Tie Dye Cheesecake Makes All the Difference

Today we're continuing my Pre-Trip Report about Kyle's & my upcoming Walt Disney World trip.  

You all know me: when I go to Walt Disney World, I insist on staying in a Disney resort.  Thankfully, everyone I travel with shares my belief.  The free transportation, yummy food court, fun gift shop (complete with Vinylmation trading options), and full Disney immersion makes it so worth it!  Not to mention the ability to purchase the Disney Dining Plan AND use the Extra Magic Hours in the parks!

Last trip it seemed like picking the resort we'd stay at was a little more difficult.  Initially we wanted to stay at Pop Century, a value level resort, but since it didn't cost much more, we moved up to Port Orleans Riverside, a moderate level resort.  I enjoyed Port Orleans Riverside.  The double sinks rocked, Yehaa Bob (the pianist in the bar) was hilarious, and the option to ride a boat to Downtown Disney was a beautiful change in transportation choices.  However I didn't feel like it was so amazing that I was going to stop staying anywhere else and call it my new WDW home.

I don't think Kyle and I even had a real discussion about where we'd stay this time.  It was "hey - let's price Pop Century" and off we went!  There are some pros and cons to this choice:

Pros

•  Tie Dye Cheesecake 
•  Fun theming spanning various decades
• All rooms are fairly close to the food court/gift shop area
• Bus service is usually really great there
• Different place for a different trip
• The food court and gift shop are connected, so I can shop while Kyle eats breakfast (or if I have a repeat of last trip, I can shop while he eats... period.) ;-)

Cons

• No double sinks. I liked not sharing a sink, but I'll live. :) 
• Beds are smaller (I think), but we don't share a bed, so that doesn't really matter. 
• Value resorts tend to be further from the parks, but if you're on a bus, you're on a bus.  Distance doesn't really bother me.
• No boat service.  I really really liked the boats, but I can live without them.

I stayed at the Pop Century Resort in May 2009 during my spur of the moment Disney trip with my sister, niece, and nephew.  I believe Kyle has stayed there multiple times during his solo trips.  Still curious about the Pop Century Resort?  Go to the official page here to check it out! 


Next post: We'll interrupt the Pre-Trip Report to take a ride on the Magical Blogorail Peach Loop as we discuss holidays in the parks.  While I'll focus more on my Thanksgiving 2010 trip, I'll also be mentioning our upcoming trip!

Wanna go to Walt Disney World... Again?

Remember back in May of 2011 when I started my Pre-Trip Report for Kyle's and my grand adventures?  Remember how you felt a bit shocked when you read how we met online and hadn't met yet in real life and that WDW would be our first time meeting?  Remember how awesome that trip turned out and how much you loved our videos?  Weeeellllllll.... today begins an all new Adentures of Kyle & Joanna Pre-Trip Report!!  (It's your dream come true, right?)

As of today we are 50 days away from our mutal happy place and couldn't be more excited!

I thought I'd start our Pre-Trip Report in my usual fashion by telling you how we decided to go to Walt Disney World again.  When I realized I was going to be spending Thanksgiving alone this year, I started contemplating a solo trip to my happy place.  I posted about it a bit on Twitter and mentioned it to Kyle, and he couldn't go during that time.  Airfare wasn't coming down in price, so I nixed that idea and started looking at maybe January.

Meanwhile someone at Disney decided to throw some pixie dust our way, and we both recieved free dining PIN codes in our email one evening.   I tweeted something about Disney taunting me with free dining, and Kyle replied that he had recieved one as well.  I said that I'd say it was a sign but I knew better, and his response was that he couldn't go on the dates I was looking at.  You know me, right?  I believe my physical reaction is best expressed by this:

Oh hai there! U have dates u *can* go????

I was immediately all like, "oh I could take some days off!  When can you go?  Can you go?  You wanna go to Disney?  Hey hey hey Kyle, here's the price I found!!!  Let's go!"  I kid you not... I think he was about ready to kill me just to stop the overeagerness pouring out at him over the interwebs!  (Except for the fact that he gets just as excited about me when it comes to going to Walt Disney World!)

We quickly moved to direct messages and email, and by the end of the evening, we had decided to go to Disney again, exactly 6 months from our last trip, on December 10th - 14th.  The travel agent was emailed, and we were ready to start planning!

In the next posts (just like last time): I'll tell you about where we're staying (did we decide to move on up in the world again?), where we're eating (this was a bit more difficult this time), what I'm most looking forward to, what special events we're going to (oh so many!), and some snacks I can't wait to try (since I missed a bunch of them last time).

FREE [electronic] GIVEAWAY!

If you like my countdown number up there, you can have your own! 

For our family trip in 2009, I designed these countdown numbers as a way for the kiddos to count down the last 25 days before the trip.  In 2010 I extended it to 50.  You can go to my Photobucket and save and print each number yourself (about 3"x3" in size).  We printed them on card stock, cut them out, put a hole in the corner & a ring through them, and the kids turned to a new page each morning.  It's a fun & easy way to stay jazzed about your upcoming trip!  I like to use them as profile pics or twitpics before my trip.

2 Months from Today

Exactly two months from today, this will happen again: 

That's right, folks!  Kyle & I are going back to Walt Disney World for the Adventures of Kyle & Joanna: Part II!  If you follow us on Twitter, you've seen us start up another excited countdown of tweets.  If those tweets are any indication of how we feel about the trip, we're both really looking forward to it!

I will be creating another epic pre-trip report, but it won't start up for another month or so.  (Heaven knows the "where do you want to eat" discussion has lasted about 2 weeks now.)  I really just wanted to announce that we're going back, and you'll be able to follow us on our adventure via Twitter (yes, I'll try to UStream some).  I plan to have my video camera with me, so you can enjoy our traveling vlog and trip report when we get back too!

When we decided to book this vacation, I sent Kyle a list of reasons why this trip would rock more than the one we had in June (which was pretty darn awesome).  Some of the things on the list:

• Top on the list: no more wondering if we'll get along!
• I embarrassed myself enough by being sick to my stomach almost the entire last trip, so not much worse/more embarrassing can happen (please don't let that be me jinxing this trip)!
• It's going to be so much cooler & the sun will be much less intense, so no heat exhaustion & sunscreen stops!
• MVMCP, Osbourne Lights, & Candlelight Processional!
• Crowds should be really low.
• We know each other's preferences & park styles now, so we're going to be better at park hopping and planning our days.

There was other stuff, but they wouldn't make a ton of sense to y'all, so I'll be all elusive and such and let you know I'm not telling you all of them. *wink*  I should have added:

• Now he really knows I'm not kidding when I say I'm directionally challenged, so he'll automatically just take the lead when we walk into the parks.  

Anyone else going to be there in December?