Family Vacation: We Must Be Crazy - A November PTR **11/06 - Conclusion!**

[MarieLightning]

Family Vacation: We Must Be Crazy!

That's right! We're at it again!

Going back to the World, and this time, we're bringing a pack!



For those of you who do not know me, here's a brief introduction.

My name is Marie, I'm 25 years old (though I'll be 26 in less than a month) and I live in Quebec, Canada. I work as a cruise reservation agent for a Canadian travel wholesaler, which has enabled me to travel places I would not have otherwise been able to - including Disney World four times now since November 2012!

My wife Amber may also be popping in from time to time! She's also present on the Dis, under the username amberg93, and has one trip report of her own, and two which we are co-writing! She just turned 22 this past February, and she is a cancer survivor of Non Hodgkins lymphoma, in remission for almost a year now. She recently applied to college with the hope of training to be a nurse.

If you want to read up our past trip reports, or catch up on our current ones, here are the links!

"Fine! We can go to Disney, but I'm not happy about it!"
"It's So Much Fun Not Knowin Where You're Goin"
"I bet they get Charmin"
"A for effort, C for execution"

This November 2015 trip will be the fifth for myself and my wife, but only third/second for some, and first for the rest!

Of course, there is still many months before this trip can happen - a little less than nine. That does mean many, many things may change along the way.

But I've been wanting to start this pre Trip Report for a while now, and I was just waiting for the right timing to do so. And since this week, we booked our flights, I decided that was the perfect opportunity to get this show on the road!

I'll be updating this with various information, some tentative planning but also more firmed up as we get closer to the date (like FP+ reservations and maybe one or two ADRs!)

I may also be using this PTR to give other random updates.

But let's get to the core of this trip! I give to you, the five Ws!

What? An insanity inducing family vacation to the World!
When? 8th through 15th of November, 2015
Where? All-Star Sports
Why? A bit of guilt tripping, but mostly because we love our family and want to show them our favorite place!
Who? Well, I can't give you everything at once, now can I? (Or actually, there's just a lot of people, so they get their own post!)

Amber and I will actually be flying out from Montreal to Orlando on the evening of the 6th of November. We'll be spending that night, and the night of the 7th, at Pop Century!

Everybody else will be driving down to arrive on the evening of the 7th, stay offsite for the night, and then join us bright and early the next morning to make the most of our first park day!

We're hoping to get free dining (actually, this trip largely depends on us getting free dining, so May can't come along fast enough right now!) and we'll be getting 6 days park tickets, with a mid trip non park day break planned.

So buckle up everyone, cause this one's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Up next, I reveal the Who!

Click for next post​

 

[MarieLightning]

Links

Introductions
Our Expectations

Mini La Romana TR Part 1
Mini La Romana TR Part 2
Mini La Romana TR Part 3

We're Booked!
180 Days = Dining
Slowly But Surely!

Mini Cruise TR Part 1
Mini Cruise TR Part 2
Mini Cruise TR Part 3
Mini Cruise TR Part 4

Changes Along The Way
Gonna Have A Merry Time!
So We're Waiting...
Double Digits Day Has Come!
Mousekeeping Designs In Progress!
More Park Time? More Food? Why Not!
More Mousekeeping!
Mousekeeping = Completed!
Finally Good With Dining!
Trip Essentials - New Purchases!

Big Changes Coming!

Let's Do A Game Plan!
FastPasses: Phase 1 Completed!
FastPasses: Phase 2 Completed!

Disney Movie Countdown - Part 1
Who's Hungry?!
Making A Schedule: Day 1 & 2!
Disney Movie Countdown - Part 2
Making A Schedule: Day 3!
Disney Movie Countdown - Part 3
Making A Schedule: Day 4!

Packing Our Lives Away
A Little Bit Of Pixie Dust
Getting Back In The Game!

Making A Schedule: Day 5, 6 and 7!
Disney Movie Countdown - Part 4
Making A Schedule: Day 8!
Trip Essentials: Pins!
Making A Schedule: Day 9!
Trip Essentials: Bows!
Disney Movie Countdown - Part 5
Making A Schedule: Day 10!
Disney Movie Countdown - Part 6

Conclusion

TR Link!
​

 

[princessbelle2015]

Joining in. Looking forward to reading more. Hope you are able to get free dinning.

 

[MarieLightning]

Joining in. Looking forward to reading more. Hope you are able to get free dinning.

Thanks for joining in! Hope you'll enjoy the ride

Basing ourselves on the dates from the last three years, we should be right around the starting dates for November, so fingers are definitely crossed extra tight!

 

[MarieLightning]

So, who is everyone going?

I present to you... the in-laws!

As you can probably tell - not everyone is making it.

I'm the one in the bottom left corner. Hi!

To my left is my lovely wife

Her family is whom we are bringing to Disney this coming November. Partly because we want to, partly because, well, stuff happens. When Amber was in the hospital, there was a time with a bit of drama, and the fact that we've brought other people on vacation but not them was brought up (which, we have brought out best friends to Disney this past May, so this was really what was being referred to).

It was a pretty stressful and emotional time, and I felt drained and bad about the situation we were currently in, so I said that we could take them to Disney as well.

Ultimately, not the decision to make under such circumstances.

At the end of the day though, we do love traveling to the World and introducing it to people who haven't seen it, and I just couldn't go back on offering something like that, so now here we are, planning a potential disaster - but I am gonna be optimistic about it!

So, originally, that offer was extended to six people.

The first being Amber's mother, Sandi (sitting to my right). She's been to Disney once in her life before, back in the nineties, so obviously it was quite different then. It was a short trip for her graduation in 1991, with her mom and her brother. It was obviously before Animal Kingdom had made its appearance, but they did hit the other three parks. They stayed off site, and went during the summer (around August). She loves Cars (big fan of racing), and her favorite character is Tigger.

We also extended the invitation over to Amber's Grandma, Gerri (to Sandi's right). This will be her third visit to the world - the first with her daughter in 1991, and the second with a church friend and her son in 2006. The second trip consisted of only visits to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, but they did stay on property at the All-Star Movies. She loves Lilo & Stitch, and her favorite characters are Stitch and Goofy.

Next to be invited was Kameron, Amber's brother, standing behind me in the grayish purple shirt. He's 18, but he will be turning 19 while we're there (birthday button ftw! Amber is extremely jealous as she really wants to be at Disney World on her birthday someday). He's never been to Disney World before, and is very excited at the idea of experiencing it for the first time. We're not sure what his favorite movie is, but he does love Pluto!

That is three of the original six invited who will be joining us. The other three ultimately had to decline the invitation, or circumstances made it so that they will not join us. Jasmine, who is Amber's sister, her husband Josh, and Kameron's ex-fiance (you can probably guess the reason he's not coming along from that) Curtis. Jasmine and Josh declined the invitation as, although we said we would pay for the family's hotel stay and park tickets, partners were welcome to join but had to pay their own way. They established they could not afford to pay for Josh to come, and if Josh couldn't go, Jasmine couldn't be without him for a whole week. I'm abstaining from comments.

Curtis was originally going to be coming along, and was more than willing to pay his share, but unfortunately, he and Kameron recently broke things off. They're still on good terms, but there's already potential for drama with this trip and it would be unwise to make it at a higher risk.

So that was how it all started out! As time went on, though, we started toying with the idea of extending the invitation further. See, I won't start getting into the whole story here, but there wasn't always a ton of acceptance at my joining the family's as Amber's wife (not personal, just the whole same-sex thing). Her Aunt Sarah and Uncle Butch, however, were always entirely and completely supportive. Things are better on all aspects now, but at the time when Amber was sick and I was staying with her family in Michigan, their presence (though not frequent as they lived about an hour away) was always a bit of a lifesaver.

We decided that, if we were gonna be taking her family to Disney World, then we should definitely ask for them to come along with us. Besides, it would be nice for Grandma to experience her youngest's grandkids' first trip!

We left it up to them to join us, as at that time, we couldn't quite offer to pay everything in full. We offered to pay for the hotel, as well as the kids' park tickets. They decided to jump right in, so now they are also included in this trip!

Uncle Butch is standing in the back, with the white button down! He is Amber's Uncle, Sandi's brother, and so he went along with him and Grandma to Disney World in 1991, so this will be his second time there. He did, however also make it over Disneyland way in the early 2000s, when he was living on the west coast! He's very much been Amber's father figure growing up, and we're very excited to have him along. His favorite character is Donald.

He and Aunt Sarah got married in 2004, and she's obviously joining us as well! She's standing to Uncle Butch's right, with that tired fussy toddler in her arms She had a trip of her own to Disney World in 1994 for her graduation, but this will be her second trip ever. She enjoys princess movies, though Pixar as well, and her favorite character is Roo.

Their children are our final guests!

Boston is their oldest son. He's standing behind Sandi, in the blue shirt. He just turned 9 in February, and he's a bit more of a quiet child at times, but he was very excited about hearing that he was going to Disney World! He loves Cars, Toy Story and Disney Jr shows such as Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Sofia the First, and also Phineas and Ferb.

Ramsey is next in line, standing next to his brother in the red striped shirt! He'll be turning 8 this summer, and he's definitely more of an outgoing child. He's looking forward to this trip as well, and both boys were very excited when Grandma showed them the resort we would be staying at! Like his brother, he likes Cars and Toy Story a lot, watches the Disney Jr shows with him, and he's also a superhero fan!

Finally, we've got little Elsye!

She gets a picture of her own, seeing as she wasn't all up for family picture time! She'll be turning 3 the day just before we go (which was a bit of a bummer in terms of park tickets, but if free dining falls on the dates we've guestimated, not having to pay for food trumps having to pay for an extra ticket). She used to be very, very attached to mama, but she's grown more used to getting away to spend weekends at Grandma's house. She likes Merida, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen a lot!

We left it up to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Butch, if they wanted to leave it as a surprise for the boys as we got closer to the date, but ultimately, they decided to tell them when we were down for Christmas!

We had gotten them each a Marvel t-shirt as a present, so when they opened those up, we asked them where they thought would be a good place to wear them. Boston had zero hesitation when he answered Disney World!

So we then informed them that, in November, they would actually get to do so!

Clearly, there's a bit more excitement on one side than the other, but we were just glad it made them happy!


So that's the clan! We're mentally prepared for it, better than we were for bringing out best friends, and in a situation like this one, with so many age ranges, there will not be a choice but to split up now and again.

At the end of the day, I have no doubt that we'll come back with more good than bad memories, so that's what matters!​

 

[tinkerjlee]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

 

[MarieLightning]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

Glad you're joining in! Hopefully we'll get some more plans rolling in before too long!

Free Dining promotions typically come out early May so I'm impatiently waiting for that!

 

[MarieLightning]

Our Expectations

I'm sure a lot of people who will glimpse upon this PTR will wonder to themselves, what has brought you to the conclusion that doing this trip is a good idea? Who would take a situation where they've practically been guilt tripped into going on a family vacation, and try to turn it around into something they think will go well? Don't they know they're setting themselves up for disaster?

Disney World has a special meaning to so, so many people - obviously, or these boards wouldn't exist, we wouldn't spend so much time preparing and then reporting our trips, and there wouldn't be anyone to read any of what we write. We wouldn't keep going back if it wasn't special.

One of the things that brings me a lot of happiness is sharing that special meaning that Disney has for us with other people. That's why we've invited Aunt Sarah, Uncle Butch and the kids to join along. That's why we took our best friends. That's why we're hoping to go with my own family someday, too. I'm the kind of person who needs to share the things I love with the people I love. Sometimes it's not a good thing, because I have too many expectations of what their appreciation will be, and it's almost a personal slight when they don't love it the way I do. But sometimes, it turns out to be something pretty incredible, too.

The meaning Disney has for us has changed over the years, too. It's always been magical, but it's also just a place to be happy. We go back because we need that time to feel the happiness stepping foot on Main Street USA bring us. We go back because we need to lean into each other while we soak in the message IllumiNations has, or the magic Wishes makes us feel.

Each trip we've taken has been so very different in essentials, and each has brought along a different lesson.

Our first trip taught us that no matter how much planning you think you've done, things will find a way of happening however they want to.

Our second trip taught us that Disney doesn't fix everything. It will bring comfort and happiness in times when you need it, but it won't solve all your problems. It'll just make you stronger to face them.

Our third trip taught us that you can't force people to love something the way you do, or do things the way you want them done. It taught us that traveling with many people, no matter how much you love them and how close to them you are, will never be a piece of cake, but that you can still make amazing memories if you can accept that you'll have different views.

Our fourth trip taught us that there is no such thing as a perfect Disney trip, especially not is you expect it to be just that. There are amazing and awesome trips, but you can never entirely avoid bumps in the road, even if it's just two people who've experienced and loved Disney together many times.

I don't expect this upcoming trip to be perfect. I don't expect that everyone will necessarily go home feeling the same kind of love we feel for Disney World, that they'll have that desire to go back again and again because there's a sense of lacking if they don't. I don't expect that we will be able to make everything go according to plan, or that our sometimes rocky family dynamics will disappear and fix themselves because we are at Disney World.

I'm expecting a bit of drama here and there. I'm expecting many plan changes, because we will be traveling with newcomers, with young children, with people who can't necessarily spend as much time walking around or don't necessarily have as much energy to spend from open to close at each park.

But I am pretty hopeful still that we'll make great memories, that everyone will ultimately be happy of the time we've spent together in a magical place. I'm especially hopeful that we'll be able to keep all the lessons we've learned in mind, so that we can take each bump in the road in stride with a clear head, and get past it without too much fuss.

Ultimately, I know we're getting ourselves in a potential mess.

But I like to think I'm optimistic at heart!

At the end of the day, this will be a once in a lifetime kind of vacation for all of us, and so long as everyone goes home with predominantly happy memories in mind, I'll consider this trip a success.

Like Amber said to me the other day: I don't think I'll ever look back on my life and wish I had gone to Disney less.​

 

[marabusybee]

Joining in! I've loved all your previous trip reports. I'm excited for this one.

 

[MarieLightning]

Joining in! I've loved all your previous trip reports. I'm excited for this one.

Thanks for joining! I hope you'll enjoy living through the planning with us

 

[MarieLightning]

These next few posts will not be related to Disney, so feel free to skip! There is a planning update coming up after this brief interlude though, so no worries, we'll be back to your regularly scheduled Disney stuff before too long!

As this trip is quite a while away still, and as such there will be several happenings between now and then, I had mentioned the possibility of non Disney related updates in the mean time. And seeing as Amber and I returned from the Dominican Republic a couple of weeks back, I figured now was as good a time as ever!

It started out pretty stressfully, too. At work, we get a yearly perk of a free vacation every year. Those vacation are greatly based on availability, and only counts for a limited amount of destinations (wish it was Disney, right?). We can request it three weeks out, on the Friday prior to the weekend we'd be taking off.

However, when we want to request time off on leave of absence or over time, so anything additional to our paid vacation weeks, we can do it three weeks in advance - but from the exact date.

Meaning, I took a chance and booked it on the Friday, and then had to wait until Monday to confirm I got the time off.

Obviously, and thankfully so, I did, so with a countdown of less than three weeks to go, we were so ready to go soak up the sun!

Our destination of choice was the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana, from April 4th to 11th.

We had to fly into Punta Cana, as Air Canada flights into La Romana are seasonal and not operating in April, which meant a transfer of roughly one hour and a half. It's no worse than what we did in Cancun though, so that didn't phase us too much.

I also decided to try and treat us some by upgrading our flights to business class! To do so, we had to connect through Ottawa, and overnight there on the return. I didn't mind too much though, and Amber agreed to it. After all, it'd been a while since this kind of relaxing vacation, and to boot it was during my birthday week, so I wanted a nice time. Spoiler alert - it didn't go exactly as planned.

I had the 3rd of April off for Good Friday, but we got most everything packed up on the Thursday. I may be weird, but I love packing, so I was looking forward to that. Amber doesn't like it quite as much, which is why we only did it then and not much sooner. Friday was used up for last minute things, and as our Saturday morning flight was very early, my Dad drove us up to the airport to spend the night.

Which we did in the airport hotel. Aka, the hotel that's in the airport.

Much fancy!

Amber is basking in the fanciness.

After getting settled, we walked over from the lobby of the hotel to the other section of the airport so we could get ourselves some dinner, seeing as the only restaurant at the hotel directly was pretty pricy (as one would expect).

Along the way, we passed these guys.

Because obviously, at Easter time, it's totally normal for a couple of bunnies to walk around the airport and hand out chocolate eggs. We got some though so I'm not complaining.

After a quick dinner, we headed back toward the hotel, and decided to take a few pictures in the lobby, because obviously it was very fancy as well.

We headed up to the eighth floor so we could have a look at the pool, and upon finding that they also happened to have a laundry room with free access to a dryer, we decided to go for a swim! (I didn't want to pack up our bathing suits wet).

The pool was pretty small, but still quite nice. We also spent a bit of time in the hottub, and then chilled on the comfy chairs they have laying around in the area. After a little while, we headed back down to our room to get our swimsuits off so I could go toss them in a dryer while Amber showered. Once she was done with that, she went to retrieve them, we packed them away and got ready for bed, as we had an early wake up call!

Once we woke up the next morning, it was to this.

Boy had we chosen the right time for traveling!

We gathered our things, headed to our gate and got checked in in a matter of minutes. It was a little less pleasant once it got to the point of boarding our plane though. It was departing from an area we'd never been to - one where you have to go outside and walk up to the plane. We've done that in Toronto, but it was a first in Montreal. And not expecting it, Amber was in flip flops, and I was in a sleeveless shirt, ready for the sunny vacation ahead of us.

To top it off, we ended up getting delayed over an hour because of how many planes had to go through the de-icing process and how far down on the list we were. Amber was a little less pleased with my for picking to take a connection so we could do business class.

Ultimately, we did leave though, and made it to Ottawa with still plenty of time to spare. We headed up to the Maple Leaf lounge to look around and see what food offerings they had, but they didn't have anything that would constitute a full lunch, so we got out and had lunch at one of the nearby restaurants instead. We did head back in afterward to chill while waiting for our plane to board.

The flight itself went by pretty fast and well. We both watched Mockingjay Part 1 because we hadn't seen it in theaters, and then Amber watched Enchanted and I watched Frozen.

There was a meal service during the plane, which Amber and I had to rock/paper/scissor for because we both wanter the beef and by the time the flight attendant got to us, there was only one left (we were in the third and last row of the business cabin). Amber won, but let me have it because she's a better person than I am, and so I gave her a third of it. She had the chicken instead.

We landed in Punta Cana and got through customs without any issues. We then headed to claim our bag.

Luggage in hand, we met up with our rep and he directed us to our transfer. Turns out, we were the only ones taking it, so we were alone with the driver in a 12 passengers van. Private transfer ftw!

The drive went by smoothly, and we were checked in a little before 10 pm.

Here is our room.

It wasn't too far from the lobby, and pretty close to the pool, so we were happy with the location. Plus, it was ground floor, which is always a win.

From this point on, most everything is gonna be pretty straightforward with pictures because, well,, this isn't a Disney vacation after all, so there's really not quite as much to relate.

Inside the lobby

There's lines even in the Dominican!

This was all the people waiting to make their a la carte restaurant reservations on Sunday morning at 9. We could make three reservations, and there were three restaurants on property - Italian, French and Seafood.

Pooling it up.

Maids all over the world love to position our bears (and health care companions) correctly on the bed.

Amber's reading material.

She read seven books while we were there. I read five.

Continued in next post​

 

[MarieLightning]

This kitty showed up quite a few times in the lobby while we were there.

We didn't approach him, but other people had no issues doing so. They also had no issues trying to feed him food.

Beach time!

Sort of.

We literally walked up there, took some pictures, and headed back.

Neither of us are really beach people. I enjoy being in the sea when it's got good waves and makes me feel like I'm in wave pool. But past that, I don't like the feel of the sticky sea salt and sand on my skin afterward, so I'll take chlorine and chemicals over it any day.

Clever way to avoid shoulders burning.

Now, it's time for a brief interlude with story time!

Here's the situation: On my birthday morning, Amber and I woke up to a really bad smell in the room. She headed over to the bathroom, and wouldn't you know it, there was sewage all over the floor. It was pretty foul.

So we called guest services, mentioned it to them, and they asked if we wanted them to send someone. Erm, yes?

They did, and once the guy got there he tried to flush the toilet, and since nothing seemingly happened (or you know, leaking water in an already existent puddle of water isn't obvious to the eye first things first), he started mopping up the floor. We left for breakfast, hoping we'd come back and the issue would be fixed.

When we came back, the room was still stinky, and upon trying to use the toilet, it started leaking again.

This time, we went up to the front desk. The guy told us to come back at 12, because at this time they were at full capacity but to come back at 9:30, as the manager would be around. We chilled in the lobby while waiting, and when the time came around, Amber went to speak with the manager, who said she'd get us a new room but we would have to wait until check in time at 3 to make sure the room would be ready for us.

We got our things packed up and went about our business for the rest of the morning. We also had a spa treatment that afternoon, since we decided not to do an excursion, which was pretty nice. After the spa, we were able to check in and head to our new room. That's when we encountered the monster.

The monster was a humongous black bug hiding away in the closet. We sprayed at it with bug spray. It disappeared. We then took all the stuff out of the closet that we'd put in there, closed the doors, sprayed around the edges and abandonned it to the monster. We did not use the closet again.

Well, the next night, we get settled in bed, and when I look over at the patio curtain, what I'm assuming had to be its associate was hanging right off of it.

It took bug spray, sunscreen spray, a shoe and a glass to end up there. It was a very eventful night. Also, both Amber and I are seriously lacking skills to deal with these bugs. This is the one downside to our marriage.

The next day, when we came back after the maid came around, we were bugless and glassless. Our thinking is she scooped it all up in her dust pan and threw it all away. That seems like a wise decision.

Or maybe it's all the bug spray we sprayed around the glass to create a safety barrier.

Anyway.

From that point on, we were not attacked by bugs anymore.

On the last day, we had our last a la carte restaurant reservation. Originally it was for the seafood restaurant, because we figured we could get the surf and turf without the surf - neither of us likes fish or seafood. However, the French restaurant (which we'd gone to previously) is right next door to the seafood one, and you could smell it all even from outside. We were unsure of how we would handle it whilst in the middle of it.

We were thinking of skipping it when we were presented with an opportunity. See, the Grand Bahia Principe in La Romana has two sections - La Romana, obvs, and the Bougainville, which is the Luxury 18+ section. They can come to our side. We technically can't go to theirs. That includes all things food.

However, this lady we'd spoken to our first day, and to whom we'd mentioned trying and loving the Japanese restaurant the year prior at the Grand Bahia in Cancun but which was only available to the fancy people on this property, spotted us on our way back from the pool on our last and called us over to let us know that she'd chatted with another person the day before who'd been able to just walk up to the restaurant and be let in without a reservation! She was also someone from the same resort as us, not the fancy side.

We decided, what the heck, let's give it a try!

And we made it in!

At first, the hostess wasn't too sure. She said we needed a reservation. But when we mentioned that we'd spoken to someone who had gotten in without one, she called her manager and he said it was okay. I mean, the restaurant was more than half empty, so that probably worked in our favor.

It wasn't a teppanyaki like in Cancun, unfortunately, but it was still great food - the best of the trip, really.

Continued in next post​

 

[MarieLightning]

Our last day was pretty uneventful. Amber got up earlier than me and decided to go have a walk on the beach while I slept in.

She actually went off hotel property. What a rebel!

Condos in the distance. Probably time share.

We had breakfast, and then stayed in the room until pretty much check out time watching the Cartoon Network. We'd run out of sunscreen the day before, so obviously that ruled out any outside option.

Once check out time came around, we headed back to the lobby and spend some time using up the free hour of wifi. We had lunch, played some cards and just chilled while waiting for our transfer.

This was the first strawberry daiquiri of the trip that was properly slushy. All the other ones were pretty liquid, which was very sad to me. Also, word of advice - for anyone that says All Inclusives skimp on the alcohol, go to this hotel. They try to get you drunk with one drink, no kidding.

The transfer time finally came around, and again it was just the two of us. It went by as smoothly as the first one, and we were at the airport before too long. We got checked in, went through security and customs again, and then headed to the food court to sit around and wait since the seats by the gate were almost all taken.

There was a kitty who showed up at the airport as well, causing a lot of interest from people.

When it was time to board, we had to take a bus to take us two gates down to the plane. It wasn't the best thought out way ever, all things considered, but I get it was for safety purposes.

The flight back was a bit more bumpy. We both watched Into The Woods, but Amber fell asleep on it. I did watch another movie, though now I can't remember which, and finished up the plane ride by watching some Modern Family episodes while Amber slept.

We landed in Ottawa a bit past one in the morning and breezed through customs. We got our bag and then got into a cab to our hotel for the night.

The ride was short, but when we got there the front door to the lobby was locked and there was no one behind the desk, so that was briefly worrisome. Thankfully, we'd just spotted a girl in the bar area, so we knocked on the door and she came to unlock it. The desk cleck soon returned and got us checked in, and we headed to our room to get settled.

It was pretty comfy, though those beds were smaller than regular, not much bigger than twin sized. We ended up sleeping in our own beds.

The next morning we had a shuttle reserved for 10:30, but I ended up waking up early enough to get some breakfast. When then headed out to make our way back to the airport.

We were actually able to get back into the Maple Leaf lounge, although the flight from Ottawa to Montreal was not in business class, but since there is no business class on that tiny plane and we had been in business class from Punta Cana to Ottawa, we got in and settled for a bit of food and chilling.

The flight home to Montreal went by quickly, and our bag was literally one of two to come out when we got to luggage claim, probably because a lot of people were connecting (I actually made a guess that one family on the plane was connecting through Montreal to head to Disney, but there is no proof other than small clues here and there).

My parents came to pick us up, and with that, our vacation week was over!


Next up, actual Disney pre-trip updates!​

 

[MarieLightning]

We're booked!

This weekend, I saw an article stating that there were rumors about the Free Dining promotion being released some time this week, so I was definitely putting myself in a mindset to get ready to go as soon as it went up!

I did not expect, however, for it to be announced already when I got up on Monday morning!



This was actually the first time I had to deal with the stress of getting our rooms booked up. When we got Free Dining in November, it was sheer luck. I was completely unaware there was such a thing as that promotion, and we were doubly lucky to get it for the French Quarter, as it hasn't been offered there since.

In October, it was a similar situation. Booking that trip was a completely last minute decision, and we still somehow managed to score it.

For May it wasn't gonna be applicable anyhow, and in September we had our Annual passes so again, no Free Dining possible.

This time, we very seriously depended on it. I hate to admit it, and I wouldn't have until the last minute possible, but if it hadn't happened, we would have had to give in and stay off property.

Thankfully, the first thing I saw upon noticing the promotion was that our dates fell right in the window for the November dates offered - starting on November 8th, checking out on the 15th.

The second thing I noticed, however, was how the terms have changed. We had not planned to add a park hopper or waterparks fun & more to our tickets, so that did turn out to be an unexpected expense that was a bit more aggravating, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I spent the greater part of the morning online. I was working, so I couldn't call - not to mention, silly Disney has no toll free number and I couldn't exactly rake up the long distance charges. Of course, the website wasn't working too great. With how much money this company is worth, you'd think they'd invest some of it in a better server, but I digress.

By 10:50, I had managed to secure the first room. Success!

Then it was another round of trying to get availability, being booted back to the resort page, having to click on the right resort three times before it takes me to that resort's page, and then being booted back yet again. Another two hours or so, and finally, we had a second room blocked!

Double success!

The third room was a bit more breezy. The third one was Amber and mine's, which I booked through my Travel Agent account. By that point, they only had allotment for preferred rooms, so we decided to sacrifice ourselves.

Triple win!

In our case, we bypassed the Dining Plan as the discount we got from my benefits was a better worth, especially seeing as we do have some non expiring tickets to use up.

All-Star Sports, here we come!

In 194 days ​

 

[princessbelle2015]

I am so happy thtat you were able to get free dining.

 

[marabusybee]

Glad you got the discount. If I head to Orlando this fall it will be early October when there is no discount. So I just enjoyed the madness from afar.

 

[MarieLightning]

I am so happy thtat you were able to get free dining.

Glad you got the discount. If I head to Orlando this fall it will be early October when there is no discount. So I just enjoyed the madness from afar.

Thank you both! It was definitely a relief, because we could *not* have afforded this trip otherwise. I mean, the additional cost of adding on waterparks fun and more was a bit of a pickle, but it's still cheaper than paying for food.

 

[Glittercat]

All caught up and excited to see your family trip progress! Major congrats on the discount and free dining!

 

[BLAZEY]

Love your pre trip report thus far. We will be there the same time you are Nov7-15. We are there for 7 days at AoA in a Little Mermaid room. Coming from the west coast of Canada it takes us a little longer to get there so our Park days are Nov 8-14. It will be our first time at WDW.

 

[MarieLightning]

All caught up and excited to see your family trip progress! Major congrats on the discount and free dining!

Thanks, I'm glad to have you joining in! It was definitely a relief to see the Free Dining go out, and that I was up early enough to catch it before it was all gone! Though, I'm thinking November probably wasn't the craziest in terms of selling out. There's maybe still some availability even, but I'm still glad we got it when we did.

Love your pre trip report thus far. We will be there the same time you are Nov7-15. We are there for 7 days at AoA in a Little Mermaid room. Coming from the west coast of Canada it takes us a little longer to get there so our Park days are Nov 8-14. It will be our first time at WDW.

Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Ooooh that's neat, I love finding out when people are going at the same time as us! And definitely jealous about AoA! We can't wait to stay there someday, but Amber wants to stay in a Cars family suite when we do go so it probably won't be for a little bit longer.

I think it's always nice to get in the day before your trip starts though, even if it's due to longer traveling times. That way you can hopefully get a good night of rest, get your bearings and settle down a little, and then the next day you're refreshed for your first park day! Honestly, I don't know that I'll ever be able to not arrive the day prior anymore. Our first trip we got there our first park day so we didn't get to the parks until 3 - 4 in the afternoon. Being able to do your first park day from opening time is the best!

I'm also very curious about what the crowds will be for that week. We've been in November before, but it was the week before Thanksgiving. It was pretty nice crowds, too, but crowd levels have been changing so much now that people know what time of year is supposed to be 'quieter' that those times aren't quite so quiet anymore. Fingers crossed, though!