This will be the 3rd year our family as gathered at WDW. The ides started in 2002 when my Grandmother died and my DM was very sad. I discussed the idea of taking her to WDW for the 60th birthday in Jan 2003. It would be just her and I. It was a go from my end I just needed to talk her into it. Well, she told her sister (my aunt) when we were going and she told us that she was going to be there to run in the Disney Marathon. Well, my cousin decided that if her mom could run a marathon then she could do it too. Then, my cousins friend thought "well, if she can than so can I." When the youngest sister (another aunt) decided she would come to cheer everyone on. The Oldest sister said "Well, if all of you are going than I am too." So, our quiet Mother/Daughter weekend turned into the first semi family reunion for 12.
The other two sisters wanted to come. Which they did last year. They party got to 15 of us.
This year, my DH and three children came. Others that came before couldn't and others that hadn't have now decided that they want to be in on the fun. This years party now consists of 19. (There are still about 25 that couldn't make it).
When my youngest cousin graduated from high school in May 2004, the 5 (out of 6) sisters decided that they would meet at WDW again for the "Passing of the Ring" ceremony. (I'll explain this later) It was also decided that I would have to be the planner of this trip even if I couldn't make it. Hooray for me!!!
I called and got 3 rooms for them at the Wilderness Lodge for $199 a night. The oldest and the youngest sisters that they were tired of WDW (How can that be? How did they even get to stay in they family, I'll never know.) So I didn't plan for them to come now. Then in Sept, they decided that they didn't want to be left out so I needed to get them rooms. This was a HUGE KINK! One has money but the other doesn't. The one that has, just bought another house (her 3rd) and finances are tight. I could only get them a room for $355 a night at WL. Undoable. So, I talked to DH and we used our DVC points for their room.
DH has been traveling so much that he told me one night in mid Dec that we have enough airmiles for the 5 of us to go. Call DVC to see if we could get in. Well, that was a nightmare in itself. I had to make reservations day by day but we had to be put on a waiting list for Sat. Nothing was available at all 5 DVC resorts. We prayed a bunch. We found out on the Monday before we were scheduled to leave (Thurs) that we got DVC WL for the entire stay.
No one in my family (except my DM) knew that my family was coming. They knew that I was able to come but we couldn't get flights out for the rest of them (whick was true until two weeks before).
The morning of Thurs, Jan 13th arrived. My twin DD's are getting ready for school. They knew that I had a surprise for them but they thought that we were going to see Grandma for the weekend in Houston.
DD's : I know that we have been behaving badly lately but please don't cancel our trip to Houston this weekend. We promise that we will be on our best behavior from now on (Yeah Right, I know better!).
Me/DH : Well, we are going to see Grandma but she isn't home. She is in Orlando. We will have to see her there if you want to see her at all.
The silence is deafinging. This was the calm before the storm. They screams they let out woke the dead. My DS (3) has been asking to go to WDW everyday for the last month. Those commericials work! He started screaming too. I nearly died laughing.
I told them that we had a flight to catch and to pack for 4 days. I packed for DH, self, and DS.
I ran to the bank and the gas station. Locked up the house and off the DFW for our flight to Tampa. We couldn't get to Orlando unless we all flew on seperate flights. No way Jose! Tampa it is.
Everyone will arrive at the WL on Friday, the 14th. Between 12 noon and 3 pm.
Everything is set. What could go wrong?
We'll find out when we arrive in FL.
mt2
The other two sisters wanted to come. Which they did last year. They party got to 15 of us.
This year, my DH and three children came. Others that came before couldn't and others that hadn't have now decided that they want to be in on the fun. This years party now consists of 19. (There are still about 25 that couldn't make it).
When my youngest cousin graduated from high school in May 2004, the 5 (out of 6) sisters decided that they would meet at WDW again for the "Passing of the Ring" ceremony. (I'll explain this later) It was also decided that I would have to be the planner of this trip even if I couldn't make it. Hooray for me!!!
I called and got 3 rooms for them at the Wilderness Lodge for $199 a night. The oldest and the youngest sisters that they were tired of WDW (How can that be? How did they even get to stay in they family, I'll never know.) So I didn't plan for them to come now. Then in Sept, they decided that they didn't want to be left out so I needed to get them rooms. This was a HUGE KINK! One has money but the other doesn't. The one that has, just bought another house (her 3rd) and finances are tight. I could only get them a room for $355 a night at WL. Undoable. So, I talked to DH and we used our DVC points for their room.
DH has been traveling so much that he told me one night in mid Dec that we have enough airmiles for the 5 of us to go. Call DVC to see if we could get in. Well, that was a nightmare in itself. I had to make reservations day by day but we had to be put on a waiting list for Sat. Nothing was available at all 5 DVC resorts. We prayed a bunch. We found out on the Monday before we were scheduled to leave (Thurs) that we got DVC WL for the entire stay.
No one in my family (except my DM) knew that my family was coming. They knew that I was able to come but we couldn't get flights out for the rest of them (whick was true until two weeks before).
The morning of Thurs, Jan 13th arrived. My twin DD's are getting ready for school. They knew that I had a surprise for them but they thought that we were going to see Grandma for the weekend in Houston.
DD's : I know that we have been behaving badly lately but please don't cancel our trip to Houston this weekend. We promise that we will be on our best behavior from now on (Yeah Right, I know better!).
Me/DH : Well, we are going to see Grandma but she isn't home. She is in Orlando. We will have to see her there if you want to see her at all.
The silence is deafinging. This was the calm before the storm. They screams they let out woke the dead. My DS (3) has been asking to go to WDW everyday for the last month. Those commericials work! He started screaming too. I nearly died laughing.
I told them that we had a flight to catch and to pack for 4 days. I packed for DH, self, and DS.
I ran to the bank and the gas station. Locked up the house and off the DFW for our flight to Tampa. We couldn't get to Orlando unless we all flew on seperate flights. No way Jose! Tampa it is.
Everyone will arrive at the WL on Friday, the 14th. Between 12 noon and 3 pm.
Everything is set. What could go wrong?
We'll find out when we arrive in FL.
mt2
