Can't commit to a real trippie but want to try!

[r4blessings]

Hi everyone!! I am a trip report junkie. I especially love trip reports that have kids in them (I have four) and lots of pictures. I love them so much that I read them all the time once we have a trip planned, but then when we get home depression sinks in and I can't bear to read anymore. I really wanted to write a trip report for a lot of reasons. I love reading them, I love getting to know other dis'rs who read them, plus everyone chimes in with such great advice and I still need it! But once we return we go right back to school, and with a DH that is a teacher and four kiddies I know Sept will be crazy, so I'm warning you of the possibility of an incomplete report!

We are heading to the Poly on August 24th to August 31st! I am so excited this time, b/c we were going to go somewhere else and we switched. We live on Long Island and drive down to Disney each August. My DH is a teacher and teaches summer school as well, so the only time he has off in the summer is the last two 1/2 weeks of August. I love going in the summer, and with free dining, I love it even more! This will be our fourth trip down in August and I can't wait. And I promise you, we all love driving! My kiddies are so used to it, we have the same plan every time and it almost always goes off without a hitch!

All about us......

Me.....I am going to be 37 in two weeks. When that happened I have no idea! Luckily my DH is a little bit older so I'm the "baby". I was one of three girls and had (have) awesome parents that were not vacation people. We never went anywhere. Not a theme park, vacation or trip of any kind, except when it came time to look at colleges. My DH's family was a vacation family....went without fail every year, whatever trip they could afford. As a result, DH places a strong value on family vacations b/c he took them all the time, and I do also, b/c I never went on any. The first time I went to Disney was when my oldest son was four and my second son was just one. I was hooked! I found my home! It couldn't have been any better of a trip. I am a serious planner and am happiest when I am planning a vacation, holiday or birthday party! I am a SAHM and have been since baby#2 was born.

DH.....what can I say except that he is perfect! I mean truly, truly perfect! I met him when I was student teaching at the school he was teaching at and fell totally in love! When I left at the end of the year, he asked me out to dinner and we have been together ever since. He is an incredibly hard worker who teaches, tutors, coaches and works a lot of OT so that I can stay home with our kids and we can take fun vacations. He puts his family first all the time, and adores his children. His one weakness is that he is a SERIOUS surfcaster, and often leaves me at 8 or 9pm when its fishing season to stand out in the surf fishing for striped bass often till 2 am or so, then going to work the next day! But I can't complain, he loves fishing and we are all sleeping.....and I love to eat striped bass! He is as much a disney addict as I am!

DS9....will be turning 10 in June. Was a difficult, colicky baby but once he turned 1 has been an angel! He is funny, outgoing, athletic, very bright and a huge help around the house. Teachers and coaches rave about him, I just never (at this point) have to worry about him, he is very easy. He is truly best friends with ds#2 and a huge star wars, harry potter fan. The only bad thing I could say about him is that he is a very picky eater. Like buttered pasta and pizza only eater. Loves disney and loves all the big rides!


DS6....will be turning 7 in August. A huge star wars and lego fan (downtown disney is an event!) Loves his older brother with a passion, cuddles and spoils his baby brother with a passion and tolerates his younger dsis! A little shy, but has a real "boy" sense of humor. Can burp his ABC's..... Likes most of the rides and generally so happy at Disney!

DD4.....well, she was the angel infant! Then she turned one!! She is most like tinkerbell. She adores her brothers and father!! She is spoiled mostly by DH. I am really enjoying doing all the girly princess things with her b/c she is my only girl and because as much as I love my parents they never did anything girly with us! No make-up, dress up, dolls, etc. I think my dad wanted boys! She is tough as nails, very athletic (loves to compete against her brothers and usually holds her own) absolutely beautiful (of course) she just sparkles!

DS2 ....will be turning three right after we leave Disney! Was a cranky baby too like oldest ds, but now is so laid back and easy going. Very funny and loves Thomas the train and little einstiens! Sings a lot, and is used to being in his stroller at every lacrosse, soccer and baseball game so disney is a breeze with him! Is happiest when the whole family is together!

So there it is.......anyone want to hear how this trip came to be?

 

[r4blessings]

Ok....so now that you know who we are, I'll tell you how this disney trip came to be.

My DH's sister who is truly a DSIL and her husband who is also awesome and their two girls are really the only people we have on my husbands side of the family. A lot has happened in his family over the last three years and it has just made all of us realize how special and precious we are to each other. They have two beautiful girls DN14 and DN11 who are so close to our kids. Both neices adore our kids and love to spend time with them, and our kids idolize them. My dd4 wants to be them! And all our kiddies are spoiled rotten by DSIL and DBIL.

DBIL turned 40 last June and DSIL threw him a huge banana: My DH was turning 40 in Feb and SIL and I talked about maybe a trip since my DH would hate for me to spend money on a party, he'd rather do something with the kids. DSIL and DBIL are total Universal Studios people and suggested that we go there over the Feb break to celebrate. I wanted to see how we did budget wise over Christmas (four kids you know!) Anyway, on Halloween they gave my DH a birthday card with a note inside that said ressies had been made in our name for the Feb break at the Hard Rock Hotel and that they would be going with us! They paid for the room and the tickets as DH's birthday present! Aren't they awesome!? All we had to do was drive.

Fast forward to Feb, we drove down to HRH and met them there and had an amazing week. DH loved Universal, found the HRH to be beyond awesome and very relaxing. The kids had an absolute ball, as did we. Then DH suggested coming back in August for our vacation. I had had a great time, but was secretly longing for disney, but wanted my DH to pick what he really wanted. DH called HRH and got an awesome rate and booked the concierge level for us!

But the more we talked the more we realized that this vacation would NOT be as fun and relaxing for us as it had in Feb. DSIL and DBIL would not be going (DN had field hockey camp). So only one of us would be able to go on a ride at a time, and a lot of those rides were not an option for our younger kids. Also, no DNieces at the pool to play with the kiddies while we were at the hot tub sipping our mudslides! So one of us would have to be in the big pool or the kiddie pool while the other was alone in the hot tub. And it would just feel so different without them.

Then......free dining was announced for disney visa holders, and I knew the general public offer would not be far behind. We had free dining two years ago, missed it last year but paid for it so we knew the value. DH crunched the numbers and decided that we could do the Poly (where we stayed the first two times and just loved!) for the same price as the HRH concierge for pretty much the same price. So....the Thursday free dining came out, I was on the phone at 7am, on hold for 43 minutes and finally booked. I couldn't be happier. And our kids are thrilled.

As my ds6 said..."I'm excited because I still really like Mickey and Chip and Dale"! So we will save Universal for a future trip with DSIL and DBIL or for when our kids get older and the magic of Disney doesn't seem so magical (although I don't know when that will happen).

I'm a super planner and knew my 180 day window was already over, so after hanging up with disney I renewed with tourguidemike.com and did my itinerary that day, so that I could call for my ADR's that night. I knew so many people would be booking that day, so I needed to figure out what ADR's we needed.

Up next.......

our itinerary
my ADR's
our trip down