11 for Thanksgiving 2008 PTR

[DISNEY1975]

Hello!

I have finally decided its time for my pre trip. I have had my trip, rough draft, planned since last December. I can not believe my trip is only 2 weeks away!

We are a family of 11. If you cant relate to any of us, you must be normal!

We are one family, conquering Disney in 2 completely different ways. Hopefully when I get to my trip report, I can give some good information on..

Reservations vs. "winging it"
Vegetarian Meals
Disney Transportation vs. car rental
Deluxe Dining, is it worth it?
Grand Floridian vs the lower priced Contemporary
and more!

We are....

Me - Mom, trip planner/obsessor for 2 families. I planned this trip last Dec. and have been talking about it to friends /co-workers on average 4 - 5 days per week ever since. Im SURE they cant wait for it all to be over!

Hubby - Stayed as far away from the planning as possible. His involvement was when I asked if he wanted this years vacation to be at Disney. His answer was "I dont care, whatever you want". He then became uninvolved.

DS -17. The vacationer. Life is a vacation for this kid. He is much like hubby. Nothing really excites him..go with the flow, laid back attitude. I am spending more $$ on this trip than previous as this will be his last family vacation before college ( sniff sniff). Our vacation budget will be poured into college tuition beginning next year, so I wanted to really do it up this year.

DS -14 (going on 25). If you read description of DS 17, think the exact opposite for DS 14. On the go, go, go 24/7. Mouth and feet dont stop moving all day.

DD -4. This is DDs first trip to Disney. Being the youngest (very youngest..can you say Ooopss!!) and the only girl, she is quite the princess. She is a mixture of the 2 boys. She is also on the go, but very cautious about what she will do. It will be interesting to see how she handles Disney.

So thats my family. The other 6 are...

My mother (Nan) - aka, the queen. She would probably rather go on a vacation elsewhere, such as France, Italy etc...but having the whole family together makes up for, in her opinion, lack of destination. She has been a bit lonely since my father passed away in 2001. My sister and I try to include her in our vacations. She is a huge help watching the grandkids so the adults can have a "night out". She is a bit on the picky side. She "says" anything is fine for her, but you know she is thinking "OMG, what is this?"

Sister - She also loves Disney, but would never say it out loud. We are not too close. We mostly keep up with eachother through our mother! I see her mostly on holidays / birthdays..about 8 - 10 times per year. She is the complete opposite of me. I am very casual, she needs the best of the best, also picky like my mother, even a little more so.

BIL - Very funny, very smart. He is a human Epcot. Anything you want to know, just ask BIL. I think he will be fun to have around at Disney.

Nephew - 11
Niece - 8
Niece - 6

All 3 are very grown up for their ages. Well mannered, well behaved. I adore them and wish I was closer to them. Our relationship is mostly me seeing them on holidays, giving gifts and getting a very polite "Thank you Auntie", then a lovely thank you card is sent to me! They dont live too close and with our busy lives, its hard to do too much more with them. Im very happy to have this vacation with them.

Nephew 11 is a vegetarian. I wouldnt even mention this, but it may come up during my trip report as we are all on the deluxe dining plan and plan to eat several meals together. I will include his options/likings.

So thats the clan! 11 of us going to Disney for Thanksgiving week. My family and mother are staying at the Contemporary. I chose a monorail resort for 2 reasons. 1) Nana 2)DD4. It will be easier for them to get back for naps when they get tired.

My original plan was to stay at the Poly. I had the Poly reserved since December, though in August, I got a pin code and could only use it at the Contemporary. With the $2800+ savings (on 2 rooms), I switched resorts. Im still a little sad over the whole thing, so it wont be mentioned again. I will still have a good time at the Contemporary, I will still have a good time at the Contemporary, I will still have a good time at the Contemporary......oh, sorry....I just have to keep telling myself that sometimes.

My sister and her family are not staying at the Contemporary. Lets see if you were paying attention....can you guess where she will be with her family?

Up next: If it took a year to plan, it better be good.

 

[DISNEY1975]

So, here is the Grand Plan (or as much as I can write in half an hour before I head off to work)

As I said before, I made our reservations in Dec 2007. The best deal I could find was through AAA. I chose the Polynesian (2 rooms), deluxe dining plan and MYW tickets w/ park hopper options for 6...5 adults/1 child. Total package price without airfare (airfare was not out for Nov 2008 when I booked package) was $9949.

(Just to back up a bit, our family originally wanted to go Christmas week. It would have been $12,000+ for package described above. We changed to Thanksigiving week to save some $$. With 5 of 6 kids in school, we had to go during holiday season so they wouldnt miss too much)

In Febuary, Air Tran came out with fares for Nov., so I pounced and booked 6 of us at $250. round trip, non stop from Boston. I called my sister to let her know, but she said she wanted to wait for Southwest to come out with their fares. She said she gets great deals with them and prefers Providence (RI) airport over Boston.

OK..to each their own. Long story short....Southwest came out with the fares late June. $540 per person!!! (She is booking for 5). She ended up with.....ready for this....my exact flights out of Boston for $420 per person.

Next, I reserved a minivan. I am expecting the worst in terms of crowd levels. We are only there for a week, so I dont want to waste any time waiting for buses. We plan on hitting all the parks and have several meals planned at other resorts. I think for $199, it will be worth it (another discount code...KISSE at Dollar)

My sister (who, by the way, is staying at the Grand Floridian) has been to Disney before and said Disney transportation is fine for her. I agree, its fine in May, its fine in October..but Thanksgiving week?? OK, to each their own.

OK, next on the list was MVMCP tickets. I bought them the first day they were out and got to reserve Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner, even though it was well outside the 180 day window for ADRs. If you buy the tickets, you get to make an ADR that day.

I have to rush off now...

Up next: ADRs and AAA nightmares.

 

[DISNEY1975]

So here is was, late May and my 180 day came up! I had spent the previous Saturday with my sister going over where we wanted to eat. We didnt have a lot of places in common. I ended up at places I normally would not go just to please mother and have the family eat at least some meals together.

I did not have any trouble reserving what I wanted. The only hiccup was our Le Cellier ressie. We had to split up into 2 tables.

I booked mostly character breakfast, due to this being DD4s first trip. Sis thought character meals were too babyish for her clan. At this moment, I dont think she reserved anything. I think she thinks she'll just "wing it"!!!!

My boys, 17 and 14 are not really into the characters and plan to be at the parks until the last second of the night. I booked some Kona's for them and Nana to sleep in later.

My breakfasts...

OHanas (all 6)
Chef Mickeys (all 6)
Hollywood & Vine (3..other 3 at Konas)
Princess Storybook (3..other 3 at Konas)
1900 Park Fare (3..other 3 at Konas)
Donalds Safari (all 6)
Crystal Palace (all 11! I convinced Sis we were going to be at the park anyway and she compromised if I booked a leter ressie. I booked for 9:30. Im not thrilled about that, but I guess I can go to the park at 8:00 and hit a ride or 2 before breakfast)


Lunches...
50's Prime Time (all 6) Sis is at Brown Derby
Yak and Yeti (all 6) Sis wants to skip AK all together??!!
San Angel Inn (8..Mom and boys are going to Italy for lunch)
Big River Grille (all 11)

I didnt book lunches every day. I dont think we could possibly eat that much and I wanted to leave some time to visit the parks!! On the days we are having lunch, I booked 8:00am breakfasts. On the days without lunch, we are eating at 9:30.

Dinners....
Citricos (all 11, though Im not looking forward to it. Its one of the 2 I am only doing for the "familys sake")
Spirit of Aloha (6) Sis is on her own
California Grille (all 11..same thought as Citricos)
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Le Cellier w/ CP package. (I had to chane original ressie on the date the CP packages came out. We originally had a 6:45, now we are eating at 5:15 and were split into 3 tables!)
Liberty Tree Tavern w/ MVMCP
OHanas

So everything was all set, Room/Tickets/Meals/Car Rental/Airfare. All that was left was to sit back and wait for the day to come.

One day, early August, while I was sitting and waiting, I saw the mail carrier come to the door. I opened the mailbox and SURPRISE! A PINCODE.

I called AAA immediately and..........

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1912232

So now we are at the Contemporary. I switched all the Konas to the Wave and will make the best of it.

 

[LILO123]

This is my first time posting!

I am curious to see how you compare the two different styles of vacationing! We are going to Disney at the end of spring 2009. I am still deciding on the regular dining or deluxe and if we should rent a car.

Keep me posted on how it worked out!

 

[DISNEY1975]

Thanks Lilo123..I was hoping at least 1 person would read.

So with 10 days left, I am slowly getting things ready.

I have to rethink my packing. I looked up the weather on Orlando today. It seems like after this weekend, temps are going to plummet and not go back up any time soon. Lucky people who are there now are getting mid 80s. I will get low 70s and high 40s at night. I am also thinking of cancelling the Spirit of Aloha due to the temps too. I will wait a few more days and see if the weather maps show anything different. The "10 day" forecast has been know to be way off....Im hoping.

I found a great website I can go to for the Post Office to hold my mail. I dont have to run over there and fill out a form.

I also have dropped off more clothes at the drycleaners. I am bringing more long sleeved dress shirts than I originally anticipated. I bought my airline tickets in Feb. so my family is allowed 2 bags without additional charge.

On my list of things to buy before we go are...new carrying case for DVD recorder, dvds for dvd recorder and more memory cards for the camera. Other than that, I should be good to go with everything I have here that I have been accumulating for the past year! Last weeks trip to the dentist helped! Kids left there with new toothbrushes, travel paste and floss in cute little bags! I just threw those in the shoe box (my boys are sharing a room with Nana. I have a shoe box with their combs/razors/cologne/bandaids/cold meds..just in case!/teeth stuff etc...I figure they can just bring the show box into the bathroom and have everything they need.)

So, I guess now, Ill keep on waiting and waiting and waiting. Anyone out there who wants to wait with me is more than welcome!

 

[daisyduck7]

Good morning, Disney1975, I am reading your plans for your trip in a couple of weeks, and it sure sounds like your (immediate) bunch will be having LOADS of fun.Our bunch went for a week Oct.10-Oct.17. My DD had everything planned for the whole week, which day we would go to which park, where we would have which meal, I mean she had everything planned all the way down to which place we would get snacks . We drove downdrive: from Alabama), stopped at the Georgia/Florida line for the night(we left at 5:00 P.M.), left the next morning, and was inside MK by early afternoon. There were 9 of us. There was DD, her DH, their 5 kids(my DGC), DS,8,,DD,8DS,6, DS 5, and baby, DS,2,then, there was me, Grandma Rho,61, and another DGD,9,. We also had 2 rooms, connecting. I had never been to AK nor Epcot before, and I TOTALLY enjoyed both. Can't imagine why anyone else wouldn't!?! How do I get to your particular spot? I only found you today by clicking on the "previous thread", and I would love to hear how your trip turns out. We had the regular dining plan, which was fabulous, all the food was very good, and the atmosphere.......ah, the atmosphere! Next time I go, I will definitely have everything planned.And I will also include saving enough to rent one of the motorized chairs so I will be able to keep up with everyone, and not miss a thing! I rented one the last day we were there, at Epcot, and with hindsight being20/20, I will do that every day next time. I can identify with your mom, because I lost my dearly beloved 8 years ago. But, on the other hand I have a very active life. I still work, running one of the offices at one of the two locations that we have a pre-cast concrete manufacturing business, I am very active in my church, plus, I have 4 adult children, who have children that are active in various sports. In the past year, there has been basketball, cheerleading for that team, soccer, T-ball, football, Tae Kwon Dao, piano, and football. Need I say more? I am 61, yes, and I have slowed down...juuuust a little....but, I haven't stopped. I flat refuse to grow old gracefully.......I am going out kicking and screaming all the way, yelling"WHOO HOO, baby what a ride! Then, when I get to Heaven, I will straighten my shoulders, and thank the Lord for all the many blessings I have had in my life. Keep in touch, I'm looking forward to reading your posts. Bye, now, I'll be talking to you later.

 

[DISNEY1975]

"I flat refuse to grow old gracefully.......I am going out kicking and screaming all the way, yelling"WHOO HOO, baby what a ride! Then, when I get to Heaven, I will straighten my shoulders, and thank the Lord for all the many blessings I have had in my life. "

Wouldnt the world be a great place if everyone had your attitude!

I sent your posting to my mother, highlighting the part about the motorized scooter. Unfortunately, the last time I mentioned it to her, I included quotes, which I thought were funny, about people not being able to control their scooter and running over people. She didnt get the humor in it and said "Dont you dare rent one of those things for me, Ill be sued by 1/2 of the tourists by the time our trip is over!"

Your family sounds great! Its wonderful to see kids involved in activities (I think your family covers every activity on the planet!) rather than sitting in front of the TV / video games/ running the streets!

 

[DISNEY1975]

Stop Mail - check
Pack clothes -check
Go to bank - check (got plenty of ones and fives for skyhop and bellhop)
Ressies in carryon - check
Print out completed trip reports to read on plane - check

Stay calm............its too hard! IM SO EXCITED!!