But I Don't Want To Be A Good Parent!...an Aug, I mean, Oct 2013 PTR

[MissLiz]

Hi! And welcome to my first ever pre-trip report!!! I’ve said over and over that I want to do a pre-trip report or a trip report and I just don’t, so now I am!

Let me introduce the cast of characters that will be enjoying this trip:

Me: My name is Liz. Surprise, right? I am 39 and I work as a billing specialist for a small natural gas company here in Georgia. I have been with the company since they started and have enjoyed watching us grow. I am originally from Iowa, moved to Chicago after college, and then moved to Georgia right after I got married. We take about 2 trips to WDW a year and just bought into DVC in 2011.



DH: Michael. He is 35 and works as an administrator for Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. He grew up in Michigan, moved to Chicago for work, and he is the reason we moved to Georgia 8 years ago. He got a great job offer that we couldn’t pass up. It’s his fault that I love Disney World so much. He proposed on my first ever trip there.



DD11: Isabella. Isabella is my sweet, smart, beautiful girl. She starts middle school this year and I’m just not ready. Is there a way to make it stop? Lol She has been dancing since she was 3 and is getting ready to start her 5th year in a ballet company. She also plays tennis and swims. She loves Disney World and has really become involved in planning our trips.



DD4: Natalie. What to say about Natalie? She is my crazy girl. She is super smart and funny. She is pretty stubborn and she likes to be right…even when she’s wrong. She is very independent, but she also loves to cuddle. She starts Pre-K this year and, once again, is there a way to make it stop?



Now that you’ve met us, let me start with the planning! Yippee!!!

Let me start off by saying that this trip has been a crazy roller coaster of planning. We’ve had changes and more changes and then, just when we thought it was good to go, more changes!

So, keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times (unless you want to lose something) and enjoy the ride!

 

[MissLiz]

The Original Plan...and the Original Change

Here Comes The Tantrum!

Recap!

 

[Marsheliz]

Totally understand all the changes! I have changed things for our trip a million times and will probably end up changing again at some point..

Beautiful daughters!

 

[MissLiz]

Totally understand all the changes! I have changed things for our trip a million times and will probably end up changing again at some point..

Beautiful daughters!

Thanks for joining!!

I'm not usually a big changer so this was a completely different idea for me! The only changes we usually make are adding a day here or there.

 

[wiigirl]

In for your PTR!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

I'm here just trying to soak it all in

Never been before so I am trying to learn all I can in the next year

 

[MissLiz]

In for your PTR!

Welcome! Hope you enjoy!

I'm here just trying to soak it all in

Never been before so I am trying to learn all I can in the next year

Glad to have you join in! Hopefully I can give you some good information!

 

[Denovagirl]

I am excited to see your PTR, I am going in August as well and I am wanting to start a PTR to document the planning fun!

 

[MissLiz]

I am excited to see your PTR, I am going in August as well and I am wanting to start a PTR to document the planning fun!

Welcome!

You should do a PTR! (Although I'm not one to really talk since I've said that I would do one for years now and I'm finally getting around to one)

 

[MissLiz]

Last year, we had everything all planned out. We would take a short trip to WDW in November just to get our WDW fix and then we’d go on our Disney Fantasy cruise over Spring Break. My 40th (ugh) birthday is this August, so we thought we’d use our points to go to Hawaii and stay at Aulani to celebrate.


Well, as we were discussing this over trying to cook dinner in our little kitchen with original appliances from 1978, we decided that we’d rather spend the money on getting the kitchen updated and not go to Hawaii this year. I was disappointed because you don’t hit 40 too many times, right?


We started looking at other options for my birthday. Maybe not a long trip, but something nice to get away. As we looked and looked, I just kept going back to the fact that I would love to see “Wishes” on my actual birthday. I finally talked my DH into it and we booked it at the 7 month mark:

Aug 29th-Sept 2nd Bay Lake Tower!!! (2 nights MK View, 2 nights Lake view)

This is actually a picture from our room at the Contempory a couple of years ago, but you get the idea.


At 180 days, I booked all of our dining:

1900 Park Fare dinner for my birthday


Be Our Guest dinner!!

Via Napoli

Biergarten: My girls dancing at Biergarten


Chef Mickey’s for breakfast on our departure day



We knew it was going to be busy over Labor Day, but busy be darned! We were doing it and I had a theme park view room on my actual birthday of Aug 29th!!! It was going to be awesome!!!


But...I did say there were going to be some changes, so hold on!

 

[Denovagirl]

Welcome!

You should do a PTR! (Although I'm not one to really talk since I've said that I would do one for years now and I'm finally getting around to one)

I did! Or started one at least!!

 

[glennbo123]

Hey Liz, why didn't you say that you had a PTR going on? Or maybe you did, and I fiiiinally just noticed the link in your signature. Bonk me on the head next time.

Regarding kids growing up, no, there's no way to stop it. I've got one in college now and I can't stop scratching my head, wondering where the time went.

Looking forward to more!

 

[MissLiz]

I'm starting to see why I've never done a PTR before. I'm terrible at it!

I will try to update more often.

 

[MissLiz]

Hey Liz, why didn't you say that you had a PTR going on? Or maybe you did, and I fiiiinally just noticed the link in your signature. Bonk me on the head next time.

Regarding kids growing up, no, there's no way to stop it. I've got one in college now and I can't stop scratching my head, wondering where the time went.

Looking forward to more!

Actually, you are off the hook because I never mentioned it. Since it's my first one, I was a little nervous about advertising.

Hopefully you'll enjoy!

 

[MissLiz]

Now, let me tell you. We regard academics very highly in our house. Bella has gotten all A’s every semester and she is in the gifted program at school. We’ve taken her out for a day here or two days there before, but we’ve always made a point of working with her teacher to get homework or do a project to cover some school work.

At the beginning of May, we went to the parents’ meeting for incoming middle school students at Bella’s new school. It was a great night and we were very excited about the opportunities that she was going to get. We heard the presentation from the Advanced Content coordinator and my stomach dropped. Since Bella has been labeled gifted, the school is required by law to provide her with at least one Advanced Content course. In this middle school, they try to give them anywhere from 1 – 5 with most of the kids getting 2-3.

Great! I’m glad she will have classes that will actually challenge her and move faster than the regular classes. Classes where if you miss a day or two, you could have a problem for the rest of the semester. Oh, and did I mention that the first day of school is August 7th?

Have you caught on yet?

Yes. I spent days agonizing over the fact that I had planned to take her out for 2 ½ days at the end of August. Only 3 weeks from the beginning of middle school. My decision was: take her out and possibly cause her to be behind from the start? Or cancel the trip?

And here comes the whining: “But I don’t want to be a good parent! I want to see “Wishes” on my actual birthday!!!” (If I could have gotten away with a temper tantrum, I would have done it)

But logic won out and I came to grips with the fact that I needed to do what was best for her, so we decided that we would not be going to Disney World in August.

The silver lining: there was a week in October that the school district had decided that Monday and Tuesday were going to be student holidays, so it would be a four day weekend. We could leave Friday after school, have 3 full days at the parks, and then head home on Tuesday. It could work!

 

[MissLiz]

Let’s recap:
Aug 29th – my 40th birthday
Aug 7th – first day of middle school for my oldest daughter
Aug 29th – Sept 2nd – original trip at Bay Lake Tower….getting ready to cancel
Oct 7th and 8th – student holiday for DD11, for some reason

Okay, everyone caught up? Kind of? Good.

So, it’s now the middle of May and I’m going to look for DVC availability at less than 5 months out during Food & Wine, MNSSHP, and over the Tower of Terror 10k weekend. You think there’s going to be anything available?

Ummmm…..


Well, yes, yes there is! A 1 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs Resort!


Oooh, that’s a lot of points. Like, a lotta lotta points. We are a strictly studio family and that point count was ugly. Before I booked it, I wanted to double-check the school schedule to make sure there really were two days off that week.

There were! And, as a bonus, the school board had just approved the budget for next year and had added two furlough days for the Thursday and Friday before the Monday and Tuesday holiday! Holy baloney, Mickey! We can get some extra days in there!

Let me check availability:

Yes! The same 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs is available from Thursday to Tuesday, so it was booked! We’ve officially changed our dates to Oct 2nd – Oct 8th!!! And we’ve gained a few days!

Let’s partay!!!!