Forget the Land kids, we’re going to the World.

[Familycircus]

I have lurked here now for a couple of months gathering a wealth of information and enjoying some very entertaining trip reports. Now that I’ve gotten a little braver and came out of lurkdom, our trip seems to be coming fast and I should have a pre trip report before the trip, so I thought I better get started.

Please feel free to comment along the way. I will try to reply, but I am still learning how this board works and I’m not very good at it. I do admire the friendly, supportive, and helpful nature of so many on here. A rather nice community has formed here. It seems that some have become friends and meeting each other face to face, some amusing banter back and forth, jokes, support, and kindness. There is the one common denominator of the love of Disney. I hope on my trip I can experience a portion of the Magic you all seem to find when you visit. Reading some trip reports, sometimes you experience more Magic and sometimes less. Sometimes you experience different Magic that you were not aware existed. There still seems to be something that continually draws you back.

I may not be a hard core Disney fanatic yet, travel fanatic, yes, Disney maybe not so much. I have enjoyed my magical Disney trips ( notice lower case on magical ), all your stories, and my children’s faces on our previous Disney trip, although this may change when we’re done with the World.

This spring I began thinking, now, let me just preface this, when I start thinking about something I become completely and totally obsessed for about 5-7 days. Usually about day 6, I spring it on my wife. If I get a “yeah sure” then I have about 1 day to convince her. This especially happens with travel and I was thinking of a Disney trip too boot.

Now what I was thinking was a trip to Disneyland. We were there Feb ’03 when our older son was 4 and our daughter was 2. My wife was just pregnant with younger son, but she still rode the Matterhorn. Well, I was thinking this trip would happen in 2010 and with the cost of airfare, we would drive. Now how I sold this to the Mrs. was that we could hit other sites all the way there and back, including a few days in San Francisco (our favorite city). Do you see where this is going? That’s right folks a true Griswold Vacation. Now last time we purposely chose Disneyland, when the mice were small, because it is much easier to manage. In researching price$$$, I thought, sometimes Florida is cheaper than California, but I had still intended to point the Family Truckster west. Then in July, friends of ours started talking about going to Disney World in Nov. Now, I began to get a little jealous that they would be going to the World and we would only be going to the Land, and our trip would be two years out. I had no desire to travel with them, and there was no way we could take our trip before or shortly after theirs because of money and I needed to build up more vacation time at work. Remember that thought I had about Florida over California, well it surfaced again and after rationalizing some of my hang-ups (youngest would be five and he doesn’t have to go back for a nap, more parks, rides, etc to interest older son), I started the obsession of researching the World.

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[Genna]

I am trying to compose my first pre trip report too, I have found out loads of great tips on these boards like yourself happy planning!

[bellasmommy0]

I am signing on and ready to hear more!

[Familycircus]

I am signing on and ready to hear more!

Thanks. Oh there is plenty more. Stay tuned.


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[Familycircus]

I last left you as I started researching the World.

Well the World has grown and changed since I last set foot there. The first time I was there was Easter 1977.

http://s359.photobucket.com/albums/oo40/familycircus5/19770001.jpg

Now the second time (sorry no pictures) was either fall ’86 or beginning ’87. I went to both Disneyland and Disney World. Since the trips were so close together, I don’t remember which was which date. I do remember the Grand Floridian was still being constructed. We stayed at the Buena Vista Palace. That cluster of hotels was called The Village at the time. Sort of on the property off the property. My wife spent one day at MK on a band trip when she was a senior in high school. So for us, most everything is relatively new.

After some researching, yes we could go to the World cheaper (or will we). So now its what I call “day 6”, that means let’s pitch it to the Mrs.. I wind up and it’s a fast ball. Instead of a “yeah sure”, I get a “When?”. Now you have to understand, in our twelve years of marriage, I cannot tell you when I have gotten anything but a “yeah sure”. She steps into it and crack, I’m on the pitching mound :confused3 . Well, that’s a good question. We would need to spend more time at the World than we would need at the Land. Not going to make the older two miss too much school (education is very important, but it sure gets in the way of all my plans). I’m not going to Florida in the summer. How about the winter? I sure wouldn’t drive over the mountains to California in the winter, but going south to Florida, the weather would get better as we get closer. My position at work doesn’t allow me to take vacation between Thanksgiving and the first of the year, so during the kids’ Christmas vacation is not an option.

Then its “lets see when the kids’ Spring Break is”. Personally I don’t want to go during everyone’s Spring Break. School calendar comes out and WOO HOO, its nowhere near Easter, or normal spring break time, but still peak season. Good enough for me :thumbsup2 , we’ll take it. Looks like we’re turning the Family Truckster and pointing it southeast.


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[Familycircus]

When I was looking at Disneyland for 2010, I told the wife and kids that the only way we could afford it was to stay offsite. They didn’t care. Really only my wife and I would know the difference. Now when we look to make the Florida trip cheaper, once again we would need to be offsite. Everyone still fine with that? :dance3: because we’re going to the World. So we have, distance closer = less gas, Florida offsite hotel actually cost less than California offsite hotel. It would be cheaper to go to the World, or will it.

I’m not sure who mentioned this trip to my mother. It may have even been me. Anyway, she declares she is coming with us. We spend a lot of time with my side of the family mostly due to proximity and have done some traveling together. She loves her grandkids and wants to be around them all the time. My boys remind her of my brother and I when we were kids and my daughter is extra special because we don’t have girls in the family. I’m telling you this is going to be a true Griswold Vacation. The kids have even asked to bring the dog. I flat out said no. Something would happen and this is already too much like the movie.

Back to mom, she was along for our ’03 Disneyland trip. While my wife, I, and the then two kids stayed onsite at the Paradise Pier, she and my stepdad stayed on the other side of the park entrances, offsite. She enjoyed our hotel and the “perks” you get by being onsite. I inform her that for this Florida trip we would need to stay offsite, as we could stay five nights for the price of two nights at a Value, and I could even earn reward points.

Mom says “I’ll pick up some books on Disney”, now when she says that, look out Barnes & Noble she is about to clear your travel shelves. She has also found a new friend, the internet, to help her research. In her defense, she was a travel agent for about 10 years and even owned her own agency for a few years when it was in vogue. You know what’s funny, that was about the same time Madonna had us all “striking a pose” on the dance floor. I guess some of the planning and research stuff rubbed off on me. Anyway, so mom starts loading up carts at bookstores and she reads a few websites. I, on the other hand do all my research online. She starts dropping off books for me to read. Let it be known, there is only one place I would do any book reading and when I remodel our house or build another, that place will have a swing out tray for my laptop.


.

[Familycircus]

Now its mom’s turn to pitch to me. “I really think we should reconsider staying onsite”, but mom. “We have more transportation options”, but mom. “We’ll be closer”, but mom. “The resorts look cuter”, but mom. “They send purchases back to your hotel”, AH HA ! That’s what she wants. I remember this from the ’03 trip. She would buy stuff at the parks and have it sent back to my onsite room. But mom, we’d have to get two Value rooms. Then comes the “What if we…”. “What if we do a split stay and I pay for the second room and make up some of the difference?” Hmmmm. Three nights offsite and two nights onsite. I didn’t get a hit, I didn’t strike out, I got a walk. I gave mom two offsite hotel options where the rooms were comparable and I could still earn reward points. She picked the more expensive one :sad2: . We decided POP would be our onsite hotel. It doesn’t share buses and the themes look fun.

Our dates are chosen, kids will miss two days of school, but its not end of quarter. Florida hotels selected, but not yet booked, others along trip not selected.

So this is our thinking, 2 nights driving down, 3 nights offsite, 2 nights onsite, 4day parkhoppers, 3 nights driving back. Up goes the posterboard and we ( I ), start plotting out this mess with Post-its. My wife doesn’t get into any travel planning. I usually ask at a point if there is anything in particular she wants to see or do, but I usually have everything included. The only thing I’ve ever missed including was a museum in Santa Fe, we did see it though. So to be inclusive, I ask. “Sweetheart, is there anything you want to do for sure?” Her reply, “Epcot”. I think we can work that in. OK we’re good.

[bellasmommy0]

Sounds like good plans so far...but I think like your mom, I want to be onsite! What is money for if not to spend..:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

[Familycircus]

Sounds like good plans so far...but I think like your mom, I want to be onsite! What is money for if not to spend..:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

My preferrance is to be onsite and so far it looks like we'll be doing that for at least part of our stay. I also imagine we will have plenty of opportunity to spend, spend, spend.

Disney certainly won't let us leave with money leftover.

[bellasmommy0]

My preferrance is to be onsite and so far it looks like we'll be doing that for at least part of our stay. I also imagine we will have plenty of opportunity to spend, spend, spend.

Disney certainly won't let us leave with money leftover.

tell me about it, I always come home BROKE!!

[Familycircus]

So I pose the question. “I wonder if grandma would like to go?” That’s right, my grandma, mom’s mom. Gas and hotel wise it wouldn’t cost anymore.

I think she regrets not going with us to Myrtle Beach last year. You guessed it, mom went with on that trip too. Mom says “Where is she going to ride?” “On top, like in that movie?” Yes we did laugh, but I can’t imagine how this whole trip is going to turn out.

“So grandma, do you want to go to Disney World with us?” Her response, “Where would I sit, on top of the car?” :rolleyes:

Grandma is 84 and still really active. She will still put on her ice skates, two years ago went sledding with the kids, but walking all day in those parks would be hard for her. I told her that we would get a scooter. Instead she uses money as an excuse. I said just your ticket and food. “But the food is so expensive.” Grandma, you’re not eating 3 meals a day every day at CRT.

She also could be having flashbacks of being lost in the mass exodus of Epcot.
Not only was my mom with me last time I was in the World, grandma came along too. We spent the day in Epcot and there was one last thing I wanted to see before we left. Even though it’s no longer there, I can’t imagine wanting to see it now if it were.

It was the '80s, I was in high school.

What do you think it was?

Come on, guess.

[bellasmommy0]

So I pose the question. “I wonder if grandma would like to go?” That’s right, my grandma, mom’s mom. Gas and hotel wise it wouldn’t cost anymore.

I think she regrets not going with us to Myrtle Beach last year. You guessed it, mom went with on that trip too. Mom says “Where is she going to ride?” “On top, like in that movie?” Yes we did laugh, but I can’t imagine how this whole trip is going to turn out.

“So grandma, do you want to go to Disney World with us?” Her response, “Where would I sit, on top of the car?” :rolleyes:

Grandma is 84 and still really active. She will still put on her ice skates, two years ago went sledding with the kids, but walking all day in those parks would be hard for her. I told her that we would get a scooter. Instead she uses money as an excuse. I said just your ticket and food. “But the food is so expensive.” Grandma, you’re not eating 3 meals a day every day at CRT.

She also could be having flashbacks of being lost in the mass exodus of Epcot. Not only was my mom with me last time I was in the World, grandma came along too. We spent the day in Epcot and there was one last thing I wanted to see before we left. Even though it’s no longer there, I can’t imagine wanting to see it now if it were.

It was the eighties, I was in high school.

What do you think it was?

Come on, guess.

Come on and come back and tell me....I dont know!!! Is Grandma going???

[Familycircus]

Come on and come back and tell me....I dont know!!!

Come on, give a guess.

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[Familycircus]

Come on. Does anyone have a guess about what I had to see?

Epcot mid/late '80's.


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[Familycircus]

All right, since no one wants to guess and we have to keep this going.



The answer: Michael Jackson in Captain EO.


I know, I know. Like I said, it was the 80’s and I was in high school.

I had spent the day walking around WS with my mom and grandma. I wanted to do something for me. Well grandma would have nothing to do with that show. We left her sitting in, I believe, the eating area of Land (I’m not sure if it was called anything then), and mom and I ran off to the last showing. The show ended at the same time the park was closing. We went to get grandma and there was no grandma. She was gone.

Why is it that when you tell someone, stay here, wait for me, don’t move, or I’ll be right back, that somehow means to them, go get lost. :headache:

OMG ! Grandma’s lost in this crowd of billions leaving Epcot. :eek:

[Familycircus]

Mom stays in the park and looks for her, while I check the bus stops. I meet mom back at the entrance, still no grandma.
After almost an hour, there were hardly any people left. We got on one of the last buses and hoped grandma had the sense to go back to the hotel.

We got back to the hotel and no grandma. We waited and waited. She comes through the door about a half hour later, and steaming mad at us. :confused3
After a short bit of yelling at us, she did not speak to us the next morning and during the flights home.

She still gets a little steamed, but we don’t bring it up.
Answer still “No”. OK then.

[bellasmommy0]

That is crazy!! But it is so easy to loose people in the crowds. Last year when we went to MNSSHP it was pouring rain. We were all on Buzz Lightyear...meaning, me,DH,DD, DSIL,DBIL,DNephew,DMIL,DFIL. When we came out it was POURING rain!! Well we all got under cover and stayed or so we thougt...DSIL&DBIL had taken off with nephew somewhere else..well MIL is a worry wart. We cant get ahold of them! Well turned out they tried to run somewhere else and got seperated. So SIL ended up back at hotel, BIL and nephew were sitting somewhere outside the park waitiing for her to come out, and he had all the keys!! It was complete drama!! I tell my DH this is why you always have to have your keys and your cell phone with you

[Familycircus]

Isn't drama fun.
We will difinitely have our cell phones this coming trip.
When we lost grandma that was before the days of cell phones.

[bellasmommy0]

Isn't drama fun.
We will difinitely have our cell phones this coming trip.
When we lost grandma that was before the days of cell phones.

Nah I am sure they had them, they were just HUGE suitcase looking things!!

[Familycircus]

Sorry I haven't finished this PTR. Its kind of a mood point since I'm starting my Trip Report, but I will finish it anyway.
It will provide more insight into us and and this adventure.

[Familycircus]

In my mind there doesn’t seem to be enough time there. Mom says “Let’s come back a day later.” I would miss another day of work and I don’t have much more vacation time. Kids would miss another day of school and I don’t want the kids missing more than the two days. My wife works 2hrs in the mornings for the before school program at the elementary school and she would miss another morning. What to do?
I suggest, “How about we drive straight thru?” Wife = no response. Mom = “There are three of us and we could take shifts driving.” Then it’s settled, 24 hrs of straight driving to get to the World. Well this gives us almost another whole Disney day. That would save us hotel costs on the way down and we’d spend 4 nights offsite. The cost of five days in the parks isn’t much more than four.
We would leave Thurs when my wife gets home from work at 9am, pick mom up and be on the road by 10am.

Couple of drawbacks to this alteration; driving thru Chicago at 5pm rush hour, I have driven in Chicago’s rush hour and rush hours in other cities like San Francisco, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, but to deliberately plan it this way is another thing. The things I’m starting to do for that mouse. The second would be, arriving late Fri morning and the adults having to prop their eyelids open for the whole rest of the day while the kids will be rested and ready to go go go.

Post-its on the posterboard are rearranged.
This will be the first of many more rearrangements.

[Familycircus]

We are 6 months out and at this point the eating area of our kitchen looks like a war room, two laptops on the table, phones, printer, and the posterboard hanging on the hutch.

“Hey mom, we are only parkhopping two days and its between the same two parks.” Then comes the “What if we…” “What if we switch those things to the same parks on those days?” With the money we save not having parkhoppers, we could stay at POP another night instead of offsite :woohoo: . Alright that’s final and we book our 3 nights at POP.

180 days is coming fast to book the ADRs. Then :headache: , what do you mean we have to wait? What do you mean new reservation system? Install it after we’re there. What do you mean you don’t know when we can call for ADRs? Thank you, but I’m not having a very magical day :mad: . Now do you realize that the first day they open that thing up, the world is going to be calling the World. It’s going to be me against the world. I’m prepared to get my ADRs. I have my kitchen war room with phones, computers and our posterboard.

[Familycircus]

You remember that somewhat of an extra day we worked in by driving straight thru and will arrive like zombies, well, mom wants to spend time at DTD. I’m not much into that. I want my kids into the parks and more ADRs. Maybe I am getting crazy for this mouse.

“What if we…”. This just keeps going on and on you will find.
Well, we need to maximize the magic.

“What if we leave late afternoon the day before?”
) I would only have to take a ½ day off work.
) We can wait until the kids get off the school bus so they wouldn’t miss any more school.
) My wife would miss Thur morning work.
) We would be driving thru Chicago at midnight instead of rush hour.
) We would get there early evening. Mom could do DTD.
) We wouldn’t have to stay awake for the day once we get there.

Works for me. Rearrange the Post-its.

Now we have; drive straight thru over night and all day, four nights offsite, still our same three nights at POP, 6 day tickets not much more than 5 day, and still 3 nights returning home. I’m not messing with the return trip, we’ll need a slower pace back. This is madness and that mouse keeps reaching into my wallet.

[Familycircus]

My daughter thinks she’s getting a little too old for Princesses, but she may change her mind once we are there. We will not be able to afford CRT, and if the fore mentioned is the case, then I would rather not spend the money. Akershus it is. “Boys, do you want to eat with the princesses?” “No way!” Since she gets a special meal what do the boys get? I think this is where Disney drops the ball. Well we keep thinking and finally find the pirate cruise for the boys. Great, I’ll drop the boys at the pirate cruise and take the monorail back and forth to Epcot. No problem.

Not sure how to book the pirate cruise, so we call the sponsoring hotel. “Sorry you need to call Disney dining”. Hey maybe they can still book the pirate cruise without the new ADR system?
No such luck :headache: . We did learn that Disney dining was confused on the days so we called the sponsoring hotel back. Well the days its offered wasn’t what we had on our posterboard.
The only day we can do it is Wed :eek: . That’s not our Epcot day when we want my daughter to be at Akershus, its our MK day. I know, “I’ll take the boys and grab a cs bite and ride rides in Epcot. It’ll be guy time.” (that was the original plan before we discovered the pirate cruise). “What if we do the pirate cruise Wed and I’ll drop the boys off and ride the monorail back and forth to MK like I had planned to do to Epcot.” This should work.
Rearrange the Post-its.

[bumbershoot]

So you're writing your trip report already? I'll have to go find that!

In the meantime, this sounds like fun, and I absolutely LOVE the posterboard/post-it idea for planning!

[Familycircus]

So you're writing your trip report already? I'll have to go find that!

I'm working on the trip report, putting on the finishing touches. Coming Soon.

[Familycircus]

In the meantime, this sounds like fun, and I absolutely LOVE the posterboard/post-it idea for planning!

I'll take a picture of the posterboard and try and include it on here.

[Familycircus]

Mom says, “Why do you want to book CP for breakfast?” I reminded her what a good time we had when we ate there at Disneyland. Mom says, “But I don’t think the kids are interested in Pooh and friends.” But I want to eat bacon in front of Piglet. “Oh this is for you, lets find another character breakfast”. Mom says “GF has Mary Poppins and Alice”. Poor Mary Poppins, she doesn’t have a ride. She’s just sort of here and there. We ask my daughter if she likes Alice and she said “Yes”. We had been to the Disney Store at the Mall of America the other day and she really liked Alice’s dress. Maybe she is done with the princesses. I ask my younger son if he wants to eat with Alice in Wonderland. He says “Who”. OK kid, go downstairs and start watching those videos, you have a lot of boning up to do on the characters. Changing that breakfast should work. That’s our MK day and we can just take the monorail to the park.

Write up a new Post-it.

I mention, “The campfire at Ft Wilderness would be fun for the kids”. Mom, “Where would we fit that in?” After studying the posterboard for a time, I figured it out. Let’s move IllumiNations to the first day we are in Epcot since we would be there later and wanted to eat dinner somewhere in WS. Our second Epcot day, we’ll leave early and take the monorail,
a boat, and a bus to the campfire. We’ll make it our dinner also.

OK.

Rearrange the Post-its.

[Familycircus]

I'll get this Pre-trip report finished yet. ;)


We hadn’t booked the offsite hotel yet and it’s a good thing since we keep adding nights. I keep checking to make sure the rooms are available for that same price. Upon checking one afternoon I read that the 15% discount promotion ends that day :scared1: . This will be for the first three nights we are in Florida. The fourth offsite night will be our last night and booked separately. So 15% on 3 nights makes a difference for us. That would be a meal. I call mom and she says she’s coming over after dinner and we’ll book it. This is really setting it in stone for us because it has to be paid in full and no refund to get the internet rate + discount. Mom stops by with more books, pages she’s printed, and notebooks she’s been writing in. We spend at least an hour going over everything. OK, I think we have everything straight. Let’s book the hotel. I type in the website and

[Familycircus]

…… nothing. That’s right, nothing. No internet connection. Try the other laptop. Nothing. Oh no the internet light on the router isn’t lit. The dsl light was, but not the internet light. No fear, our kitchen war room is equipped with a second router. I’m telling you, I’m prepared. Hooked up second router and no internet light lit, dsl yes, but internet no.
I’m in a panic. Tried two laptops and two routers. It’s not me its got to be the phone line.

Your question would also be the wife’s first question. The answer: Yes I did pay the phone bill.

I have a dial tone so I call tech support, of course in India. He’s got me pulling phones off the wall, laying under my bed unplugging dsl filters, switching phones, switching cords, running up and down stairs. He finally said “Take the phone cord from the wall to the router and reverse it.” (plug the router end into the wall and the wall end into the router).

I thought to myself how would that make a difference and at this point he was on my last nerve and I was about 5 seconds away from hanging up and driving 40 miles roundtrip to use my mom’s computer.

By this time, I had so many cords tangled up on the kitchen floor, it was like putting up Christmas lights. I started tracing cords to eliminate and get them out of the way.

Guess what I found? The war room has been breached!