Dervis in Disney; The Pre Trip Thread!

[Dervis]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever (pre) trip report! I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing, so I'm just going to try and figure it out as I go!

My name is Devin (aka Dervis), and in less than two weeks, my parents, my four best friends and myself will be arriving at the most magical place on Earth to ring in 2010!

We began planning this trip immediately after our last trip, where we celebrated my father's triumph over a brain tumor. We had such a great time, that we decided we had to do it again. Of course, with five college students, planning and organizing, as well as finances proved to be a challenge. At one point, it looked as if our trip wouldn’t be happening.

It sounds cliché, but we kept dreaming, and I guess some pixie dust fell our way! Our wishes came true, and now everything is a go! We’ve got our room reserved, ADRs are made, and everyone has enough money put aside! I still have to pack, but I’ll wait until finals are over to worry about that. We’ll be there from the 28th – the 7th, so a total of 11 days in the World! Everyone is super excited, obviously!

I'll introduce the cast in my next post.

 

[Dervis]

And now, our group! (I'll get real pics later)
I come from a very small family. I'm an only child, so no brothers or sisters. Therefore, the way we see it, the more the merrier! My parent usually let me take a friend, but now that we have a bigger vehicle, they're letting me bring 4!

My DD; My father is the biggest Disney fanatic I know. He really enjoys playing the role of vacation director. Usually, he does all of the planning and organizing by himself, but this year I’ve been helping out too! It’s been a bit of a bonding experience for us. He’s arguably the most excited for this trip, and has been counting down the days since we came home from the last trip. He’s an absolute Mickey fanatic.

My DM; My mother, being a florist, gardener, and wannbe Martha Stewart, really appreciates Disney for their careful attention to detail. She could spend a day at the park just taking in the scenery. She’s always really liked the Good Faeries, especially Flora.

Meghan; Meghan is Devon’s twin sister. We’ve known each other since high school, and have been to the world together on our senior class trip, and our most recent trip as well. Now shes going to college, majoring in Special Education. Always with a smile and a dream, she’s diffidently the princess of the group. Her favorite has always been Belle.

Devon; If Meghan is the princess, Devon is most definitely the Prince. On both of the trips I’ve been on with him, he’s taken more pictures in one day than I have in the entire trip. Traveling with him is like having your own personal paparazzi! He’s currently in the Nursing program. Never one to turn down being the life of the party, hes deffinately Prince Phillip.

Cara; I also went to high school with Cara, but we really became friends when we both went to the same college. She’s going to become an Elementary Ed teacher, but shes really excited to get to be the kid rather than teaching them. Her favorite character is Ariel, and not just because they both have red hair.

Gareth; Gareth is Cara’s prince Eric, but his favorite character is Kuzco (he has this thing with llamas). He was a late addition to our trip, but being a history major, he says that he could spend the entire day at Epcot’s World Showcase. He’s done just about everything under the sun, and always has a story to tell.

Myself; And finally, myself! Yes, there are two Devin's in our group. Do you know how we feel about that? (Awesome!) I’m and English and Spanish major who just turned 21. However, I plan on celebrating while we're actually in the World. This year, I had a hand in planning our trip, and it was actually a lot of fun…and stress…but mostly fun. I’ve planned some secret holiday surprises for everyone, so I really hope that they’ll have a fantastic time!

My father is a very proud Coast Guard retiree, so our group will be staying at family suit at the Shades of Green!

Our itinerary and ADRS coming soon!

 

[Dervis]

Eh, no bites yet, but I’m still a relative newbie, so I guess it’s to be expected. I’m doing this for myself anyway, so I’ll be just as happy if nobody reads this. Anyway, on to our itinerary!

Last time, our trip was planned out a bit later, so we could only take whatever ADRs were left over. This year, I made sure to be on the computer at exactly 3am every night to get the perfect itinerary!
Planning everything out was a bit harder than I realized. At one point, I looked at my Dad and said “How did you do this all these years!?” Then there was a lack of coordination between us on planning. At one point, we were triple booked for lunch at Epcot at three different places. Oh well, we ironed out all the rough ends, and for my first time, I think I did ok!

Either way, were not really meticulous about the itinerary. If everyone wants to do something else, eat somewhere else, go to a different park or whatever, then we adapt really easily. It’s really more of an outline of our trip than anything else. Also, rope drop is out of the question. We’re college students, we get up early all the time (and now were on vacation damn it!) Anyway, here’s our plan;

Dec 26th; Departure
*Departure in early morning
*Arrival in St. Augustine in evening
The most exiting part of any trip is the ride down! We’re leaving as early as possible to avoid being stuck in DC’s rush hour, which can kill almost an entire day. Probably eating at Cracker Barrel on the way down, much to my displeasure (I work there). We’ll be at St. Augustine in the evening for a good night’s rest.

Dec 27th; St. Augustine
*Sight seeing at St. Augustine
*Fountain of Youth
*Spanish Fort
*Ripley’s Believe it or Not
*Ghost Walk

Dec 28th; Arrival in Disney World/Magic Kingdom
*Check out of hotel as soon as possible
*Arrive in Disney World around noon
*Check into Shades of Green, show everyone around hotel, and grab a quick lunch
*Magic Kingdom in afternoon
*Dinner @ Tony’s, 7:35
*Wishes Dessert Party @ 9:00

Dec 29th; Epcot
*Get to Epcot in late afternoon
*Dinner @ San Angel Inn, 5:45 (CP Package)
*Candlelight Processional @ 8:15
*Illuminations @ 9:30

Dec 30th; Animal Kingdom/Magic Kingdom
*Get to Animal Kingdom before noon
*Lunch @ Rainforest Café, 2:00
*Dinner @ Boma, 8:00
*Head over to Magic Kingdom for Fantasy in the Sky @ 11:45

Dec 31st; Epcot (New Years Eve!)
*Spend the morning at the Resort
*Head over to Epcot in late afternoon
*Lunch @ Tepan Edo, 3:15
*Dinner @ Rose and Crown, 9:00
*IlluniNations @ 11:45

Jan1st; Hollywood Studios
*Wake up late (and hopefully not hungover)
*Hollywood Studios in late afternoon
*Lunch @ Sci Fi Dine In, 3:15
*Fantasmic @ 6:30
*Special of Dancing Lights till close

Jan 2nd; Down Town Disney
*Downtown Disney in late afternoon
*Lunch at House of Blues, 2:30
*Dinner @ Ragland Road, 8:30
*Late night game of mini golf

Jan 3rd; Magic Kingdom
*late Lunch @ The Plaza, 3:00
*Dinner @ Ohana, 9:00

Jan 4th; Hollywood Studios
*Wake up early for pictures with Power Rangers (ok…that’s just me)
*Meet up with rest of party later
*Dinner @ Mama Melrose, 6:15
*Spectacle of Dancing Lights

Jan 5th; Epcot
*Lunch @ Le Celliere, 2:15
*Dinner @ Tepan Edo, 8pm
*Illuminations @ 9pm

Jan 6th; Animal Kingdom/Downtown Disney
*Lunch @ Yak & Yeti, 2:35
*Disney Quest early evening
*Dinner @ T-Rex Café, 8:10

Jan 7th; Free/Magic Kingdom
*Everyone splits up to do whatever they didn’t get a chance to do yet (I’m getting more pics with the Power Rangers)
*Meet at Hotel in late afternoon, head to Magic Kingdom
*Dinner @ Cinderella’s Royal Table, 5:15 (nobody knows about this yet, my supprise to them)
*Wishes @ 8

Jan 8th; Check out
*Don’t wanna think about it yet