bbak30
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2010
Hi all and welcome to my 3rd trip report here on TheDis. I went back and forth on doing this trip report, but ultimately decided that I really like having recounting the details of my trip, so I decided to get started.
This trip was our second trip of 2015 and was to celebrate my oldest DDs 10th birthday! My parents, my niece, my in-laws and my sister-in-law were all joining us.
I will block out the faces of my in-laws, I’m not sure how they would feel about being online!
Our dates were October 23rd-October 31st. We were originally going to arrive on the 24th, but flights were so much cheaper when we arrived on the 23rd which was a Friday. We also spent the first 2 nights offsite, which was new for us and I was originally NOT happy about it. My in-laws own a timeshare through RCI and attempted to get us 2 2 bedroom condos with absolutely no luck. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to secure anything—I did tons of research and realized that October was among the busiest of times for DVC. And apparently 1 bedrooms are a lot easier to get than 2 bedrooms. Oh, well. Lesson learned on that front. We did end up securing 2 2 bedrooms at Saratoga Springs with free dining, but couldn’t check in until October 25th.
We went back and forth on what to do the first 2 nights. We were thinking about staying at Port Orleans-French Quarter, trying out a value and even splurging to pay the outrageous price to stay at Saratoga Springs. However, my ever so generous in-laws offered to get us a place at The Fountains off site. Originally I wasn’t too happy about this for a couple of reasons.
- We were flying and not driving, so logistically this would be difficult. I really didn’t want to rent a car, but stressed about getting to the resort from the airport and getting to the parks.
- I just really didn’t want to stay off-site! I was afraid we wouldn’t be immersed in the Disney Bubble. I was pouting and being a bit of a brat.
However, we LOVED The Fountains and had a great time there. We have tossed around the idea of staying there for future trips. It was really nice.
So we were set. 2 nights at The Fountains, October 23-October 25 and then 6 nights at Saratoga Springs, October 25-October 31. DDs birthday fell on a Thursday, October 29th and it was the perfect opportunity to try out MNSSHP! Our flight left New Orleans at 5:00 pm on Friday the 25th and we were set to leave MCO at 9:35 on Saturday, October 31st.
Leading up to the trip, I did ALL of the planning. This was super stressful to me because I was trying to please everyone. We are all so different and I was worried that the restaurants I chose would be disappointing or that someone would miss out on something they wanted to do. However, nobody was really giving me any input other than my SIL. So I made reservations (which wasn’t always easy when booking for 10) and put together a loose itinerary.
Turns out, I was stressing for nothing and we all had an AMAZING time!
Next up: Travel day!