wrldpossibility
08-11-2005, 08:11 PM
I hope it's ok to post a planning report instead of a travel report. Alas, we don't travel for 16 months! I'll remove the thread if it's in the wrong place, though. We're set to travel Dec. 06 to POR, and I thought I'd celebrate the booking and paying of the deposit by writing a little something about our planning experience thus far (I'm afraid it's long):
THE PLANNING
The cast:
HBIC (Head Boss in Charge)*: me, age 30
Mission:RelaxationDad**: age 31
DisneyKid7: son, age 7
DisneyKid5: son, age 5
FREE!DisneyKid: son, age 2
Joined by:
DisneyGrandma: age 55
DisneyGrandpa: age 56
WHEN TO GO
One hot August day in 2005, bored and ready for the school year to start, I decided we all needed to go to Disneyworld. None of us, not even the grandparents, have been. That’s right, an inaugural trip. We’ve been to Disneyland many a trip, we’ve all (or I should say the HBIC has) planned many non-Disney trips with small children in tow, but are now aiming for the motherland…the World. My mother (DisneyGrandma) and I believe we have been training for this our whole vacation-planning lives.
Anyway, back to that August day that I inform Mission:RelaxationDad that there’s a situation he needs to be aware of: the day I tell him I want to go to Disneyworld. First, poor Mission:RelaxationDad blanches. See, because he is not a planner, he thinks I mean right then, that summer. Silly, silly Mission:RelaxationDad. He’s thinking about the camping trip we just returned from, the one where FREE!Kid (at that time 8 months old) crawled all over the campsite, ate, and therefore pooped, copious amounts of dirt and sand, and generally caused mayhem everywhere he went. No, no, I reassure him. After studying the Unoffical Guide to Disneyworld, the DIS, and Allearsnet, I certainly know better than to A. take an 8-month-old, and B. go in summer for our first and last-for-a-long-while trip to the World. I promise him we’ll wait 16 months, and go when FREE!Kid is 2. Still, Mission:RelaxationDad is balking at taking a 2-year-old. He’s under the impression that said 2-year-old will throw tantrums in restaurants, cry about waiting in line, and be too short to ride anything. I promise that none of the above will occur, since we only raise well mannered, controlled, mature children, beg and plead about Magic and young children, and how they’re growing up…and then play my best card: “FREE!Kid will be FREE!” Mission:RelaxationDad mumbles something to the effect of, “Unless the FREE!Kid’s caretakers tickets are free, too, what’s the point?” but he knows a lost cause when he sees one, and when I leave for the bookstore to get the 06 version of all Disney travel books, he’s already busy applying for a 0%-interest-until-Oct.-06 Disney Visa.
Next I tell the grandparents of our plan. They’re 100% in agreement, because they are in agreement for any trip, large or small. These guys have energy like you wouldn‘t believe. However, we run into a snag when I tell DisneyGrandpa that we’re going before Christmas break in Dec. 06. He’s a teacher, and says he’ll only go during school breaks. I think I’m going to have a panic attack, because one of my most important planning decisions is to go during a less crowded time, to off-set the fact that we have a 2-year-old going and to assume ourselves optimal Magic with a capital M. However, I patiently show him the OG crowd chart and assure myself that a bar graph, in its black and white glory, will show him the light. No. He quite happily and patronizingly explains to me, his lowly daughter, that “their” Christmas break won’t be at exactly the same time as ours.
“Ok,” I say, biting my tongue, “who is ‘they’, Dad?”
“Florida.” And off he walks.
It takes me several more days to enlighten DisneyGrandpa on the “world” half of Disneyworld. Once he realizes he has more to contend with than the sunshine state, we compromise, and he misses 5 days of work. That puts our trip from Dec. 10-20th for my family, to be joined by the DisneyGrands from the 13th-20th. We leave right before the crowds (and the holiday rates). Whew. Houston, we have our dates!
PACKAGE, OR ROOM-ONLY?
By now I’ve become addicted to the DIS. And what board do I love most? The Resorts board’s Code thread. Every frugal, money-saving bone in my body loves this thread. But I decide to forego room-only and its illusive dreams of codes, AAA, and AP rates for a package. WHY, you ask? Because of the dining plan. We must have it. You see, we love to eat out. We plan to eat out. People who can make peanut butter sandwiches in bulk and eat them for days on end at Disney have my eternal admiration, but my family doesn’t have a strong-willed bone in our bodies when it comes to food on vacation. So we’ll eat out a lot, and I will be looking at the menu price, A LOT. Not at good combination. I’ve been known to make my children share kid meals in expensive theme parks against their will (try making little kids share one shamu meal toy, and you know what I’m talking about). But I don’t think I’m allowed to reference whales here, just mice. Anyway, I’m too frugal to watch the $$ go bit by bit all 10 days, and too selfish and hungry to eat sandwiches. So we have the dining plan. Plus, that’ll justify all the character meals I plan to get (you know, for the kids). Now, on to…
WHERE TO STAY
I’ve already decided I want Magic with the capital M, remember, so I am determined to stay on-property. I don’t even let myself look at the off-site prices, or the frugal side of me (which is very powerful) will take over. Unfortunately for me, DisneyKid7 and 5 keep finding me on the computer, comparing resorts, and have their 2 cents to put in: they are 100% gung-ho for All Star Sports. They love everything about it. Mission:RelaxationDad sees the price of the All Stars, and adds his vote to theirs. Silly, silly boys. This is not a democracy! Our first trip to DW, we’re staying in at least a moderate. DisneyGrandpa looks through the resorts, and immediately picks a suite at Wilderness Lodge. DisneyGrandma agrees that it would be relaxing and close to MK. Convenient, since Mission:RelaxationDad and I are paying. I remind them that it’s not a democracy too. I do love WL though, so I look into it carefully. The DisneyKids see the photos, and true American kids they are, they realize immediately this this is better than AS Sports, demand an upgrade, and chant LODGE LODGE LODGE until I send them outside.
So that brings us to my first email to our wonderfully patient TA at Dreams Unlimited. I send her the dates, and ask for a quote on WL. I want standard rooms (sorry, DisneyGrandpa), connecting if possible. We thought about a deluxe room that houses 6, but heard it was cramped, and didn’t want to pay the extra $$ during the nights the grands weren’t there. Then I considered renting DVC points, but I really needed Mission:RelaxationDad’s imput on that, and his eyes glazed over in boredom after five minutes of explaining how it works. Not for us.
The very next day, my quote for a WL reservation is in my inbox, and holy cow is that expensive! I show it to Mission:RelaxationDad, who faints. I figure I can count that as the “relaxation” part of his Disney experience. Ok, he didn’t really faint, but came close enough.
So…10 days at WL is not in the cards for us. We are such rookies to think it was. But just after I reply to the dear TA, DisneyGrandma changes the dates she wants, then changes them back again to the exact same thing. I email the TA again. But now we need a new resort. I ask TA to price half at WL and half at the boys’ beloved Sports. Only $500 less, and a no go. We want packages, and if we split it it’s not worth it. So I research the socks off the moderates, and fall in love with POR. Mission:RelaxationDad is happy. After going through the slide show photos at allearsnet, Disneygrandpa and Grandma are happy. The DisneyKids only need to see the pool, think Tom Sawyer’s Island, and they’re happy. I go back to the computer to email TA to a boyish chorus of “I, Huckleberry, Me” from Big River (DisneyKid7 plays violin, and learned a song from that musical). She emails the quote, we all hold our breaths, and Mission:RelaxationDad and I look at the number and sigh in relief…we can afford it. Or, at least we can almost afford it, and I promised to save all kinds of money for the next year. Good enough! We book it!
So that’s our plan. That’s as far as we’ve gotten. Maybe in the coming months I’ll ask opinions on our detailed itinerary. So for the next 16 months, I’m afraid you’ll see a lot of me!
*HBIC is a title (usually substituted with another B-word that the DIS would edit) that is lovingly passed on through the obsessive-planning female line in our family. It is important for the reader to know that HBIC is a new promotion for me (bestoyed upon me by DisneyGrandma). We‘ll see later if she can truly relinquish the power with grace…
**God bless him, DH thinks he’s going to relax this trip. He may be under that impression because I promised him, fingers crossed of course, that he would get ample relaxation time. I don’t know how an involved father of three, yup, three small boys can still be so naïve, but somehow through 7 years of babyhood, toddler hood, and boyhood he’s maintained his innocence. It’s inspiring, really.
Amy :Pinkbounc
THE PLANNING
The cast:
HBIC (Head Boss in Charge)*: me, age 30
Mission:RelaxationDad**: age 31
DisneyKid7: son, age 7
DisneyKid5: son, age 5
FREE!DisneyKid: son, age 2
Joined by:
DisneyGrandma: age 55
DisneyGrandpa: age 56
WHEN TO GO
One hot August day in 2005, bored and ready for the school year to start, I decided we all needed to go to Disneyworld. None of us, not even the grandparents, have been. That’s right, an inaugural trip. We’ve been to Disneyland many a trip, we’ve all (or I should say the HBIC has) planned many non-Disney trips with small children in tow, but are now aiming for the motherland…the World. My mother (DisneyGrandma) and I believe we have been training for this our whole vacation-planning lives.
Anyway, back to that August day that I inform Mission:RelaxationDad that there’s a situation he needs to be aware of: the day I tell him I want to go to Disneyworld. First, poor Mission:RelaxationDad blanches. See, because he is not a planner, he thinks I mean right then, that summer. Silly, silly Mission:RelaxationDad. He’s thinking about the camping trip we just returned from, the one where FREE!Kid (at that time 8 months old) crawled all over the campsite, ate, and therefore pooped, copious amounts of dirt and sand, and generally caused mayhem everywhere he went. No, no, I reassure him. After studying the Unoffical Guide to Disneyworld, the DIS, and Allearsnet, I certainly know better than to A. take an 8-month-old, and B. go in summer for our first and last-for-a-long-while trip to the World. I promise him we’ll wait 16 months, and go when FREE!Kid is 2. Still, Mission:RelaxationDad is balking at taking a 2-year-old. He’s under the impression that said 2-year-old will throw tantrums in restaurants, cry about waiting in line, and be too short to ride anything. I promise that none of the above will occur, since we only raise well mannered, controlled, mature children, beg and plead about Magic and young children, and how they’re growing up…and then play my best card: “FREE!Kid will be FREE!” Mission:RelaxationDad mumbles something to the effect of, “Unless the FREE!Kid’s caretakers tickets are free, too, what’s the point?” but he knows a lost cause when he sees one, and when I leave for the bookstore to get the 06 version of all Disney travel books, he’s already busy applying for a 0%-interest-until-Oct.-06 Disney Visa.
Next I tell the grandparents of our plan. They’re 100% in agreement, because they are in agreement for any trip, large or small. These guys have energy like you wouldn‘t believe. However, we run into a snag when I tell DisneyGrandpa that we’re going before Christmas break in Dec. 06. He’s a teacher, and says he’ll only go during school breaks. I think I’m going to have a panic attack, because one of my most important planning decisions is to go during a less crowded time, to off-set the fact that we have a 2-year-old going and to assume ourselves optimal Magic with a capital M. However, I patiently show him the OG crowd chart and assure myself that a bar graph, in its black and white glory, will show him the light. No. He quite happily and patronizingly explains to me, his lowly daughter, that “their” Christmas break won’t be at exactly the same time as ours.
“Ok,” I say, biting my tongue, “who is ‘they’, Dad?”
“Florida.” And off he walks.
It takes me several more days to enlighten DisneyGrandpa on the “world” half of Disneyworld. Once he realizes he has more to contend with than the sunshine state, we compromise, and he misses 5 days of work. That puts our trip from Dec. 10-20th for my family, to be joined by the DisneyGrands from the 13th-20th. We leave right before the crowds (and the holiday rates). Whew. Houston, we have our dates!
PACKAGE, OR ROOM-ONLY?
By now I’ve become addicted to the DIS. And what board do I love most? The Resorts board’s Code thread. Every frugal, money-saving bone in my body loves this thread. But I decide to forego room-only and its illusive dreams of codes, AAA, and AP rates for a package. WHY, you ask? Because of the dining plan. We must have it. You see, we love to eat out. We plan to eat out. People who can make peanut butter sandwiches in bulk and eat them for days on end at Disney have my eternal admiration, but my family doesn’t have a strong-willed bone in our bodies when it comes to food on vacation. So we’ll eat out a lot, and I will be looking at the menu price, A LOT. Not at good combination. I’ve been known to make my children share kid meals in expensive theme parks against their will (try making little kids share one shamu meal toy, and you know what I’m talking about). But I don’t think I’m allowed to reference whales here, just mice. Anyway, I’m too frugal to watch the $$ go bit by bit all 10 days, and too selfish and hungry to eat sandwiches. So we have the dining plan. Plus, that’ll justify all the character meals I plan to get (you know, for the kids). Now, on to…
WHERE TO STAY
I’ve already decided I want Magic with the capital M, remember, so I am determined to stay on-property. I don’t even let myself look at the off-site prices, or the frugal side of me (which is very powerful) will take over. Unfortunately for me, DisneyKid7 and 5 keep finding me on the computer, comparing resorts, and have their 2 cents to put in: they are 100% gung-ho for All Star Sports. They love everything about it. Mission:RelaxationDad sees the price of the All Stars, and adds his vote to theirs. Silly, silly boys. This is not a democracy! Our first trip to DW, we’re staying in at least a moderate. DisneyGrandpa looks through the resorts, and immediately picks a suite at Wilderness Lodge. DisneyGrandma agrees that it would be relaxing and close to MK. Convenient, since Mission:RelaxationDad and I are paying. I remind them that it’s not a democracy too. I do love WL though, so I look into it carefully. The DisneyKids see the photos, and true American kids they are, they realize immediately this this is better than AS Sports, demand an upgrade, and chant LODGE LODGE LODGE until I send them outside.
So that brings us to my first email to our wonderfully patient TA at Dreams Unlimited. I send her the dates, and ask for a quote on WL. I want standard rooms (sorry, DisneyGrandpa), connecting if possible. We thought about a deluxe room that houses 6, but heard it was cramped, and didn’t want to pay the extra $$ during the nights the grands weren’t there. Then I considered renting DVC points, but I really needed Mission:RelaxationDad’s imput on that, and his eyes glazed over in boredom after five minutes of explaining how it works. Not for us.
The very next day, my quote for a WL reservation is in my inbox, and holy cow is that expensive! I show it to Mission:RelaxationDad, who faints. I figure I can count that as the “relaxation” part of his Disney experience. Ok, he didn’t really faint, but came close enough.
So…10 days at WL is not in the cards for us. We are such rookies to think it was. But just after I reply to the dear TA, DisneyGrandma changes the dates she wants, then changes them back again to the exact same thing. I email the TA again. But now we need a new resort. I ask TA to price half at WL and half at the boys’ beloved Sports. Only $500 less, and a no go. We want packages, and if we split it it’s not worth it. So I research the socks off the moderates, and fall in love with POR. Mission:RelaxationDad is happy. After going through the slide show photos at allearsnet, Disneygrandpa and Grandma are happy. The DisneyKids only need to see the pool, think Tom Sawyer’s Island, and they’re happy. I go back to the computer to email TA to a boyish chorus of “I, Huckleberry, Me” from Big River (DisneyKid7 plays violin, and learned a song from that musical). She emails the quote, we all hold our breaths, and Mission:RelaxationDad and I look at the number and sigh in relief…we can afford it. Or, at least we can almost afford it, and I promised to save all kinds of money for the next year. Good enough! We book it!
So that’s our plan. That’s as far as we’ve gotten. Maybe in the coming months I’ll ask opinions on our detailed itinerary. So for the next 16 months, I’m afraid you’ll see a lot of me!
*HBIC is a title (usually substituted with another B-word that the DIS would edit) that is lovingly passed on through the obsessive-planning female line in our family. It is important for the reader to know that HBIC is a new promotion for me (bestoyed upon me by DisneyGrandma). We‘ll see later if she can truly relinquish the power with grace…
**God bless him, DH thinks he’s going to relax this trip. He may be under that impression because I promised him, fingers crossed of course, that he would get ample relaxation time. I don’t know how an involved father of three, yup, three small boys can still be so naïve, but somehow through 7 years of babyhood, toddler hood, and boyhood he’s maintained his innocence. It’s inspiring, really.
Amy :Pinkbounc