shuttle and it takes us back to the plane.

Looking through the brochures and books, I found that Disney Parks personnel don't want the thousands of visitors a day to wait on long lines; if visitors are willing to book themselves for certain times to tour an attraction, climb on a ride, watch a show, then those times are reserved for you through Fast Pass +and there is a much shorter wait. 

Located on Pinterest from Family Travel Magazine.

So, while sitting in the relative comfort of Alison's kitchen, with cups of Tim Horton's delicious coffee at our elbows, we planned the fun part of the trip. I deferred to her expertise and we set up each day of our visit with what Alison recommended and what was still available now that it was the middle of November. 

A typical day looked like this-

We would be in the Animal Kingdom theme park.

9:30am-Lion King

10:30- Finding Nemo

12:40-Kilamanjaro Safari

2:45- Flights of Wonder

3:30- It's Tough to be a Bug

4:15- Dinner at Yak and Yeti

Evening spent at Disney Springs- the other side of the world from this park.

In between we would be seeing the other attractions in Animal Kingdom and eating breakfast and lunch. Oh, and watching the wild animals (definitely my choice).

 

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter E

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Excursion:We went to Journeys Unlimited on Oct. 21, 2015 to make our reservations. The travel agent was very helpful and listened to our ideas. Alison wanted 6 days, flying out from Buffalo on a Wednesday morning and coming home on the following Monday night. We needed to babysit for Nicholas on Tuesdays so our time was fixed. Alison was worried about how much we could jam in on our first and last day!??!

We had decided on moderate priced accommodations, after all, how long would we actually be in the room each day. Alison and the agent, Debbie, began to talk about how we would be up at the crack of Dawn and getting to the parks early to beat the crowds and then staying in the parks each evening to see the shows and all the fireworks (we would??).  They talked about Fast Passes+ for scheduling all the attractions and Magic bands and Food Plans, and creating a chart to keep track  of all the times.

It began to dawn on me that I wasn't going on a leisurely vacation to see a few beloved characters and read a book by the pool. No, my sister was taking (dragging) me on a life-changing excursion to jungles and fairy castles and future worlds, Oh my...

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2016 - Letter D

Disney World Vacation:

  Planning, Prepping, Packing and Postponing a trip of a lifetime and things I learned along the way.

Decorations: She has been to Disney in late winter and in the heat of summer; what Alison has been dreaming of is Disney dressed up for the Christmas Holidays. And since it was already October before we started seriously planning our trip, we knew we'd be blocked out of some of the attractions Alison wanted to share with me.