Fall trip planning with large family

[QuiverofArrows]

Hi. Please be patient as I learn how to post and where. I posted one other post (I think) awhile back but don't know how to find it. Do responses get sent to your emails? Since I'm curious about trip planning for a family, sewing, money saving tips and who knows what else, I thought this forum was the right fit. Hope so. But, maybe I'm supposed to ask each of my questions on individual forums.

I'm a homeschooling mom to 7, ages 22 to 9 mo. Our youngest had open heart surgery at one day old and could likely be facing future surgeries. The future is unknown right now but we are trying to take one day at a time and enjoy our time together. So, this fall we are planning on taking a trip to Florida. We'll be staying with family over Thanksgiving and checking into our villa on Sunday, November 28th.

Villa - We found a villa that is about a 15 minute drive to Disney. It's a
4BR/3BA home with a gated entrance and private pool for less than $750/week. We've stayed there before. Because of our family size, this seemed the most economical option. We need a full kitchen because we'll be bringing some meals with us that I'm going to freeze ahead of time. Any other ideas on where families can stay? We are only going to the VMCP one night and a full day of Disney with the Give Day passes.

Meals - We would like to consider eating at one of the restaurants that would give us a view of the fireworks one night when we aren't there. Any recommendations? I know I need to make reservations soon.

Chef Mickey - Would you recommend brunch or supper?

Beads - Does anyone know where I can find some Chef Mickey beads? Just the characters? I've seen some adorable jewelry but I can't buy all 4 girls a necklace and bracelet for every meal/day but we could make some jewelry.

Outfits/Appliques - I can not applique worth anything. I've tried and cried. I can sew and am fairly pleased with the results as long as I don't get obsessed with how my seams look on the inside. Are there some character appliques that people sell already made? Where can I buy these?

Hoop-Dee-Doo - Do you recommend going here? Is it worth the money? Should we pay extra for the Category 1 seating?

Thanks for your help. We just received another hospital bill and we've been planning this for a couple years and we've saved, as have children so I'm not taking this trip away from them barring any emergencies but we do need to be mindful of what we spend. I'm trying to take our family of 9 and spend a week there and do it all for under $3,200, including meals and gas for a minivan traveling about 1000 miles. I have most fabric here but will need a couple t-shirts and the appliques.

Tentative dates planned below. Is it really crowded the week AFTER Thanksgiving? We've only been one other time and that was when we just went to the VMCP. It was the 1st week of December and gorgeous!

Yes, I am already thinking about what outfits to wear when.

Day 1 – Sunday, November 28th
Alvin and Simon outfits for Girls and Mickey Star Wars for boys
Check into Villa
Downtown Disney (Earl of Sandwich and Ghirardelli)
Celebration City (snow?)

Day 2 – Monday, November 29th
Chef Mickey outfits for Morning. Christmas Mickey and Minnie for VMCP
Sleep In
Chef Mickey for late brunch
Very Merry Christmas Party with friends.
Watch 2nd parade – have someone get something to eat while other person gets a place to sit?

Day 3 - Tuesday, November 30th
? outfits
Friends arrive
Sleep in a little.
Pool/Rest
Hoop-Dee-Doo Review (category 1 seating) ? Earliest show possible
Bed early

Day 4 – Wednesday, December 1st –
Minnie for girls and Pirates for boys?
Disney Day at Magic Kingdom.


Day 5 – Thursday, December 2nd
Rest/Pool

Day 6 – Friday, December 3rd – Mickey golf
Pool/Rest
Mini golf?
Beach?

Day 7 – Saturday, December 4th
Leave villa and head home

 

[Srackangast]

I home school as well but not as many My kids loved hoop dee doo we laughed so hard. I have DS16, DS14 ,DD10 ,and DD4 . It was worth the money to us. I found some really cheap t-shirts and the kids help make them for our trip. I found it here on the board but don't remember where. You mix flour and water and put it into a squirt bottle. You want it a little thicker than mustard. We did the Mickey design from Disney Quest, easy squiggly lines.Set out in the sun to dry. Then, you spray paint with fabric paint. We had yellow shirts and used orange, red and black because we went in the Fall. . Then, remove the flour, water mixture. It pulls right off. You could make any design. (Just an idea) I also bought cheap(inexpensive) material at wal-mart and had matching sun dresses made for the girls. Hope you have a great time and I will pray for your little one.

 

[Srackangast]

Just wanted to let you know we went during that time of year a while back and it was perfect. No lines

Also, my older kids loved Ohanas at the Polynesian,they got up and learned to hula. They serve family style. It is right across from the Mk so you could walk out and see fireworks. You can see them from Chef Mickey as well. Kids loved the buffet(boys) there and characters (girls).

 

[mommalissa]

You could do tye-dyed shirts. On here somewhere is directions of how to do. We did these for our trip last fall. There is only five of us but we picked colors everyone could agree on and everyone had different colored Mickey heads.

The DISboutiquers also have ideas and tutorials on their first page of how to make things or where to find them. This was a big help for us. My sister did us the appliqued mickey head shirts after reading one of their how-to's.

Target had Disney character jewelry - bracelet and necklace - that you might be interested in..but no chef mickey. It was in the dollar area.

We did Chef Mickey's at dinner and it was great. If we hadn't been trying to get back to our room in time to get packed up to leave early the next morning we would have stayed to watch the fireworks. However if you wanted to save money by eating breakfast instead of dinner, you could go to Downtown Disney one night and ride the boats over to the Swan. If you are on the boardwalk you can see the fireworks from Epcot.

Have a great trip!

 

[QuiverofArrows]

Thank you all. We had to change our days around a little but I plan on calling and getting the VMCP tickets today. I need to triple check my days for Chef Mickey and Hoop-Dee-Doo but I think I need 180 days to reserve them, right? Just want to make sure we don't miss out or children will be very disappointed. Thanks!