Roll Call

[Pumpkin meme]

NAME: Stephanie (Stephie is also acceptable, but not Steph)
DISBOARDS NAME ORIGIN: The character that made me fall madly in love with musical theatre + the year I was born
LOCATION: Melbourne
MY STORY: My love of Disney, or Mickey Mouse more specifically, began before I was two. My aunt bought small Mickey and Donald figurines at LAX with the last of her US change. When she got back she gave me the Donald and my older sister the Mickey. We looked at our figurines, then looked at what the other got, and, without a word, swapped. From then on she loved Donald and I loved Mickey. I still collect Mickey stuff today.

In September 1999, when I was eight, my very generous uncle gave us a trip to visit him in London and gave us a 3 day stopover at Disneyland. The tag line is not a lie; it really is the happiest place on earth! My mum and I cried as we were leaving and I promised her that I would bring her back one day. For some strange reason she believed me! This year, at the age of 23, I'll get to fulfil that promise. My younger sister and I (sadly my older sister is no longer with us) surprised our mum with a trip to New York, LA and Disneyland for Christmas. We'll be headed off on November 24 and walking down Main Street on 5 December!

great story, and yes we ALL cry (you know who you are) when we enter, leave or just get the giant cinnamon buns on main street

 

[Marlea98]

I do not like the giant cinnamon buns. I like Mickey Bars and Dole Whip.

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Name: Carmel
Disboards Name Origin: Love wrestling hence the wrestling chick and 26 id my lucky number, had the same user name for many things since I was at school.
Location: Roxby downs- outback South Australia
Story: I travelled to Disneyland solo 5yrs ago and loved every minute of my 3 days there. I spent 16hrs in the park on the last day.
I am heading to Disneyworld in November this year for 5 days. I am crazy busy planning at the moment and with only 250 days till my holiday starts I'm about to start my Pre Trip Report.
And of course who can forget all the amazing movies, so many tears watching them

 

[becpee]

I do not like the giant cinnamon buns. I like Mickey Bars and Dole Whip.

I've never had a Mickey bar or a Dole Whip

It's on my bucket list

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Dole whip is on my must try list too

 

[LisaAJ]

Dole whip is on my must try list too

Me too!!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

nice...very very nice

Excellent.

I just used up my last small bottle of grapefruit scented H2O body wash the other day and are feeling a bit sad. I'm trying to figure out where to find my next stash.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Dole whip is on my must try list too

The problem with the Dis is that it tends to overhype certain things, so you go in with overly high expectations. I stood in a line in the hot sun for almost 30 minutes to get a dole whip. It seems like everyone had the same idea as me, which was to nab one in time for the midday MK parade. When I realised how slow the line was moving, I stuck it out, determined to get a try at this Holy grail of ice creams.
I got my dole whips and then carted them back to my family in time to see the last parade float go past.

All I could think was that this ice cream better be so good it gives me a 'When Harry met Sally' moment. What I tasted - Pineapple flavoured soft serve. Nothing more, nothing less. Teach me for putting my stomach before attractions

 

[Tashinwdw]

I'm pretty sure you've mentioned it before, but where did you buy your DVC?

We got our DVC through Fidelity, they were super helpful, we were lucky we got the resort we wanted and an amazing price.

I have never had the dole whip but its on the list, I am hoping its as good as the hype surrounding it. I cant eat diary, even though I love it, so when I make the exception I really want it to be great. I do hope its a really good quality of soft serve, if I am going to have headaches and not breath properly for days I want it to be YUMMY!

 

[BecBennett]

I do hope its a really good quality of soft serve, if I am going to have headaches and not breath properly for days I want it to be YUMMY!

Eeh, it's probably not that good... I mean I enjoyed it, but like WanderlustNZ said, it's just pineapple flavoured soft serve.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

We got our DVC through Fidelity, they were super helpful, we were lucky we got the resort we wanted and an amazing price. I have never had the dole whip but its on the list, I am hoping its as good as the hype surrounding it. I cant eat diary, even though I love it, so when I make the exception I really want it to be great. I do hope its a really good quality of soft serve, if I am going to have headaches and not breath properly for days I want it to be YUMMY!

Sorry, my question was poorly worded.

What resort do you have DVC points for?

 

[bswift]

Eeh, it's probably not that good... I mean I enjoyed it, but like WanderlustNZ said, it's just pineapple flavoured soft serve.

I agree, definitely not worth the risk! It was nice and a refreshing snack but nothing special.

 

[kyton]

Dole is ok but nothing worth waiting over 10mins for but I also feel that way about the Monte Christo sandwich at Disneyland - blurgh! I was massively disappointed after eating that too.

 

[dollarmite]

I'm dollarmite from Brisbane, originally from Auckland. I got my name from my son's CBA dollarmite bank book. It just happened to be sitting next to my computer when I was looking for a screen name, so I decided to use it.

As a kid growing up in NZ I used to watch the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night and dreamed of being able to visit "America" and Disneyland. I was extremely jealous of one of my primary school friends who went there when we were 10, and vowed that one day I'd take my own kids there when they were in primary school. I found out many years later that my parents almost took us to Disneyland when I was about 13, but they decided to take us on a trip to Australia (again) to see all the relatives there/here instead. Dreamworld's nice, but it's not exactly Disneyland....

Anyway, once I started work I saved up all my money and when I was 20 my dad and I took an around the world trip. First stop was Disneyland. I think we were there for about 3 days. I'd built it up so much in my mind that I was rather underwhelmed by it all and was pretty disappointed to be honest.

Two years later I went back to the US and decided to give Disney another go. It was great. So I went back the following year (and also to Paris Disney aka EuroDisney) and the year after (as part of our honeymoon). DH and I took DS1 there four years later. He was 18 months old and screamed in terror every time he saw Mickey

I was determined to take DS1 and now DS2 there whilst they were still in primary school. I'd also wanted to visit WDW, although I wasn't as familiar with it as I had been with DL. So in 2009 when DS1 was in his last year of primary/grade 7 we took off for 6 weeks in the US, including 2 weeks at WDW and 2 weeks at DL. I celebrated my 40th birthday at WDW and DS2 turned 9 at DL.

Our first Disney stop was Magic Kingdom. As we were watching the opening skit thingy (rope drop?) I actually started to cry (thank heavens for sunglasses). I'm not sure if it was because I'd finally made it WDW, or whether it was because I'd fulfilled my dream of taking my kids to Disney.

We spent Christmas 2013 at Hong Kong Disneyland and loved it. Unfortunately(?) it whet my appetite again for more travel so I started looking up deals to the US for this year and before I knew it we were booking flights for this September/October. So far I've only booked the flights and the 10 day Disneyland tickets (priorities!).

This'll probably be the last year we'll be able to do a big trip as a family as DS1 finishes grade 12 this year and it won't be as easy for him to get away. He actually didn't want to come this time but seems to be okay with it now, especially as I've booked the flights.

As a family we love to travel and have taken quite a few overseas non-Disney trips over the years. I'd love to visit Japan and Tokyo Disney and also go back to Paris Disneyland. Hopefully one day.

Phew, that was longer than I expected. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

 

[ColinA]

Colin as the username says.

Lives in the Central Coast of NSW.

Back in the early days of internet the names were just a means to log into places like this.

Visited Dreamworld just after it opened. Enjoyed Dreamworld but decided I wanted to go to WDW the place it was supposedly modeled after.

Our first trip to Disney was to WDW in 1994. It was three years before going again, then two and every year since. We were there for the 25 year anniversary and in Magic Kingdom for the change of the century. All our trips are over Christmas.

On our first trip to WDW we drove out of MGM Studios and accidentally ended up at the back of the Beach and Yacht Club and thought how could we ever afford to stay there. In 1999 my DW talked me into DVC at the Boardwalk and have never regretted the decision. Over the years the points have grown.

 

[lffam]

Name: lffam - First two are initials fam short for family
Where: Brisbane
Story: Visited Disneyland in 2010 and just loved the place. All the hype was understated for us, it was even better than imagined. I'm a business suit wearing, financial white collar guy and I was a big kid again for our time there. Oct/Nov 2013 we visited DisneyWorld and I am even now thinking of our next Disney trip!

 

[Franrose]

I'm dollarmite from Brisbane, originally from Auckland.

Yay, another ex-Aucklander!

 

[Mushu mama]

Disname: Mushumama is a name my daughter thought up when I joined my first Disney forum ( a community I'm still active in all these years later) I've lurked here for many years too, but don't post much.

Location: Sunshine Coast, QLD for the last 7 years, but originally from Vic ( both regional and metro)

Story: much like many others - grew up on Disney ( TV, movies and comics), and first visited a park in Tokyo with two small children in tow about 15 years ago. Since then I've been lucky enough to visit DLR multiple times and the Tokyo parks multiple times. Have traveled widely throughout Asia/Pacific and all over Aus, and multiple cruises, but not a Disney one until 2016. Planning on studying in the US next year, so that will include my first trip to WDW. Been in the travel industry and am studying at Uni to further that path. I will be joining a group of Aussie girls to visit WDW/cruise for a month( amongst other attractions in the area) in 2016 ( we did Vegas/Canyon/Mexico/Disneyland last time) but a sneaky 'in between' trip might not be out of the question.

And I would never ever pass up the opportunity for a Dole Whip, I am a sucker for that delicious pineapple sorbet, and since they've updated the servery at the Tiki Room, the wait time is minimal. In what was once an hour long line, I was served in less than 10 mins. Awesome.

 

[Tashinwdw]

Sorry, my question was poorly worded.

What resort do you have DVC points for?

We have our points with Boardwalk this year we will have 7 nights there but also trying other resorts - The wilderness and either BLT or AK

 

[WanderlustNZ]

We have our points with Boardwalk this year we will have 7 nights there but also trying other resorts - The wilderness and either BLT or AK

Awesome. For some reason I thought you had AKV points, but I'm not sure why I thought that.
I tried BWV and AKV (Jambo) on my trip last year, and look forward to the day I get to try The Wilderness Lodge. Beyond the parks, Disney hotels are such an experience in themselves.

I often think about whether I would like to become a DVC member. I don't think about it too hard as DH would never agree to it in a million years, but I must admit that it would be nice having an incentive to travel to WDW and/or Aulani every 2-3 years.