Christmas? Christmas! POR Dec2015! *Updated 6Aug*

[MrsAyres]

Hello. Hello? Helllloooooo....

Is this thing on?

*tap* *tap* *tap*

Oh! Hi! I'm Kathleen, aka MrsAyres. I'm kind of new here but I thought I would start a PTR (and hopefully follow it through to be a TR) as I've enjoyed so many of yours since I discovered the DIS Boards site! I love planning trips (well, really, I love planning anything - but trips especially) and I enjoy writing so this is kind of awesome for me. I am new to the boards though so it'll be a bit of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, learn-it-by-doing-it kind of thing. I hope my efforts will be worthwhile!

So, anyway, I'm Kathleen and I'm planning a Disney trip. I'll be introducing you to our cast of characters next time and then we'll get in to some serious planning. Talk to you soon!


~K.


Next Entry


Linky-Dink List:
Cast of Characters
When?
Where?
Getting There
Mickey Mail!
Eat ALL the food!
A Bit of Disney Fun
Choosing Our Magic Bands
Appetite Destruction Ratio
Mickey Mail! *Customized Map Edition*
Four Parks In Three Days
Where Everything Changed
Stick A Fork In Me Mickey... I'm done. (Updated ADRs)

 

[MrsAyres]

Hi again!

I think it's time for introductions! This trip has a cast of five - two parents and three whack-a-loons. Let's meet them!

The Parents:


That's my husband (he'll be identified as Grumpy during this report) and me!

I am 36, this will be my second trip to WDW, my favorite Disney characters are Maleficent and Eeyore, my favorite animated Disney movie is Sleeping Beauty and my favorite live action Disney movie is Maleficent. I work in the travel industry (ground transportation), enjoy making lists and read romance novels by the dozen when I'm not chasing my kids around. I am most looking forward to seeing my kids reactions to WDW and am hoping to meet Maleficent, Eeyore & Cinderella's Fairy Godmother during this trip!

Grumpy is 37 and this will also be his second trip to WDW. He claims to not like any Disney characters or movies but I saw him grin when I said I was going to buy him a bunch of Grumpy shirts to wear on this trip and I have never known him to walk out of the living room if Hercules or Mulan is on. He is a law enforcement instructor and former Marine who loves coffee, peanut butter cups and pants with a million pockets. He says he is only going on this trip because he loves us.

Grumpy and I have been together for - oh, I don't know, a million years or so.

The Whack-a-loons:


From l-r: The Girl, Boy#2 & Boy#1

The Girl: Our eldest. This will be her second trip to WDW (her first was a school trip with band - she marched in the MK parade!), her favorite characters are Mary Poppins and Cinderella and their titular movies are her favorites. She is planning on studying Culinary Management in college with the hopes of eventually working for Disney and loves sleeping in, is the captain of her color guard squad and is hoping to find lots of people to pin trade with on this trip.

Boy#1: Our middle child. This will be his first trip to WDW! His favorite characters are Crush & Rex and they are in his two favorite movies, Finding Nemo & Toy Story. He wants to study Philosophy in college and join the Coast Guard. He can bench press me (trust me, that's impressive), eat a bag of apples a day by himself if I don't reign him in and his best buddy is his dog, Diezel. He does not want to go on any roller coasters but does want to go on the carousel with me (awwww...).

Boy#2: Our baby. This will be his first trip to WDW! His favorite characters are Goofy & Pluto, his favorite movies are 101 Dalmatians and Wall-E. His current goals in life are to "drive The Girl & Boy#1 crazy" (direct quote) and convince his dad & I that we need a Great Dane puppy that he is going to name Snickers. He loves video games, origami & movies based on comic books. He wants to "eat everything" at WDW and see "as many fireworks as possible".


That's us! More soon!


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[GraceMonica]

Hey there fellow Marylander! My hubby and I will be going to Disney in January too! drive: as well!)

I've been to Disney world as a teenager (one of five, all close in age) and I wish you good luck!

 

[kaelalala]

yay how exciting! I love reading about first (or second ) trips to WDW. following along, can't wait to see what you have planned ^_^

 

[MrsAyres]

Hey there fellow Marylander! My hubby and I will be going to Disney in January too! drive: as well!)

I've been to Disney world as a teenager (one of five, all close in age) and I wish you good luck!

Hi GraceMonica! Hooray for being MD-January buddies My first trip to WDW was as a teen too and it's why I'm trying VERY different tactics than my mother did with us

yay how exciting! I love reading about first (or second ) trips to WDW. following along, can't wait to see what you have planned ^_^

Hi Kaelalala! We're so excited about our trip - and I'm excited to share it here! Thanks for following along

 

[MrsAyres]

Hi again everyone! Now that you’ve met us we can get into some of the actually trip planning. As with most things it’s usually best to begin at the beginning so I’ll start with the “When” of our trip…

For YEARS I have been telling Grumpy that we need to bring the kids to WDW. He and I both went when we were kids with our families but have never been back – despite the fact that we’ve both lived in Florida in the past! It’s funny though – while certain days (and weeks, and months) can seem to last For.Ev.Er the years can blink by in a heartbeat if you’re not careful – and that’s exactly what happened to us. The last time we seriously talked about going to Disney The Whack-a-loons were this big:



And now they are this big:



Dudes, that’s SOOooo long ago! We’re talking about graduation and driver’s licenses and significant others at this point… We need to go to Disney NOW - before they’re *gulp* adults!

Further spurring our determination to get to WDW ASAP is the fact that The Girl went to Disney 2 years ago with her color guard and band – and she LOVED it. Ever since she came back she’s been regaling the boys with tales of food and rides and fun – and they have been reminding us that it’s “not fair” that The Girl got to go and they didn’t (for some reason Grumpy’s suggestion that they join band or color guard and go that way went over like a lead balloon).

So, anyway, the first part of planning for us has actually been the hardest so far – and that was deciding “When” we are going to go. My initial plan was to plan for a Christmas surprise – that classic open-a-wrapped-gift-that-tells-everyone-we’re-going-to-Disney moment. Then I thought about the logistics of that – the cost, the stress of doing everything myself, the eye-rolling that would ensue if I presumed to pick outfits for The Daughter and packed them. Yeah. Not worth it.


Image found via Google Search

After that I started thinking about school breaks – Spring Break specifically. Of course, that lead me to research what the crowds and costs are like around that time of year. HAHAHAhahaha! To quote my kids… “lolNope”

So what was left? Either next summer (I might melt) or we take the kids out of school for a few days. As melting is one of my least favorite things I stated to look at average temperatures for various times of the year with a copy of the school calendar next to me. I also kept the Disney website open and search various dates on there that were possibilities (this helped eliminate certain weeks due to things like F&W and the PHM). I then eliminated other weeks based on when the kids would have scheduling conflicts like football season (it’s a big deal), midterms, state testing, ect… That narrowed it down to a couple possibilities – early January or early February. I kibitzed with the kids (and Grumpy’s assistant) about it and we decided that we’d much rather extend Winter Break by a few days instead of calling a time-out in the middle of a marking period. And with that – it was decided.

We’re going to Disney! In January! Woohoo!

(Well, it ends up, not so much...)

So the next question is… “Where are we going to stay?”


TTFN!
~K.


Next Entry

 

[MrsAyres]

Once we had our time frame nailed down the next question became “Where?”. Initially my instinct was to rent a vacation house for the week. We are regulars on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we always rent there – and we LOVE it. I concentrated my initial searches on HomeAway & VRBO and found a lot of really great possibilities but then I started thinking about it…

This is most likely going to be the only time that we five go to Disney World together. While someday I hope that Grumpy & I will be able to come back with the kids it is most likely, given their ages, that when that does happen our ranks will be expanded by significant others, friends and, eventually, spouses and kids. And while those (potential) trips will be wonderful and special and magical this trip is our trip. It’s our first one as a family, the first time our boys will ever go to Disney World and maybe, the last trip that will ever be just we five.

I also got to thinking about the type of trip I want this to be. As our time is very limited I really want to spend as much time in the parks as possible. Our trips to the Outer Banks are about relaxing – this trip is about doing. Do I really want to spend time driving back and forth to a house that we’re not going to spend much time in? Or do I want to let someone else drive? Is having a whole house important for this vacation? Do I want to cook? Do I want to clean up after cooking? Or would I rather let someone else handle all that and enjoy the WDW experience?

The more I thought about it the more I felt like staying on-site was going to make me happier.

So, I started researching Disney Resorts. As we are a party of 5 I knew we were going to have to either go with two regular rooms, a villa or a family suite. I wanted to find a balance between value and comfort – while I don’t mind spending money on things I love I don’t want to waste money either. I started narrowing down my choices.

I decided pretty quickly, based on price point, that the various Villa options were outside of my financial comfort zone. I was also leery about getting two separate rooms as there aren’t many hotels that I can double down on without, once again, hitting my financial comfort zone red line.

I thought about the AoA Family Suites. The really are a great option for families – there is a ton of room, the décor is adorable, it’s very kid friendly and there are a ton of sleeping options. I was a bit concerned that it might be “too young” for my kids and I questioned whether we really needed all that room. I mean, how much would we actually be in the room? It was a quandary.

The other option I seriously contemplated was the Cabins at the Fort Wilderness Resort. I liked the idea of a “away from the Disney bustle” resort that still had all of the benefits of being a WDW resort, there was flexibility in the sleeping arrangements and I loved all of the activities the resort offered. My hang-up with it though was that I felt like, because the facilities were available, I would feel obligated to cook – at least some of the time. And again, do we really need all that space?

Then out of the clear blue – I happened upon something really cool on Google…




Image source


It was like Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the gang suddenly smiled on me. A beautiful resort that maintains a tranquil feel, themed – but not over-themed, rooms that accommodate 5 guests, great food options at the resort itself with more options a 20 minute boat ride away… I was in love. I have no idea why it hadn't come up on my other searches!

Then I looked at the prices. Guys. It priced out as being less expensive that AoA. I nearly lost my mind. I was so excited!

I showed the kids the pictures of the rooms and the resort to get their feelings on it and they are totally on board – and Grumpy is as happy as Grumpy can be while still being Grumpy thanks to the price! Woohoo!

So, when the 2015 prices were released I officially booked our first family trip to Disney World. We will be staying at POR from January 3-7 and I am so excited!


Image source


Woohoo!


TTFN,
~K.



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[kclark9830]

Sounds like fun! And I love that you call hubby "Grumpy"! I totally wish I would have thought of that!

 

[GraceMonica]

Good choice on resort! POR is so beautiful! You'll have to be sure to check out the mansion sections! Gorgeous!!

 

[cogero]

joining in and I hear wonderful things about POR

 

[MrsAyres]

Sounds like fun! And I love that you call hubby "Grumpy"! I totally wish I would have thought of that!

I'm excited about it And I've totally started calling him Grumpy around the house - he rolls his eyes at me and the kids laugh!

Good choice on resort! POR is so beautiful! You'll have to be sure to check out the mansion sections! Gorgeous!!

We're really excited to walk the grounds and see the property!

joining in and I hear wonderful things about POR

Thanks for stopping by! We're really excited about POR, too!

 

[MrsAyres]

Now that we knew the when and the where of our trip we were faced with the question of how to get there. Being a big believer in researching all possible options I referred, once again, to my buddy - The Internet.

The quickest option, of course, is to fly. Living in Maryland we are very fortunate to have a plethora of airport options – we are within easy reach of no less than 3 major international airports and have two smaller regional airports within an hour of our home. I checked airfares out of BWI, IAD and DCA first. While WN (Southwest) and B6 (JetBlue) have some great prices pretty much any price times five is a significant investment.

My next step was to check out Allegiant Air (G4) which flies out of Hagerstown, MD (HGR) and into Sanford Airport (SFB). The prices for this are great – the problem with it is that you HAVE to travel on very specific days. As our schedule is pretty much set in stone we really can’t take advantage of these prices. Flying into SFB also means that we would need to set up a rental car as the airport is not serviced by Disney’s Magical Express.

I thought for a split second that we might take a train. But then I came to my senses. For some unknown reason taking the train is more expensive than flying and usually takes longer than...

Driving! The other option, of course, is to drive. So, I mapped it out.



Let’s just go ahead and call that 14 hours shall we?

Now, I don’t consider this drive time to be excessive. I know that is not the case for a lot of people. For us though, we consider a 6 hour drive to the beach easy, an 8 hour trip to see my grandmother not a big deal and we make a 10 hour jaunt to my family reunion semi-annually. And I do those trips solo most times. With two drivers – *pfft* - they’re cake.

Now, 14 hours is more, yes. But, again, we have two drivers. Besides, I know every mile will be worth my while...

My issue with driving was that my husband and I both drive small vehicles and we have 3 teenagers. There is no way we would be comfortable in either of our vehicles for a 14 hour drive. And driving both would mean that we lose the “we have two drivers” benefit and seriously adds to our fuel costs. So, go ahead, take a wild guess what I researched next.

****Virtual Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars to everyone who guessed rental cars!***

I am very fortunate that both I and my husband work for companies that offer discounts with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. With those discounts we were able to reserve a large SUV for the week for less than $400. W00t!

So, we’ll be packing up the Whack-a-loons on Friday, January 2nd and headed south. We’ll switch off driving as needed and expect that with a 2000 departure time we will arrive at POR at approximately 1400 on Saturday (we’re padding it a bit for coffee, food & bathroom stops plus time to stretch & for driver switches).

Haha! Another bit of planning done!


TTFN!
~K.

Plans change! We're still driving - but we're not renting!

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[GraceMonica]

Ohhh! You're 18 miles closer to Disney than me! Lucky!

 

[Britbrie]

Ohhh I was captain of my color guard in high school and was on the LSU color guard! So, that's awesome your daughter is captain of her team!

Great PTR start, I would go crazy driving for 14 hours but it would definitely be nice to have a vehicle to use in Disney!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[MrsAyres]

Guess what? We got our first Mickey Mail!



I'm so excited! For whatever reason this makes our trip seem so much more real. Our magnet is up on the fridge and the countdown is really on - 150 days!


TTFN!
~K.


Next Entry

 

[MrsAyres]

Ohhh! You're 18 miles closer to Disney than me! Lucky!

Every mile counts!

Ohhh I was captain of my color guard in high school and was on the LSU color guard! So, that's awesome your daughter is captain of her team!

Great PTR start, I would go crazy driving for 14 hours but it would definitely be nice to have a vehicle to use in Disney!! Can't wait to read more!

Guard has totally taken over our lives - and The Girl loves it! It's really been a wonderful experience but wow am I tired by the end of each competition season

The drive is a bit of a haul but we're going to rock it.

 

[MrsAyres]

Writer's note - most of these ADR's have changed - check out "Stick A Fork In Me Mickey... I'm Done" for the update!

Once we decided on our resort the next step was to decide what we were going to do about food. I thought that I would first take a look at which restaurants and eateries appealed to us and then – based on the prices at those locations – get a rough idea about how much dining would cost us out of pocket. I figured this would be a good way to figure out which, if any, of the dining plans would work best for us.

My votes were for The Crystal Palace (Eeyore!) & 1900 Park Fare (I hear the Step Sisters are a hoot).





Grumpy wants to go to Biergarten (dinner). This is actually his only named request so far – for anything. Restaurants, rides, shows, shops, anything. Biergarten.



The Girl voted for Akershus (breakfast), cupcakes & turkey legs.





Boy #1 voted for Cape May (dinner) & Via Napoli.


He's basically trying to eat ALL of this.


He loves the ovens.

Boy #2 requested Beaches & Cream (for ice cream), turkey legs & Tusker House (breakfast).


This will basically be Boy #2 at Beaches & Cream.



Based on these requests we’ve got 3 breakfast spots (Crystal Palace, Akershus & Tusker House), three dinners (1900 Park Fare, Biergarten & Cape May), two dessert requests (cupcakes & ice cream) and two picks that can count as lunch (Via Napoli & turkey legs). All of the breakfast and dinner requests are buffets. Three of them are character meals.

When The Girl saw it all listed that way her first comment was, “That’s a lot of food.”
I didn’t disagree.
But then Boy #1 spoke up.
“Ma, it’s really not. Buffets are better for us ‘cause Grumpy and Boy #2 and I eat a lot. If we went to regular restaurants, especially for those breakfasts and dinners, it would cost us a lot of money to fill up.”
“Yeah,” said Boy #2, “And we’re going to be walking, like, a lot. We’ll be really, really hungry.”
And you know what? They’re right.

So, the question is, what are we looking at money-wise for these meals? Based on the amazing thread that TheRustyScupper has here on the boards the buffets alone would run us $1091.25 + gratuity. Turkey legs would be about $40.00 (The Girl and I would split one and one for each of the guys). A quick perusal of the Via Napoli menu and quick guesses on what everyone would pick put the bill at approximately $120.00. Cupcakes run between $4-$7 each. So this is looking like a little over $1225.00 so far. And we’re still 4 meals short.

Now, based on the 2014 prices the Deluxe Dining Plan is $109.53 per person per day…
$109.53 x 5 people x 4 days = $2190.60
And we’re looking at approximately $1225.00 so far…
$2190.60 – $1225.00 = $965.60
Is it likely that another breakfast, two lunches, a dinner and say, 18 snacks is going to cost us over $965? (Beaches & Cream for ice cream will be OOP no matter what.) Probably not...

I know a lot of people are probably thinking, “Seriously?!?! Why are you picking such expensive meals at such expensive places? I can go and only spend x for a family of x – and we were there for x days!” You know what? You are 100% right. We could do this a lot cheaper. I can think of dozens of ways to scale this back. But guess what? I don’t want to.

I want this trip to be an indulgence. I want my family to experience as many of the restaurants and rides and adventures as they want. This is a major trip for us. It is our first family trip to The World. It’s my boys’ first Disney experience ever. It’s a really big deal. So I’m willing to splurge. It’s not the right choice for everyone but it’s the right choice for us for this trip.

And here’s the other thing: Do I really want to sock back 2k for food and have all of that sitting on a card that can get lost or stolen? Or I could be a total dipstick and carry cash… Nah… Nope. No. Not me. I’d rather pre-pay that bill and not have to worry about it. I’ll carry cash for tips thanks, but past that? I’m good.

So, we pulled the trigger and went big on the dining plan – we’re going Deluxe and it’s going to be delicious.

I’ll update you guys on our ADRs soon!


TTFN!
~K.



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[GraceMonica]

DH and I decided to do deluxe too! I'm totally excited for it! And the reasoning is about the same! Its our first trip together, its our honeymoon, and because I want to! LOL. Plus, I really like food.

 

[MrsAyres]

DH and I decided to do deluxe too! I'm totally excited for it! And the reasoning is about the same! Its our first trip together, its our honeymoon, and because I want to! LOL. Plus, I really like food.

Well, food is delicious!

 

[MrsAyres]

Hi guys!

This isn’t really an update – it’s just a bit of fun that I thought I would share!

Have you created one of the “Show Your Disney Side” pictures yet? I found it while roaming the Disney Website and got quite a giggle out of it. Here’s ours:


If we were stick people... Grumpy, Me, Boy #1, Boy #2 & The Girl (and yes, I'm the shortest).

If you’d like to make one of your Disney Crew go to http://buildyourdisneyside.com/#/



TTFN!
~K.


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