After 13 months of planning, we are at 13 days and counting until Disney Invasion 2008 begins!
Here's the story ...
My DH
and I 
, are Disney freaks! I grew up going to Disney every year as my grandparents lived nearby in Lakeland. It was a 45 minute drive away and visits always included at least one day at the Magic Kingdom. One of my most special memories is staying at the Contemporary when I was about 6 years old and our room overlooked the MK. In college, instead of going to Daytona or PCB, DH and I went to Disney. Our friends all went to Sandals or Cancun on their honeymoons, we went to Disney. Since 1991, we have only skipped going in the year 2000, as our first DS was born in April of that year.
Around Halloween of 2007, we decided to take our three boys: 8, and twins 4, to Disney for Thanksgiving week of 2008. We knew it would be crowded, but since Georgia can charge parents for a misdeminor for unexcused absences, we are stuck. Luckily, our county gives us the full week for Thanksgiving off. We thought that DH's dad and wife might join us as they live in Sarasota and we started looking for an off-site house to rent. We love staying on-site, but we like having seperate bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a private pool more than Disney Magic all the time.
I mentioned to my father in early November of 07 that we planned to be in Disney for Thanksgiving 08. Since he's from Lakeland and goes down there often for Thanksgiving, I thought maybe we'd get together for some turkey. A few days later, he called back to let us know that he and his wife would be down in Florida for Thanksgiving 08 and would like to join us! We started looking for a bigger house...
A few days after that, my father called back and said he'd mentioned the trip to my brother, who said that the trip sounded like fun. I called my brother, invited him and his family (SIL, two nephews ages 4 and 2) to join us, he accepted. Restarted the house search ...
A few days after that, my brother called me, and asked if his in-laws could come too! Why not?!?
After a few days of no calls requesting more invites, we found and settled on this house: http://www.vrbo.com/Beta/8232. It looks big enough to spread out in and not be on top of each other.
We booked the house at Christmas of 2007. My 8 year old DS became very excited at the thought of staying in a "mansion". I think he's more excited about the house than the parks!
My father's family from Lakeland is going to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. So far my grandmother, my aunt and cousin, and my uncle and his girlfriend are joining us. I am hoping my cousin and his family will come too, especially since their son is only a few days older than our oldest son
I got the boys this year's Disney Vacation Planner and sent one to my nephews too. They are very excited about the attractions and shows. One of my twins is determined to ride the "airplane rollercoaster" (Barnstormer) WITH Goofy. I hope he's not too disappointed!
We decided that everyone could do their own thing, but we did plan to do the Fantasmic Package at the Studios. I counted out our 180 days, and made the ADR for all of us for Wednesday, 11/26 at 4:30. We will also go to Chef Mickey's on 11/22 (arrival day) for dinner and a monorail ride. It will be just my DH and our boys that night as everyone else's flights will not have arrived in time. We will be driving from Atlanta, my father and his wife from Philadelphia, my brother and his family from Wichita, and my brothers in-laws will not be joining us until Monday from Atlanta.
I have been making up a folder for everyone to leave in their rooms as sort of a welcome package. It has everyone's itineraries, directions to the parks, group plans for the week, park info and even a scavenger hunt. We are all quite competitive, so I think I will ask each family to throw in some $$$ and the winner of the hunt gets the pot.
So now it's just waiting to leave. DH woke up with a cold yesterday. Good! He should be healthy by the time we leave and hopefully everyone in our family who he's infected will have burned thorugh it too by the 22nd. We have paid off the rental house, made our daily attack plan, the kids have saved for souvenirs. We are ready. I hope Disney is!
Noelle
Here's the story ...
My DH
and I , are Disney freaks! I grew up going to Disney every year as my grandparents lived nearby in Lakeland. It was a 45 minute drive away and visits always included at least one day at the Magic Kingdom. One of my most special memories is staying at the Contemporary when I was about 6 years old and our room overlooked the MK. In college, instead of going to Daytona or PCB, DH and I went to Disney. Our friends all went to Sandals or Cancun on their honeymoons, we went to Disney. Since 1991, we have only skipped going in the year 2000, as our first DS was born in April of that year.Around Halloween of 2007, we decided to take our three boys:
8, and twins 4, to Disney for Thanksgiving week of 2008. We knew it would be crowded, but since Georgia can charge parents for a misdeminor for unexcused absences, we are stuck. Luckily, our county gives us the full week for Thanksgiving off. We thought that DH's dad and wife might join us as they live in Sarasota and we started looking for an off-site house to rent. We love staying on-site, but we like having seperate bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a private pool more than Disney Magic all the time.I mentioned to my father in early November of 07 that we planned to be in Disney for Thanksgiving 08. Since he's from Lakeland and goes down there often for Thanksgiving, I thought maybe we'd get together for some turkey. A few days later, he called back to let us know that he and his wife would be down in Florida for Thanksgiving 08 and would like to join us! We started looking for a bigger house...
A few days after that, my father called back and said he'd mentioned the trip to my brother, who said that the trip sounded like fun. I called my brother, invited him and his family (SIL, two nephews ages 4 and 2) to join us, he accepted. Restarted the house search ...
A few days after that, my brother called me, and asked if his in-laws could come too! Why not?!?
After a few days of no calls requesting more invites, we found and settled on this house: http://www.vrbo.com/Beta/8232. It looks big enough to spread out in and not be on top of each other.
We booked the house at Christmas of 2007. My 8 year old DS became very excited at the thought of staying in a "mansion". I think he's more excited about the house than the parks!
My father's family from Lakeland is going to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. So far my grandmother, my aunt and cousin, and my uncle and his girlfriend are joining us. I am hoping my cousin and his family will come too, especially since their son is only a few days older than our oldest son
I got the boys this year's Disney Vacation Planner and sent one to my nephews too. They are very excited about the attractions and shows. One of my twins is determined to ride the "airplane rollercoaster" (Barnstormer) WITH Goofy. I hope he's not too disappointed!
We decided that everyone could do their own thing, but we did plan to do the Fantasmic Package at the Studios. I counted out our 180 days, and made the ADR for all of us for Wednesday, 11/26 at 4:30. We will also go to Chef Mickey's on 11/22 (arrival day) for dinner and a monorail ride. It will be just my DH and our boys that night as everyone else's flights will not have arrived in time. We will be driving from Atlanta, my father and his wife from Philadelphia, my brother and his family from Wichita, and my brothers in-laws will not be joining us until Monday from Atlanta.
I have been making up a folder for everyone to leave in their rooms as sort of a welcome package. It has everyone's itineraries, directions to the parks, group plans for the week, park info and even a scavenger hunt. We are all quite competitive, so I think I will ask each family to throw in some $$$ and the winner of the hunt gets the pot.
So now it's just waiting to leave. DH woke up with a cold yesterday. Good! He should be healthy by the time we leave and hopefully everyone in our family who he's infected will have burned thorugh it too by the 22nd. We have paid off the rental house, made our daily attack plan, the kids have saved for souvenirs. We are ready. I hope Disney is!
Noelle
