A Jolly Jolly Holiday For Me! (And my three...) JAN 2019

[Diana or Di]

I was born in Florida in '81. I have pixie dust flowing through my veins. I've been to the World, but have never taken my DS1, DS2, or DD, due in large part to the DS's being on the autism spectrum/sensory disordered, and DD having some health concerns, and then my ex and I splitting up. We'd plan a trip year after year but there was always something that prevented our going.

But no more! I have contacted my travel agent and come this June/Jul will be booking a 5n/6d stay at Port Orleans French Quarter! I sat down today to do my "flexible planning" work and after several delightful hours, am ready to commit this first draft to electronic pen.

DS1, who will be 13 at time of travel, is helping me plan, but having no real understanding of what this will be like is only luke warm in his enthusiasm, but I think is secretly thrilled to be included in all of the secrecy in surprising his siblings. His thrill currently is in feeling grown up. Sigh.

Stay tuned for the plan!

 

[Diana or Di]

In addition to my three children, I have an enormous Anatolian Shepherd named Odin, and a cat (in a dapper gray morning suit) named Fritz Norris. My parents are local and can watch my cat, but Odin has rather more exacting requirements and so I am going to have him take a puppy vacation at my sister's. We call this Camp Auntie's, and it's one of his very favorite things.

What is doubly helpful is that I will be driving down from CT and my sister lives in NY. Dropping off my dog and starting the drive fresh the next morning shaves two hours off of my drive, which I will be making in one day. With 16 hours remaining, we'll be getting on the road at 4am and getting to Orlando around 8 or 9 that evening. I'm going to get a cheapy hotel for the evening and start our actual vacation bright and early the next morning.

I plan on surprising all of the kids with when it is going to happen. To be frank, I'm going to lie lie lie like a rug. The cover story is that we are visiting family in Virginia. I'm expecting that they will be either asleep or lost in their electronics for a large portion of the trip and if I'm lucky, won't realize where we are until I surprise them the next morning. DS1 may figure it out, but he'll have been in on it for a while anyway.

You can just bet I'll be filming the reveal and linking that on yt so my family can see it! Plus so I can rewatch it and get misty-eyed.

Minor things of note are that I'll stop regularly at rest stops for potty breaks but I will have a couple of coolers so we don't have to stop for food/eating. Should be fairly smooth sailing as my kids have been raised on long car trips. As it gets closer I'll post regarding how I pack the car to allow for each child to have space and not annoy each other.

Thought of the post: Do I want a purple, orange, or yellow magic band?

 

[Diana or Di]

As will become readily apparent, planning is kind of my thing. I am not retentive about it, and am fully aware that when it comes to Disney, flexibility is key. But it helps me to write things down as I research them and narrow down my field of options, particularly when it comes to dining.

Currently, I am leaning toward just DOING it and getting the deluxe dining plan. A bucket list goal of mine has always been to complete the Golden Spoon challenge, and this would certainly get me started in the right direction. Also though, because this is our first family trip, and because standing in lines to meet characters is the most soul-draining time suck ever, I'm planning several character and signature dining events. I'm also of the camp that even if it may cost me less out of pocket, I cannot be bothered to handle it. I want it all paid for up front and have that be one less stress for a single mom wrangling three kids around the World.

I've purchased the 2017 Disney Food Blog guide, and have been binging their, and other, yt channels to gather my top wants. I also read a great tip from another Disney blogger regarding booking, the long and short of which was because you can book 180 plus 10, book the hardest reservations first, not just in chronological order of when you'll be going. That is something that would not have occurred to me since I'd have been reading off of a calendar when I go to book. Clevah!

I know I want to start our Day 1 in MK, with breakfast at BOG. It's technically (at least for now) counter service but because of its popularity, you can make a reservation. For which I would like the earliest so I can get I to the park early.

A few of my others in no particular order are Cosmic Ray's for nostalgia, Chip n Dale character dining at Garden Grill, Coral Reef, Rose and Crown during Illuminations, O'hana, Hoop Dee Doo, and California Grill during fireworks. Crossing all the things.

Thought of the post: Are child orders sized enough to share? DS2 will be 11, and DD will be 7, but he is super picky and she doesn't eat a lot. I'd like to split her meal with him on occasion to save his meal credit for the 2 credit meals.

 

[Diana or Di]

My dates are firm for January of 2019, but flexible in that I am waiting for the 2019 Disney After Hours dates to release. Due to the sensory disorders etc, I am willing to fork out the extra almost 500 to ensure that the kids can have a few hours at MK without the heat and the crowds to stress them out. I know those dates overlap in 2018 with Epcot's Festival of the Arts as well which excites me since the food has been pretty excellent and I'd love to try it.

A friend of mine who went this past year also recommended the Family Magic tour so I am planning on doing that as well. Which I equate with not doing BBB and things of that ilk. He and his family had the best time, even though you do some SUPER silly stuff. It's Disney; own it, rock it, git it. I also want to do the treasure hunt game and sorcerers of the magic kingdom.

Thought of the post: I heard the pools are heated in the "winter" but I haven't confirmed that. Here's hoping.

 

[Diana or Di]

Do you guys watch the Disney reveal vids on youtube? I get hardcore choked up for reals. I cannot cannot cannot wait to do this to my kids. I'm not sure how I want to go about it though. If everything goes according to plan, the littles won't know we're in FL, nevermind Orlando, so my reveal will be in the hotel that morning. I'm contemplating having my phone set up to record in the van, going in to check out of the hotel and then coming back with an envelope and a confused look on my face saying that this letter was waiting and addressed to them and have it be from Mickey. Oooh! Or maybe a package so that I can also include ears/hats, penny books (I don't think they'll want to do signatures) magic bands, and such!

Oh gracious. I'm going to wrap it in brown paper and tie it with twine and get a big tag from etsy that says something like, "To DS1, DS2, and DD...See ya real soon!" and sign it "A new friend." I'm dying. Maybe I'll even have DS1 go in and check us out so I can play along with the confusion when he gets to the car with the package.

Do any of you remember the maps that they used to give out when you were planning your trip? I was completely bummed when I spoke to a cast member the other day and was told that they don't do that any longer. I'm sure it was pricey; those maps were beautiful, but I'm SOOOOOOOOO heart broken that I won't have them to add to the surprise.

Thought of the post: DS1 will almost assuredly not wear ears, but can I get a pair on DS2 for at least some photo ops the first day? Also, what are the odds that I can plan enough in advance to have my daughter disneybound?

 

[Diana or Di]

I am totally going to ship stuff from amazon to my resort in advance, but I'm going to bring in some perishables as well. I'm not particularly married to the idea of getting a room close to Sassagoula and don't plan on hauling down there when we're trying to relax in the middle of the day etc. I'm also planning on packing some of our own snacks for inside the parks. There are several things I know the kids want to try but I also know there is going to be stuff they try and won't actually like. I don't want to waste 3 snack credits on getting 3 Dole Whips and have DS2 not like it and DD only be able to finish half of one. About the only thing I know they'll all eat are the Mickey bars and the popcorn. I'm thinking we try one of a few things and then if they like it enough we can always get another later. I just feel like there are so many things to try that I'd rather they snack tapas-style and eat a little of a lot of things.

Continuing the theme of stuff I want to make sure we bring, I need to get neck pillows for the drive down, and make sure I have their fleece blankets ready to go as well.

Oh! Which reminds me, I was going to discuss how I set up our car for long trips.

So to begin with, I have a minivan. Toyota Sienna. It's an 8 passenger, but on long trips when it's just us (and usually my dog) I will remove two of the seats from the middle row, and fold down the seat in the rear (they go into the floor). If you can visualize this, I leave the seat in the middle row on the driver's side, and stow the seat in the rear into the floor on the driver's side. This creates leg room for DS2 to sit comfortably in the back, allows me to reach DD directly behind me in the middle, and DS1 rides shot gun. Everyone has their own sound and movement space and I have plenty of space to pack things.

This also allows for ease of using the automatic slider on the passenger side. Each child can get to the door without having to cross directly in front of someone else, which is a huge boon to bathroom stops. Normally when my dog is with us, this also allows plenty of space for his enormous furry self to sleep comfortably.

On the back of my seat I hang a modified shoe organizer. It's shorter, but the pockets are perfectly sized to accomodate a cup. I use tupperware tumblers, but I'm sure red solos would work well too. The cup forces the pocket open a little further so that DD can still reach the contents. Or if it is a smaller item, the cup allows her to grab everything instead of trying to dig out something down deep. It just helps keep everything organized for her.

I need to invest in new lap desks as well. All of mine have broken over the years. The kids really enjoy the kind with the pillow base to it? It helps elevate it a bit more, and they can use the surface for coloring and such and also snacking.

DS1&2 will really only need backpacks as 99% of their car desires are their electronics. Surprise surprise. I'm going to get DS2 some audiobooks though, and all three kids are getting new headphones since I cannot deal with listening to the cacophony of all of their stuff. And they don't want to listen to my audiobooks either.

Oh, and I'll need to get them all slip ons. Shoes come off on long car trips and I get supremely annoyed when we stop for a bathroom break and I have to wait 10 minutes for everyone to locate and put on their shoes and tie them. Some of you are probably going, "Uh, flip flops. You'll want them for the pool anyway"and while that's true, it's going to be January in the Northeast. We'll need close-toed shoes, at least until we hit Georgia.

Thought of the post: I wonder if Laurie R. King's Holmes series is on audiobook. All four (five? I can't remember) of those should take me straight into FL, and don't contain anything I wouldn't want for the kids to hear. Plus, I haven't read them in a while so it would be refreshing.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Just found your PTR, sounds like you are a big planner like me! I used to be a serial pre trip planner here on the DIS, I've been off a while, planning a trip in Feb. 2019! Have you by any chance seen actual dates for the Festival of Arts yet? We will be going right at the end, not sure if we will catch it!

Sorry, don't know a ton about kids credits, my 17 year old daughter gets the kids meals but I'm not sure about whether they would be big enough for two kids to share.