Just over a month in the new house. Other then the big ouch of having to replace the heat pump shortly after buying the place, the house has been coming together rather nicely. No major remodeling was planned before the new year and next year with some careful budgeting I plan to start on updating bathrooms and eventually the kitchen if I can squeeze it in sometime in 2017 (depending on the bathrooms as some are cheaper then others.) But enough about the new house, its time to talk about the important stuff.......Disney!!!
After long discussions, some careful budget reviews Caren and I have worked out what we need to save to make both the Adult trip to Disney and a Kid trip with her Children in 2016!!!!
The Adult trip as some of you have met me and the others is 3 couples. We usually go right after the holidays in January. But after two years in a row of bum weather, we have decided to shift our plan for 2016 (which works in my favor!) and go down the second half of February. We know this is a busier time due to some winter breaks over Presidents day, but since the adult trip is less rides and more about enjoying other parts of Disney World, we think we can deal with it. What I am most excited about even at 40 is that I will get to celebrate my Birthday with the mouse!!! Our reservations are set for Feb 14-27, 2016!! We even upgraded to the Premium loops, mainly because the last two years John and I have had some really tight spots for our 5th wheels.
with the Adult trip decided among the 3 core families. Then came the more difficult trip to plan which is the Kid trip. Due to school schedules we are limited to some of the busiest times of the year. We looked at their Spring break, but that is only a month from the Adult trip and less time to save for both. I even looked into the cost of storing the RV down there for the month, but the cost to leave it there was washed out by the travel home and back that either meant a straight through run or finding pet friendly hotels. By the time the estimates was done it would save 100 bucks and be a bit more hassle then it was worth. In the end Caren felt it was too soon after the adult trip even if the weather is preferred, so we looked at other possible dates. We then looked at the end of June right after school let out. Unfortunately, the week/weekends we preferred to make the trip on overlapped with Fathers Day, which would not fly with the Children's Father and we did not even want to bring it up. If we left the following weekend it meant staying through July 2nd and a very busy time for June. We ended up picking Mid August, August 13-20th in a Premium site to be exact, Caren did not want to spot me into a Preferred site. She is getting good at spotting me, but after seeing the last time at a Preferred she did not feel confident yet she could spot me that well. That could change by next year, but the premium sites will be better for us anyway. Going in August should be less crowded (we hope) and more time to save for the trip. We looking at the historical almanac for end of June and August was not much difference in it being hot. With any luck the lower cost stay and value season crowds will offset all of that.
Caren and I are both excited to have TWO reservations to Disney for the same year!!! Even she was amazed that for the cost of one hotel based trip for 4 people it was only 25% more to make TWO trips with FW!!! I expect our Adult trip will be the same as always, loosely planned with us arriving late at the parks just to mill around and take it all in. I expect us to do more resort exploring and of course tasting what the resort bars have to offer.
It is what we do best it seems, but I hope to get on a few of my favorite rides through the stay.
The kid trip I am leaving all the planning up to Caren. She is well versed and has her touring plans. I expect to only give input on what attractions I enjoy the most and leave the park planning to her. She has already told me I am in change with the travel planning (how long between stops and where to stop for the night.) I just reminded her to leave time for me to either break away mid day or have some downtime to go take care of the pups.
Because of the two trips we are both going to buy annual passes and take advantage of tables in wonderland! It just makes sense and if we luck out and plan the 2017 Adult trip before they expire we could even get 3 trips on them!! For the kids just 6 day hoppers will be the ticket of choice which means park access on all days we are there minus arrival and departure days. It is interesting to see how well her kids responded to the need to cut back a little to put more away for the trip. Though her son is not as happy with the talk of eating out less, we think we can keep his eye on the prize. Her daughter was trying to think up every way possible to trim the household budget AND earn extra spending money for both of them. It was great to see them want to contribute at 10 and 12, but really the idea was to get them on board with some budget trimming to make it all possible.
Of course this means I have to keep reading about all the other trip reports before I can post my own. But as a consolation Caren and I are joining some friends for a camping trip over July 4th weekend up in PA. Just a couple days to get away from it all and relax with good friends, good fun and a few adult beverages.
Seriously excited, but now its back to work and finish the final planning for departure next week!
After long discussions, some careful budget reviews Caren and I have worked out what we need to save to make both the Adult trip to Disney and a Kid trip with her Children in 2016!!!!
The Adult trip as some of you have met me and the others is 3 couples. We usually go right after the holidays in January. But after two years in a row of bum weather, we have decided to shift our plan for 2016 (which works in my favor!) and go down the second half of February. We know this is a busier time due to some winter breaks over Presidents day, but since the adult trip is less rides and more about enjoying other parts of Disney World, we think we can deal with it. What I am most excited about even at 40 is that I will get to celebrate my Birthday with the mouse!!! Our reservations are set for Feb 14-27, 2016!! We even upgraded to the Premium loops, mainly because the last two years John and I have had some really tight spots for our 5th wheels.
with the Adult trip decided among the 3 core families. Then came the more difficult trip to plan which is the Kid trip. Due to school schedules we are limited to some of the busiest times of the year. We looked at their Spring break, but that is only a month from the Adult trip and less time to save for both. I even looked into the cost of storing the RV down there for the month, but the cost to leave it there was washed out by the travel home and back that either meant a straight through run or finding pet friendly hotels. By the time the estimates was done it would save 100 bucks and be a bit more hassle then it was worth. In the end Caren felt it was too soon after the adult trip even if the weather is preferred, so we looked at other possible dates. We then looked at the end of June right after school let out. Unfortunately, the week/weekends we preferred to make the trip on overlapped with Fathers Day, which would not fly with the Children's Father and we did not even want to bring it up. If we left the following weekend it meant staying through July 2nd and a very busy time for June. We ended up picking Mid August, August 13-20th in a Premium site to be exact, Caren did not want to spot me into a Preferred site. She is getting good at spotting me, but after seeing the last time at a Preferred she did not feel confident yet she could spot me that well. That could change by next year, but the premium sites will be better for us anyway. Going in August should be less crowded (we hope) and more time to save for the trip. We looking at the historical almanac for end of June and August was not much difference in it being hot. With any luck the lower cost stay and value season crowds will offset all of that.
Caren and I are both excited to have TWO reservations to Disney for the same year!!! Even she was amazed that for the cost of one hotel based trip for 4 people it was only 25% more to make TWO trips with FW!!! I expect our Adult trip will be the same as always, loosely planned with us arriving late at the parks just to mill around and take it all in. I expect us to do more resort exploring and of course tasting what the resort bars have to offer.
It is what we do best it seems, but I hope to get on a few of my favorite rides through the stay.The kid trip I am leaving all the planning up to Caren. She is well versed and has her touring plans. I expect to only give input on what attractions I enjoy the most and leave the park planning to her. She has already told me I am in change with the travel planning (how long between stops and where to stop for the night.) I just reminded her to leave time for me to either break away mid day or have some downtime to go take care of the pups.
Because of the two trips we are both going to buy annual passes and take advantage of tables in wonderland! It just makes sense and if we luck out and plan the 2017 Adult trip before they expire we could even get 3 trips on them!! For the kids just 6 day hoppers will be the ticket of choice which means park access on all days we are there minus arrival and departure days. It is interesting to see how well her kids responded to the need to cut back a little to put more away for the trip. Though her son is not as happy with the talk of eating out less, we think we can keep his eye on the prize. Her daughter was trying to think up every way possible to trim the household budget AND earn extra spending money for both of them. It was great to see them want to contribute at 10 and 12, but really the idea was to get them on board with some budget trimming to make it all possible.
Of course this means I have to keep reading about all the other trip reports before I can post my own. But as a consolation Caren and I are joining some friends for a camping trip over July 4th weekend up in PA. Just a couple days to get away from it all and relax with good friends, good fun and a few adult beverages.
Seriously excited, but now its back to work and finish the final planning for departure next week!
