Diary of a Wimpy Family

[sharona]

Hi All. I’m planning to write a trip report when we get back from our upcoming Girls Only Mother’s Day trip to WDW. We’ll be heading down in a few days and I wanted to get a bit of a head start. I hope it’s something people will be interested in hearing about!

There’s me - early 40s, work full time, single parent to DD8 for the past 5 years. DD8 - sweet and cranky at the same time as only an 8 year old girl can be. DD loves stuffed animals and Katie Perry. She’s still my baby and loves a good cuddle but sometimes she’s so mature and grown up it makes me cry! And my Mom – late 60s and has more energy than anyone I know. We live in the Northeast and are really looking forward to some warm weather. We usually escape the cold in February or March for a week or so. Work schedules and an unrelenting flow of family events pushed our plans out this year and we ended up with May 7-15.

When I mentioned our plans for this trip, DM said she wanted to join us which we were thrilled about. She’s great fun to travel with, DD loves to be with her Nana and it’s so much less stressful to have another adult along. I love spending time w/ just me and DD but it’s hard to be the only adult 24/7 for 8 days at a place like WDW and when it’s just you and an 8 yo, you don’t get any type of break at all since you need to be with them at all times.

We’re spending 8 nights at WDW. I booked us into Pop w/ a 25% PIN discount. We’ve heard so much about it from some friends who travel to WDW a lot and it looks like a fun place. Previously we stayed at POR and enjoyed it there but didn’t love it. DD asked to stay at AKL after seeing the pictures online but I had to tell her it was not in the budget for this trip. Then, like magic, I got a 40% off deluxe discount PIN in the mail the next day so I decided to call and check rates at AKL. With the discount, it was about $100 more per night than Pop. Well, I definitely didn’t want to pay that much more for the whole trip but after reading about split stays on the DIS, I decided to give it a try for a few nights. I changed our booking to 5 nights at Pop w/ the Kids Free promo and the last 3 nights at AKL w/ the room only discount. I ended up calling back to book a pool view since it was only a small price difference and having a balcony, I’d rather not be sitting out there looking at the parking lot. Alas – savannah view was out of our reach if we wanted to do the rest of the trip w/out worrying about pinching pennies.

I’m keeping AKL as a big surprise. I haven’t told anyone about it (well, except my 800 BFFs on the DIS!). I can’t wait to see DDs face when I tell her! It’s going to be the best surprise. I didn’t tell DM about it either since she is not the best secret keeper out there and also I wanted to give her a nice surprise too. DM will be thrilled with the AKL pool and hot tub and DD will be over the moon at all the animals and the theme-ing. I think I’m going to wait until the day before we are changing resorts to tell them. I want them to enjoy Pop and not spend that time waiting to get to AKL, if that makes sense? We might take a ride to AKL “ just to check it out for next trip” the day before our move and I’ll tell them then. I’d love to get them over there the morning of w/ no clue but I don’t see that happening since we’ll need to pack up and check out at Pop. I can be sneaky but not that sneaky!

Our plans:
We’re renting a car from MCO. We took the buses last trip and I wasn’t thrilled w/ the waiting and standing and the crowds at the end of the nights. Going to see how the other half lives this trip.

Itinerary – MK, EP, MK, Sea World, DHS/BB, AK, DHS, TL/MK, EP. We’re aiming for a few RDs and afternoon breaks at the pool most days. Going to go for the trifecta of Wishes, Illuminations and F! all in one trip. Special plans: Pick-a-pearl at Japan WS for Mother’s Day, Dolphins-Up-Close tour at SW, HDDR and lots of Kim Possible for DD so we can really see EP/WS.

ADRs – Rose & Crown, HDDR, 50s Prime Time (lunch), F! package at Mama Melrose, character breakfast at Tusker House, we’ll also be eating outside the World for a few meals.

We’re kind of ride wimps but we’re determined not to chicken out this trip. DD is tall enough now for any/all rides. I don’t think we’ll have a problem w/ BTMRR since there’s no big drop. DD loves Splash and even though I dread it, I’ll do it for her. I confess that I probably won’t open my eyes during the drop. Space is out for me because of my back and DD won’t ride it because you sit solo. We are definitely going to ride at least 2 of the 3 really scary rides (EE, ToT, RnRC). No really, we are! And DD has said she’ll go on HM this time if we go during the day. It’s a favorite of mine and I’m really looking forward to riding it with her and seeing the changes. We’ve been watching youtube to get ourselves ready for the scary rides. I have butterflies just thinking about that outdoor climb up EE – gulp.

We leave this Saturday and will be back on 5/16. I’m hoping to get the TR started a few days after coming back. Thanks for reading!

 

[clayfolks]

Have a great trip! I'll be looking for you again in about two weeks. Sounds like it will be really fun surprising your DD with AKL!! Can't wait to hear her reaction.