megnsamsgracie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Messages
- 758
Okay, so this has been quite an ordeal with changing resorts CONSTANTLY but I think I have it down now to a final itinerary.
CAST:
ME (Steph, 31) the vacation perfectionist. I want everything to be PERFECT no matter how many times hubby says it just wont be. I am the vacation planner in this house, hubby just says to BOOK IT. He really doesnt care.
DH (Mark, turns 33 on our anniversary trip 9/7). He just goes with the flow. He really isnt a true die hard Disney fan.. he does it for the kids. I did convert him from staying off site to on after our last trip.
DS Sam 10. He loves Disney, isnt crazy about the coasters yet but I am working on it.
DD Megan 8. She loves Disney more than the other kids. She loves fast rides but didnt get to go on any last time since she was still pretty young. But this time, she will be my partner in crime on the bigger rides.
DD Grace 6. She doesnt have much of a memory of Disney since the last time she went she was only 2. She is a princess nut and LOVES Ariel, so I have to make sure on this trip, we take the time to do Ariel's grotto as the last two times the lines were just too long and we backed out.
DS Mark (JR) 3. He has NO recollection of Disney as he was just 6w the last time we went. He keeps looking with me at the pictures and screaming "I go there! I go Disneyworld!". I really cant wait to see the look on his face when we are walking up Main St!
So, this all started out simple enough. We were taking a 10 day trip to the FL Gulf coast in October. Wonderful! Then the kids started looking at pictures of our last trip begging to go. So I ask hubby if we can switch to 1wk on the Gulf and then 3 or 4 days at Disney. Sure! Then we talk and figure maybe a full trip to Disney since its been since 03! So we look at October 3-11 due to the kids school calendar. But then friends who are DVC owners suggest the kids liking it around Christmas. So we book AAA rate room only at WL for 11/25-12/2. Come to find out, TL is closed during that time! Hubby says cant do, the kids love that park too much! He is right. So back to Oct. But then me being an overplanner realize if we arrive jsut 12 days earlier, we get free dining... a huge savings for a family of 6! So thats when the fun begins!
I realize that for our anniversary trip (9/7-9/10) its cheaper for us than the Gulf coast because of a) free dining and b) free transportation (ME). So we book our trip for 9/7-9/10. That was pretty easy. Booked CSR and then upgrade to Poly for our stay. YEAH!
Now, the family trip. That was harder for us. I had dates set, 9/21-9/30. The resort was the hard part. I booked 2 rooms at POP. Then I asked my dad to come too so changed that to 2 rooms at CSR so that my dad had a nice resort to walk around during downtime, he wont go to the parks much at all. Wonderful, sounds like a plan. Then my dad becomes iffy. So I question what to do. If we stay with 2 rooms at CSR, for an extra $300, we can move up to the Poly! I know I know.. my little one is 3. So I called Poly and they said to put him down as 2 (I spoke to a front desk supervisor!) but that he would have to eat off our plates. So we cancelled CSR with my dad and moved over to Poly. Then I was on the fence with cost. Thats a lot of money to put out especially when we have cash only, we dont do credit cards. So I struggle with this choice. This has been going on about 3 weeks now. I have changed or cancelled at least 6 or 7 reservations by now!. So today, I took the 2 little kids in and let them look at pictures. The 2 bigger ones have been to Disney more and have more memories, so I wanted to make it special for the 2 younger ones. They looked at ASMo and Poly and I let them pick.
SOOOO ASMo won out. They really loved it! And we stayed there in 03 and it wasnt bad. Not sure how the bussess will be during free dining BUT I figure we are going to have a laid back trip.
So, since we saved $1600 over the cost of the Poly.. I upgrade our anniversary trip from the CSR to Poly and paid that off today. Then I went and cancelled the Poly for our family trip and booked 2 rooms at ASMo, Buzz section (SOOO hoping we get it! Its the kids favorite!). Since the cost was so much less, I added on an extra 2 days to it. But thats okay because SW usually has cheaper flights on T, W and Fr than on a Sunday!
I have all my ADRs done (except for the 2 new nights booked!)... that was the easy part! I did that over a month ago!
The best part of all of this? The kids have NOOOOO idea they are going! They think they have been looking for Dh and I's trip! We are working on a fun way to let them in. I thought of making Tshirts up that have their fav Dis character on front and then the back saying something like "We're going to Disney but we dont know". Have them wear the shirts inside out until we get to the airport. Then turn them rightside in. Wonder if they will even bother to read what they say!?! Hubby is coming up with his own idea to surprise them!
So I am really settled on dates now. Hubby and I are doing the Poly 9/7-9/10 (might add ONE more night to that but not sure I really want to fly on 9/11!) and then we are doing our family stay 9/21-10/2 at ASMo. I am set and I am NOT changing! Well okay, if we win the lotto maybe
CAST:
ME (Steph, 31) the vacation perfectionist. I want everything to be PERFECT no matter how many times hubby says it just wont be. I am the vacation planner in this house, hubby just says to BOOK IT. He really doesnt care.
DH (Mark, turns 33 on our anniversary trip 9/7). He just goes with the flow. He really isnt a true die hard Disney fan.. he does it for the kids. I did convert him from staying off site to on after our last trip.
DS Sam 10. He loves Disney, isnt crazy about the coasters yet but I am working on it.
DD Megan 8. She loves Disney more than the other kids. She loves fast rides but didnt get to go on any last time since she was still pretty young. But this time, she will be my partner in crime on the bigger rides.
DD Grace 6. She doesnt have much of a memory of Disney since the last time she went she was only 2. She is a princess nut and LOVES Ariel, so I have to make sure on this trip, we take the time to do Ariel's grotto as the last two times the lines were just too long and we backed out.
DS Mark (JR) 3. He has NO recollection of Disney as he was just 6w the last time we went. He keeps looking with me at the pictures and screaming "I go there! I go Disneyworld!". I really cant wait to see the look on his face when we are walking up Main St!
So, this all started out simple enough. We were taking a 10 day trip to the FL Gulf coast in October. Wonderful! Then the kids started looking at pictures of our last trip begging to go. So I ask hubby if we can switch to 1wk on the Gulf and then 3 or 4 days at Disney. Sure! Then we talk and figure maybe a full trip to Disney since its been since 03! So we look at October 3-11 due to the kids school calendar. But then friends who are DVC owners suggest the kids liking it around Christmas. So we book AAA rate room only at WL for 11/25-12/2. Come to find out, TL is closed during that time! Hubby says cant do, the kids love that park too much! He is right. So back to Oct. But then me being an overplanner realize if we arrive jsut 12 days earlier, we get free dining... a huge savings for a family of 6! So thats when the fun begins!
I realize that for our anniversary trip (9/7-9/10) its cheaper for us than the Gulf coast because of a) free dining and b) free transportation (ME). So we book our trip for 9/7-9/10. That was pretty easy. Booked CSR and then upgrade to Poly for our stay. YEAH!
Now, the family trip. That was harder for us. I had dates set, 9/21-9/30. The resort was the hard part. I booked 2 rooms at POP. Then I asked my dad to come too so changed that to 2 rooms at CSR so that my dad had a nice resort to walk around during downtime, he wont go to the parks much at all. Wonderful, sounds like a plan. Then my dad becomes iffy. So I question what to do. If we stay with 2 rooms at CSR, for an extra $300, we can move up to the Poly! I know I know.. my little one is 3. So I called Poly and they said to put him down as 2 (I spoke to a front desk supervisor!) but that he would have to eat off our plates. So we cancelled CSR with my dad and moved over to Poly. Then I was on the fence with cost. Thats a lot of money to put out especially when we have cash only, we dont do credit cards. So I struggle with this choice. This has been going on about 3 weeks now. I have changed or cancelled at least 6 or 7 reservations by now!. So today, I took the 2 little kids in and let them look at pictures. The 2 bigger ones have been to Disney more and have more memories, so I wanted to make it special for the 2 younger ones. They looked at ASMo and Poly and I let them pick.
SOOOO ASMo won out. They really loved it! And we stayed there in 03 and it wasnt bad. Not sure how the bussess will be during free dining BUT I figure we are going to have a laid back trip.
So, since we saved $1600 over the cost of the Poly.. I upgrade our anniversary trip from the CSR to Poly and paid that off today. Then I went and cancelled the Poly for our family trip and booked 2 rooms at ASMo, Buzz section (SOOO hoping we get it! Its the kids favorite!). Since the cost was so much less, I added on an extra 2 days to it. But thats okay because SW usually has cheaper flights on T, W and Fr than on a Sunday!
I have all my ADRs done (except for the 2 new nights booked!)... that was the easy part! I did that over a month ago!
The best part of all of this? The kids have NOOOOO idea they are going! They think they have been looking for Dh and I's trip! We are working on a fun way to let them in. I thought of making Tshirts up that have their fav Dis character on front and then the back saying something like "We're going to Disney but we dont know". Have them wear the shirts inside out until we get to the airport. Then turn them rightside in. Wonder if they will even bother to read what they say!?! Hubby is coming up with his own idea to surprise them!
So I am really settled on dates now. Hubby and I are doing the Poly 9/7-9/10 (might add ONE more night to that but not sure I really want to fly on 9/11!) and then we are doing our family stay 9/21-10/2 at ASMo. I am set and I am NOT changing! Well okay, if we win the lotto maybe
