*8/26 Final Update* Our Last big extended family vacation we think Aug. 2025

I'm exhausted reading about your pre party escapades! I'm glad you finally made it to the party for some fun with your son.
:rotfl2:I agree. It was rather exhausting and definitely not how we had things planned for the trip at all but alas, it becomes the stories that make the vacations memorable.
 
Check-out Day

We no longer had the wheelchair so we decided to do Trail’s End take-out version. Normally, my DH doesn’t like to do take-out like this because by the time you get the food, it is not hot anymore. My thinking was we have the microwave so let’s give it a try, not expecting a whole lot.

My boys & I went also thinking we could cash in our snack credits (we had quite a few left!!!) but there wasn’t much there in way of snacks to take with us. I did get cornbread though. We ordered our food to go and I hustled it back to the bus once we got it hoping it would stay hot all the way back to the cabins. It worked surprisingly well.

After breakfast, the boys and I went to the Meadow Trading post to cash in the snacks. I knew it had to be single serving type of things and some stuff that I think probably counted but I wasn’t 100% sure because they looked big enough that it might have been considered more than single serving. Some things had signs but most things didn’t. We grabbed what we could (not much choices there really) and DH would have liked another Mickey bar but that would have melted before getting back to the cabin! LOL! Everything did ring through as snacks, so back to the cabin we go.

Packing time!!! Luckily, DH had already packed all of his stuff. I had pre-packed but time was starting to tick down. The packing the car was not the most orderly in the world but we did it! As much as I like checking out officially with a human, I knew it would be cutting it *way* to close to get everyone in the car and drive over to guest services, find a place to park, etc… so I did the online check-out! We had 10 minutes to spare!

Since we were driving our original plan was to not have a hotel booked on the way back since we didn’t know when we would start. I just couldn’t do it!! I knew we were going to have a late start, so I was able to book the same hotel we stayed at on the way down the night before. I would have liked to get a little farther than that day 1 but in the end I’m glad I booked it.

It did make for a *very, very* long drive the 2nd day since we didn’t get up super early (and I managed to leave my phone in the room after I had checked-out but realized it with doing a 2nd check before getting in the car to leave!). We did finally make it home at 11:30 pm CST that day.

Next up: My Summary that I hope might help someone in the future.
 
Summary – Part 1: Things that worked.

Doing a trip with a large family mix along with so many different personalities is not for the faint of heart. I went in knowing it was going to be difficult, especially with my DH along but it ended up being a bit more challenging than I anticipated.

Sometimes having the wheelchair got us on things a little faster and sometimes not. It all depending on where they wanted us to go and when/if the accessible vehicle was there. Everyone was very helpful to us and always told him to take whatever time he needed.

I don’t know if we will ever go as a big group again as it is very hard to coordinate everyone’s schedules to go at the same time. I do know my sister is talking about 2027 or 2029 to go back to Universal (my brother gets his timeshare on odd years and she could only go if he can get her a deal). I am planning on taking 2027 off as a break year so unless someone wants to pay my way, I don’t think I will be joining them.

Things that I thought helped/worked:

*If you are pushing someone in a manual wheelchair, get sports gloves. I definitely would have regretted not having those. I picked mine up at Wal-Mart in the sporting goods section.

*Get a standard size wheelchair!! If you need it outside the park, definitely rent. We never had to worry about getting one at the parks (although I highly doubt standard wheelchairs will run out like ECV’s do).

*Sunscreen and hats are your friends! We definitely regretted not putting some on DH’s hands/arms day 1.

*If doing group pictures, pick out the spot ahead of time along with a tentative time (and be flexible on it).

*While waiting for everyone to gather, go ahead and do any individual family photos that people want taken and are already there and get those done. Wished we would have thought of this earlier in the trip!

*Matching t-shirts are fun and I am all for it but I also know my family & as you could see in the photos, we didn’t exactly get everyone in with coordinating the colors! We have done this a couple times and we *always* do the color coordinating so you can get whatever you are comfortable wearing but still know we are a group.

*Don’t stay together all day. It is fine to split up. Having cell phones is such a great help with this!

*AND staying together to do rides you all enjoy together is fun too!

*Staying on site but my brother/sister didn’t and they would say otherwise. I just find it easier for say splitting up like we did when DS went to Disney Springs/We went to the Halloween party & DH was at the cabin. If we weren’t staying on-site, there is no way all of that would have worked. I also like to park the car once I arrive and it never moves again until it’s time to leave.

*Asking for free ice water at the quick service places. That definitely helped us out.

*The dining plan. Cost wise – probably not but most definitely made for a much less stressful vacation when it came to this part for my family. I am exactly the type of customer Disney wants for this plan. LOL!

*Memory Maker but I always get that as pictures are very important to me.
 
Summary – Part 2: Things that didn’t work/I would change

Things that I thought didn’t work and I would change:


*Going in August! I know why we picked the dates we did, my mom’s birthday is early August and I think the original plan was my sister was going to come in to visit on her birthday and then we were all going to go down right afterward. That did not happen but we were already locked in with dates. We would have had to go in the summer regardless since we had kids in school to take into consideration. July probably would have been slightly better.

*Not taking a rest day in the middle of the trip. We originally had this but unfortunately, it did get flipped to the end of the week. Definitely could have used one after 2 park days. This is definitely for those of us that are older! When I went 20 years ago, this wouldn’t have been an issue for me.

*Not realizing just how much extra time things would take when dealing with someone with some medical and mobility issues, so getting earlier starts if at all possible.

*Spending the extra money for easier access. This might just be DH talking but he has said “IF” very big “IF” he goes again, we are going first class (i.e. the Contemporary) so we don’t have use multiple forms of transportation especially boats to get places. The last time he went on a trip with us was in 2005 and we did stay at the Contemporary. I think he missed the ease of everything compared to the Fort. We probably should have splurged for the golf cart and figured things out that way.

*Getting the larger wheelchair. The switchover was a pain and it then caused timing issues.

*You might consider staying at the same place as others. I know my brother & sister were at the same timeshare location. They each had their own rooms but they were above each other, so I know they coordinated things and hung out beyond the parks.

Overall, it was a very tiring vacation but I would do it again with a few tweaks. I am going next year with just my friend, so that will be a very different vacation.

I am also hoping to have my 60th birthday here which is in a few years with family if I am lucky. I know it won’t be everyone who went this time around due to when my birthday falls it will be a problem for those in school but I am thinking probably about 10 people or so. You never know what life will throw at you though in those few years, so one day at a time!

Next up: All about the dining plan!
 

Summary – Part 3A: The dining plan

We didn’t pre-plan a lot and as we had a free dining promo, so for this trip, even if we spent $2.00 on a snack it wasn’t an issue. I wasn’t trying to maximize my dollars. We just used it as to what made sense to us at the time. We did leave 1 TS unused which if we had paid for the plan, I definitely would have made sure it was used!

I am having to use the menus online to get some of my numbers since I don’t have all the receipts and many that I do have are zeroed out. Also remember we are your basic picky eaters and even though we are adults, we mostly eat like 5 year olds. 🍔🍟🍕:laughing: Also unless noted, tax isn’t included. I am also not including tips as those aren’t included on the plan.

Our allotted amounts were: 24 QS meals, 24 Snacks, 24 TS Meals & 4 refillable mugs

Arrival day:

Trail’s End dinner:


4 Refillable mugs: 4 x $22.99 = $91.96

2 Burger Meals: 2 x $14.19 = $28.38

2 Chicken Strip Meals: 2 x $10.99 = $21.98

4 drinks from the cooler: 4 x $5.29 = $21.16

TOTAL for the day: $163.48 (4 QS meals)
 
Summary – Part 3B: The dining plan

Day 1

Trail’s End Breakfast


Bounty Platter: $12.99

2 Mickey Waffles: 2 x $21.58

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Croissant: $8.99

4 drinks from the cooler: 4 x $5.29 = $21.16

Total for breakfast: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Pinocchio’s Village House Lunch

3 cheese pizzas: 3 x $12.79 = $38.37

1 pepperoni pizza: $12.99

4 fountain drinks: 4 x $4.79 = $19.16

Total for lunch: $70.52 (4 QS meals)

Snack cart (had to really hunt for prices so might be off!)

Mickey Bar & Mickey Sandwich: 2 x $6:50 = $13.00

Frozen fruit bar: $6.00

Frozen Lemonade cup: $6.25

Total for snacks: $25.25 (4 Snack credits)

Diamond Horseshoe Dinner

4 adult all you can eat dinners: 4 x $44 = $176.00

4 Tavern Punches: 4 x $9.75 = $39.00

Total for dinner: $215.00 plus $18.98 tax = $228.98 (4 TS meals)

Total for the day: $389.47 (4 QS, 4 Snacks & 4 TS)
 
Summary – Part 3C: The dining plan

Day 2


Breakfast was the same: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Hollywood Scoops

Ice Cream Sundae $7.79 (1 snack credit)

Sci-Fi Dine-in Dinner

4 classic burgers: 4 x $25.00 = $100.00

2 Milkshakes: 2 x $7.25 = $14.50

2 Regular drinks (guessing at the amount) 2 x $5.00 = $10.00

3 Caramel Brownie Cheesecakes: 3 X $10.00 = $30.00

Total for dinner: $154.50 (4 TS meals)

Total for the day: $227.01 (4 QS, 1 Snack & 4 TS)

Day 3 (apparently, we never ate lunch or dinner this day! Explains a lot!)


Breakfast was the same: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Snack Cart (might not be accurate cost)

Popcorn $5.69 (1 snack credit)

Launching Pad

Frozen coke $6.49 (1 snack credit)

Total for the day: $76.90 (4 QS & 2 snacks)
 
Summary – Part 3D: The dining plan

Day 4


Breakfast was the same: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Le Cellier for lunch/dinner

3 New York Strip Steaks: 3 x $65.00 = $195.00

1 Filet: $65.00

4 soft drinks (no idea the cost so guessing) 4 x $5.00 = $20.00

3 Chocolate cheesecakes: 3 x $15.00 = $45.00

Total for dinner: $325.00 (8 TS meals)

Total for the day: $389.72 (4 QS & 8 TS)

Day 5


Breakfast was the same: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Meadow’s Trading Post (I have no receipts for these – I accidently washed the one I had. LOL!)

Apple Juice $4.00 (1 snack credit)

Chef Mickey’s

4 adult dinners: 4 x $69.00 = $276.00 (4 TS meals)

Total for dinner: $276.00 + $17.94 tax = $293.94

Friar’s Nook

2 Strawberry Lemonade Slushs: 2 x $6.49 = $12.98 (2 snack credits)

Total for the day: $375.64 (4 QS, 3 snacks & 4 TS)

Departure Day


Breakfast was the same: $64.72 (4 QS meals)

Cornbread $6.99 (snack)

Total for breakfast/snack: $71.71

Meadow Trading Post for snacks!

I know what we bought but not prices and this was basically impossible for me to find online. We bought 13 snacks I’m going to estimate $5.00 per snack.

Total of $65.00 (13 snack credits)

Total for the day: $136.71 (4 QS & 14 snacks)
 
Summary – Part 3E: The dining plan

GRAND Total: $1758.93 (plus a little more for the ones I didn’t know tax of – Let’s say $1800.00 to make things easy).


What I learned after looking at this is that we aren’t much of a snacking family! LOL! If we had not left that last TS, we would have come closer to breaking even although still a loss.

I also would have done it a bit differently if we had paid for it (and certainly would not leave a TS sitting on the table before we left – yes even free it still bugs me that we didn’t end up finding a way to use it).

Even my kids made a comment that I was much more relaxed about what they were getting snack wise than in the past (we have been on the dining plan before). On the flip side, sometime I call that at home when I know I am paying more but it makes my life easier, convenience cost. I use shopkick to earn free gift cards and also use the Target card to save 5%, so that helps.

It will be interesting to see how this compares to when my friend & I go and it is just the 2 of us. We originally went with the QS but we also built in more rest days, so we upgraded to the full one as we will have more time to go enjoy some TS meals.

Disney has this all figured out and they aren’t going to lose money on the dining plan, so I will do what I can but I am not going to go out of my way to maximize the value the way I see others do. I also know, that without the plan, my family would be extra conscious of what they were ordering and if we could afford it.

I hope the breakdown might help someone or perhaps it's just me that likes as much detail as I can get for things. :teacher:

Thanks for reading. :thanks:
 




New Posts








Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE











DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top