“They gave us an extra trash basket!” A Surprise Trip 6 day POR. Nov and Dec 2014. Updated 2/8

[Nazran]

No More Surpises!
Remember the part about this being a surprise trip for both families? Well one of Chad and Leslie's boys got on their computer and was bombarded with Disney ads on and very casually asked Chad and Leslie if they were going to Disney World. Much to our amazement they spilled the beans to JD and CJ! At the time we were no longer going so under penalty of losing Disney World her kids were to NEVER breathe a word to our kids about it. She told them that my family was not going to get a family vacation this year because of the kitchen and the last thing they would want to do is tell Michael and Nathan that they were getting to go to Disney World.

"We Don't Have to Spend ALL of our Time Together."
With that phrase I crushed my Disney Wife's hear to pieces. We had two planning meetings while the days ticked down and it was apparent to Chad and I that we had some fundamental differences in how we wanted to spend our vacations and doing everything together was not possible. Our plan as two separate families was to not be together all the time but at least meet once a day for table service meals if possible.

Newbie Making ADR's
We are now up to about a week before we need to make our ADR's for dining. I was given complete control on our reservations for two families! I did all the research I could reading reviews, disney foodblogs, tripadvisor, etc. We did have a change later on because Leslie and Chad did not want to do a 2nd Epcot day and opted for 2nd Hollywood Studio day.

Having never done ADR's before I was really nervous about getting the reservations we wanted. On the first day possible I was up bright and early to make my reservations. I don't have proof but I think my first mistake was trying to reserve in date order as opposed to what was probably the more popular reservation. I also had to make reservations for 10 each time! I ended up with only one issue and it was a near 9pm Ohana. Probably way too late for 11, 8, 3, and 2 year olds to be eating. After a week I scored a new 6PMish reservation. HOWEVER if I had known what I was gonna miss that night I would have kept the reservation!

Here were are ADR's and tentative Counter Service Meals for my family. Joint Family Meals in Red:

Day 1 - Sat Nov 29th
Dinner: TS Coral Reef

Day 2 - Sun Nov 30th
Breakfast: In room
Lunch: TS Hollywood and Vine Character Buffet
Dinner: ABC Commissary

Day 3 - Mon Dec 1st
Breakfast: In room
Lunch: CS Columbia Harbor House
Dinner: TS Ohana

Day 4 - Tues Dec 2nd (This is the day Chad and Leslie decided to go to HS again rather than Epcot)
Breakfast: In room
Lunch: CS Sunshine Seasons
Dinner: TS Akershus Princess Dinner

Day 5 -Wed Dec 3rd
Breakfast: In room
Lunch: CS Be Our Guest Counter Service (We were beta testing the order ahead of time system)
Dinner: TS Chef Mickey

Day 6 = Thu Dec 4th
Breakfast: In room
Lunch: CS Wolfgang Pucks Express
Dinner: Destin Florida

From this point on you know it is about 180 + 10 Days to Disney World! I am thankful those reading have been willing to put up with a lot of pre-trip. Next time I post I will start the actual trip report from Thanksgiving. As a side note in June of 2014 something amazing outside of Disney happened to my oldest son. I will include it in the trip report because it is part of Thanksgiving Day. Until then!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

sorry about all the issues with the kitchen - though, at least you have a nice new kitchen and don't have to worry about the issues with the old one. Must be frustrating knowing the research you did and that the contractor was thought highly of on angie's list, etc. Glad you figured out a way in the end to make the trip work

a few trips ago we too went with another family and it was tough to balance doing stuff together but also allowing for doing different things - also remember the joy of trying to score ADRs at popular locations for a party of 10. Looks like some fun selections though

 

[Nazran]

Oh yeah....

I almost totally forgot! After living through the remodel and on/off/on Disney World trips... In August we decided why not add selling our home. This is important information because it ended up impacting the trip.

Ok next post will be the trip post. I pinky swear!

 

[Nazran]

Looking forward to the rest of your report. From one Jay to another!!!

Jay

I missed this. Nice to meet you Jay!

 

[Nazran]

Home for Sale?
That's right. In August we placed our home on the market because we were told it would sell super fast and for $120 a sq ft in my neighborhood. It was true the comps had been selling for between $110 and $130 sq ft all summer. We had lived in the house since 2005. Had almost $40k in equity. Why not?! We were family of 5 living in a 1668 sq ft 3bed 2bath. We were on TOP of each other all the time. The problem is we got on the market 2 weeks before school started. The market dried up. Chad and Leslie thought we were crazy to do this now and on short notice. They were right...

We also found our dang near dream home in this time. 2550 sq ft / 4bed / 2.5bath / 2 car garage/ 33,000 gallon pool / hot tub / New HVAC in our price range! We desperately wanted this house.

As of Nov 25th. My last day in office before trip we were still on the market and had dropped the price 4 times by now.

Travel Day 1 (Wed Nov 26th) - 10 Hours To Go 300 Miles.

I am a big planner. I have itineraries, every turn to Disney World mapped out, and we stop at X location f or 10 minutes, etc etc... This trip was no exception.

We simply needed to get to Jennifer's mother's house in Bunkie Louisiana from Euless Texas by night time. We left Euless by 10am. We wanted to stop in E. Texas at Jennifer's father's house to visit him and Jennifer's step mother for about an hour before heading to La. This would give kids a break after 3 hours before jumping back in to car for final leg to La.

We had driven a total of 45 minutes before getting to Terrell Tx (just outside Dallas on I20) before the first "I'm hungry and need to pee" statements were issued. I had not planned to stop until Canton a little further down the road. So we stopped and everyone got out to go to the restroom and we stopped and got kids some dollar menu items at McDonalds.

Ok no big deal we are 20 minutes off our schedule already and we are only a 1/4 of the way there. So we bypassed Canton and drove on through to the Henderson (Kilgore/Longview) area of Texas where my Father in Law lives. We got there a little late by my judgement and we would get out, stretch, and visit. I love Jennifer's father like my own but the man LOVES to visit. So we chatted over an hour. Then another hour.

I got a new camera for the trip. I really wanted a DSLR but it was not in the financial cards. I picked up a slightly used Lumix DMC FZ 70. It is a bridge or super zoom camera. I hoped it would be a good choice to get some good Disney photos. It did ok for the most part. While we were at my father in laws house chatting forever I decided to take some test photos so I could at least be familiar with the camera. Mattie was my subject.

So.. Jennifer's stepmother was not able to get off work so Jennifer said... "We can just go in to town to the bank she works at and see her on her way out." So we did. Spent another 45 minutes there. It was probably a good idea, because of the secret part of our Thanksgiving trip we would not be able to spend time with Jennifer's dad and step mom. By this time I decided the heck with the schedule.

We got to Shreveport and made the swing south on I-49. Stopped in Natchitoches for some Burger King. Then drove through Alexandria and finally around 7 or 8P we made it to Jennifer's mother's house. Jennifer's sister and daughter and step sisters Sarah and her son Issac and Tammy and her Husband had been there since Mon and Tuesday.

We got unpacked and chatted. I went out side with my new camera and Gorillapod. I needed to quickly get some night time shots down to practice capturing some Disney World night shots. Jennifer's father in law is a preacher for Eola Baptist church. I took some photos of their church which is right next door to their parsonage home.

I then took some cars driving buy to capture light trails.

I think for a $150 camera it performed very well on a tripod. This means I might get some good Firework shots and night time castle shots provided I did a good job steadying the camera. I went back in and after a long day we chatted another hour and I was in bed at the end of Day 1...

The next day will be an amazing full day of cooking, eating, trip revealing, and something that filled my heart with Joy more than my Disney World trip.

 

[jchurch0409]

Great update! I am also a super planner! I like to have all of our stops mapped out with a schedule, so I totally understand that!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

oh gosh, that sounds really stressful with your house - and just feeling like not making the right decision but then your dream home, etc.

And then to be off schedule like 15 minutes into the trip would drive me a little bonky, but sounds like it ended up being an ok day and you are doing great with the camera so far I think!

 

[Nazran]

Great update! I am also a super planner! I like to have all of our stops mapped out with a schedule, so I totally understand that!

Only on one trip has it ever worked out Not sure why I am surprised

oh gosh, that sounds really stressful with your house - and just feeling like not making the right decision but then your dream home, etc.

And then to be off schedule like 15 minutes into the trip would drive me a little bonky, but sounds like it ended up being an ok day and you are doing great with the camera so far I think!

Thank you! What I found out to be true is that while the camera could deliver somewhat the quality of a DSLR only if it was completely still.

 

[floydfamily4]

More please. Great start!

 

[Oodalally13]

Hello from Deep South Texas! I know how you feel about being an uber planner and what it feels like to first get off schedule. Glad you're getting to take your trip!

 

[RockinDisney]

Aaarrgghhhh more please

 

[Shaniyah]

I am really enjoying your trip report! I can't wait until the next chapter!

 

[2choozee]

Okay I need to read more!

 

[amberlina29307]

im hooked

 

[Nazran]

Thank you for your replies. I hope to have another update tonight or tomorrow night.

 

[Nazran]

Thanksgiving Day
We woke up early and had a nice breakfast and a lot of coffee. We then quickly settled in on preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, Ham and all the fixings of a proper southern meal. Corn bread dressing, Italian green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry, giblet gravy, scratch yeast rolls with butter, etc etc... My job was to prepare the ham. I scored a ham shoulder and used a basting sauce of Maker's Mark, OJ, Molasses, Brown Sugar, and Dijon Mustard. I rubbed it all in real good and every 20 minutes walked over to the church (where we were cooking the turkey and ham) and basted the ham in its own marinade and juices. I can take or leave turkey but love a ham on Thanksgiving and or Christmas. We took a break around noon because....

Michael's Big Day
My oldest son Michael is on the Autism spectrum with an official Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) diagnosis. What does that mean to you? Probably not much. Outwardly he is fairly normal 12 year old (11 at time of trip) boy. He likes video games that he can create in (Minecraft is a big player in our house), or simulation games like SimCity. He loves animals. We have a cat named Romo that was given to him when Michael was 6. We have two bearded dragons named Spike and Dragon. Michael follows rules and views things very black or white. He is very literal and has a hard time understanding sarcasm and social queues of his peers. He has trouble putting his thoughts in to words and is slow and deliberate in his speech. I do worry about his future and ability to integrate fully in to adult society, have relationships, fall in love, etc.

Shame on me for not trusting in God.

We are a religious family. My wife and I are Believers and over the summer Michael went to our Church's Vacation Bible School with some of his friends from his home schooling co-op. He came home one day and told us that he wanted to pray with us and ask Jesus to be his savior and Lord. We did pray that night and later that Sunday he made spoke with the pastor and reaffirmed his desire to become a Christian. I thought to myself after this happened that he is going to be just fine. He understood the message of what becoming a Christian means. I should have given God and him more credit. My son amazes me everyday.

Naturally a Baptism would follow. Michael does not handle being in front of large crowds well at all and we decided (with our pastor) that he could be baptized Thanksgiving day by his Grandfather at their church in Louisiana. I have some photos.

The Sanctuary

Michael and Bill discussing the Baptismal.

I took a video after this for the actual Baptism but no need posting that large file . Suffice to say all went well and my heart was filled.


Lets Eat!! and Painful Cowboys Game
So we sat down to eat around 3. We had a great time and the food was awesome as always. My ham was well received and proud to report gone by next evening. Here are some pics.

Extreme Sweet Potato Closeup with New Cam!

Delicious Ham and Turkey!

Cornbread Dressing!

We ate and chatted and relaxed and watched the Cowboys get spanked by Philly. Ouch! It's Ok we paid them back in Dec.

Still A Secret!
My kids still had NO IDEA about Disney World and how close they were to it. I struggled with a unique reveal to the kids and just decided to sit them down and let them open the Magic bands box and see fi they could figure it out.

We played a furious game of Phase 10 and eventually around 11PM I laid down. It hit me then that Michael's Baptism and Thanksgiving were the last big things to do before my dream trip was almost. In 20 hours we would be on the road to Florida. I put my head phones on and plugged them in to my phone. I brought up Youtube and searched for "4K Frozen Holiday Wish" (4K because I need my Disney in SUPER HD!)

So I watched Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf light the castle. I still get a lump in my throat at the end When Elsa throws up her hands at the end and the Castle is lit with lights and fireworks.

Up next.... Friday the 28th Travel Day 2

 

[RockinDisney]

How Blessed you are with all 3 children. And how proud you must be of all of them bit especially Michael for making such a special choice to open up his heart to God's love.

And can't wait to hear how surprised they were and how long it took them to figure it out.

 

[jchurch0409]

How exciting for your family and Michael, for him to take that step and be Baptized and accept Jesus Christ. Your Thanksgiving meal looks awesome and makes me long for some ham! I agree, I rather have ham for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I can't wait to see their reaction to learning they are going to Disney!!

 

[Txshadow]

I am so happy to find your TR. I am sitting here enjoying my Saturday morning ritual of coffee and Dis boards crying happy tears over the wonderful news of your sons baptism. God is good all the time!

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[amberlina29307]

l

I am so happy to find your TR. I am sitting here enjoying my Saturday morning ritual of coffee and Dis boards crying happy tears over the wonderful news of your sons baptism. God is good all the time!

Looking forward to reading more.[/Q

AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD