February 2017 Pre-Trip Report

[tbhh1234]

Welcome to my very first Pre-Trip report! ​

I'm sorry the title isn't very original...but it is what it is. I'm always looking for pre-trip & trip reports for the same time I have a trip planned, but they are hard to find because everyone is just so original with the titles! Chill people! It is not that serious! Just kidding. Lol.

This will be our little family of 4's 3rd trip since December 2014! That is when we went for the very first time (all of us) & that is also when I caught the Disney Bug!
Those of you who have it know what I'm talking about. It's basically a disease & we cannot be held accountable for the trips we plan. Hahahaha!! When we went in 2014 my DD was 8 & my DS was 4. It was so magical...I honestly could not imagine not going back! I convinced my DH we needed just ONE MORE trip & we went again in September 2015. He is just so good to me! Lol! Now I've somehow convinced him that it will be a great idea to go again...but this time with my sister & her family! He truly DOES love me y'all!

Who are we??

So who are we you might be asking? Let me introduce you to us!

First there is DH. He is the amazing man that works so hard to fund these trips for me. He is my high school sweetheart & love of my life!

DH is not the Disney lover I am, but he does enjoy eating, drinking & riding rides. So basically it's a win, win for everyone right?
He loves the finer things in life...Deluxe hotels, signature restaurants, expensive drinks, etc. Oh & he is also in love with TOT & RNR.

Next is YOURS TRULY. I'm a 37 yr old homeschooling momma of 2. I also run a jewelry business on the side & plan vacations...whether we actually take them or not! Hahaha! It's a pretty fun little hobby, which would be even more fun with an endless amount of vacation money!

I love everything about Disney, but my favorite park is probably Epcot. I'm obsessed with the World Showcase! Seriously...it is so awesome! And so educational. Right? Yes, this is why we continue to take field trips to Disney! So much education built right in. Hahaha!

Then there are the children. We have been nice enough to bring them on all the trips so far.

First is DD. She recently turned 10 & officially became a Disney adult...and a lot more expensive. But we will bring her along anyway.

She's amazing! She's a cheerleader, an amazing softball player & the best big sister any annoying little brother could ever ask for. We think we'll keep her. She loves Disney, but isn't our bravest rider. She loves Big Thunder, but hates Splash Mountain...or anything that has a 'drop.'

Finally we have DS. He will be almost 7 this trip! What?! I cannot believe it! My BABY is almost 7!! He is like his daddy...he loves ALL things sports & he is ALL boy! He is hilarious & smart & we love him to pieces!!

And here we are again...


Ok! So now you know who WE are. Next time I'll be back with the rest of the cast & some of the details! ​

 

[tbhh1234]

More Intros

Ok people...we are not taking this trip alone! We are bringing along my sister & her family! I am so excited because guess what?! They have NEVER been! Oh my goodness this is just going to be so much fun. Or it will be awful...we shall see won't we?! Lol! I'm not a huge fan of vacationing with extended family. Sorry. In my experience, everyone vacations differently & it can be really hard to get everyone on the same page & happy. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. So...when we first started planning this trip, I KNEW what I was getting myself into. But...you only live once & in reality, family is the most important thing! We need to take these opportunities when we get them! Life is short y'all!!

My sister is very easy going & has given me permission to just 'plan everything since you know what you're doing & I don't.' Oh. Ok. Absolutely no pressure. SHE is easygoing...but she has 2 teenage boys, a new husband & a 10 yr old step-daughter. I've been around these teenagers my whole life & they are not so easygoing. All I can do is my best you guys! Lol! I have never planned a trip for 9. That is stressing me out just a little.

First, let me introduce you to my DS & her new hubby! We will call her K & he will be B. Aren't they cute?

Next, are her boys. First we have my dear 17 yr old nephew, which we will call D. Here he is with DS.

And here is dear 14 yr old nephew, also with DS. We will call him L.

Last we have my sweet new niece, who will be called A. (I feel like I'm in an episode of Pretty Little Liars. ) A & her dad actually went to Disney a few years ago for a spur of the moment birthday trip. I think they only stayed a few days & didn't do much planning. I'm excited for them to see Disney MY way. I'm aware how bossy that sounded.

And it will not let me post a picture of her...so you will have to use your imaginations! Sorry! I will try on the next post.

​

 

[tbhh1234]

Let me try this again...

Here is A! Now you have visuals of the entire cast! Moving on with the details!

Our Family:

When: Feb 12-19 2017
Where: Boardwalk Villa Studio
Why: Really? Lol. Pick a reason, any reason. Because it is a Sunday in Feb? Works for me!

K's Family:

When: Feb 12-18 2017
Where: Caribbean Beach Resort
Why: Because I told them Disney was AWESOME & their life wouldn't be complete without a trip!

Transportation

We will all be flying, but her kids do not know this. They think they're driving down in a rented 'National Lampoon's' family van. They just decided to fly a few weeks ago, but they plan to surprise the kids later. None of the kids have ever flown. We've all been sworn to secrecy. They even showed them this picture of the 'rented van.'

Hehehehe. The boys are scheming ways to make money to buy their own plane ticket. And I think that's great! Now if they actually DO earn any money, they may have some spending money when they get there.

Other Miscellaneous Details

At first, I kept thinking K & her family may back out. We like to stay Deluxe if possible, so I went ahead & rented us a studio at the Boardwalk using Dave's DVC Rentals. We stayed at The Beach Club last year & really wanted to stay there again, but nothing was available. We LOVE Epcot & HS, so this location is perfect for us! However, part of me wishes I had waited on them so we could've been at the same resort. Who knows? We may be thankful for the breaks! We'll see.

We have a rough list of ADR's planned, but things keep changing. I'm finding it extremely hard predict what another family will want to eat & do every day. Also, in past trips I used certain crowd calendars to help plan park days. But, Disney has changed so much so quickly that those aren't even available anymore. We've never been in Feb so I don't know what to expect as far as crowd levels...in comparison to past trips. Also, I know the weather may be nuts & we should plan for anything. Lol.

Being a homeschool family, we are flexible with our vacations. However, for this trip, we are planning around A's school & this will be her spring break. K's boys are just missing a week of school so they might have some catch up work to do during the week.

The kids & I have been reading Harry Potter this school year. No, I have never read HP. Nor have I watched the movies. Oops. But...we are LOVING it. We're only on the 2nd book, but I can't help but wonder if we shouldn't add on a few days for Universal. Plus, DS loves super heroes. Any thoughts? Should we go for it? ​

 

[tbhh1234]

Arrival Day Plans!!

Now that you know the who, when & why...we can get into all the whats!! We will be flying out at 8:35am. The nearest airport is an hour and a half away, so it will be an early morning. Arrival day is always tough for me. It seems like there are so many options. But, you definitely don't want to over do it. And then again, you hate to get there early & just 'hang out' all day. With all the excitement, that would seem a little underwhelming. Soooo many decisions!!

After much thought & a lot of back & forth, we have decided on going to MAGIC KINGDOM!! How can we go wrong?!

We are scheduled to arrive in Orlando at 11:25am. Then we will board our Magical Express & be on our way! We are hoping our rooms will be ready, but no big deal if not. We are planning to split up, check in at our resorts & grab some lunch. I'm sure we'll all be starving!

K & her family are planning to grad lunch at CBR & check out the resort. Since this will be their first time, there will be so much to see! If their room is ready, they will get settled & rest for a bit. We both plan to have Garden Grocer orders so there will be that to take care of too.

Our family will do the same...only at Boardwalk!
We stayed at The Beach Club last year, so we know the area, but we are still so excited to check out the Boardwalk. Lunch is tough. We may get something from Boardwalk Bakery. OR...if we end up getting PH, we will head into Epcot & eat one of our favorite QS...Yorkshire Fish & Chips!! SOOO GOOD!!

After we have all been fed & gotten settled in, we will head out to MK! Its so hard to plan for FP because I just have no idea how long all this will take, but I still have some time I guess.

Either way...we know where we will be eating our first night...

CHEF MICKEY'S!!


Believe it or not, this will be a first for our family! I've read mixed reviews & I can't honestly say I'm that excited about it. But, hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised. We all thought it would be fun to start the trip off with a character meal. The boys weren't thrilled about princesses & they seemed more excited about Chef Mickey's than Crystal Palace...so Chef Mickey's it is. Our reservation is for 7:50pm. I'm hoping we can fit in a few rides before & after...assuming they change the hours. If not, maybe just a few before dinner. And if they do extend the hours, it would be awesome to see Wishes on our first night!

Last year we spent our first night at AKL & had an amazing dinner at Sanaa. That will definitely be hard to beat!!




Next up will be DAY 2!
​

 

[STAYC18]

We are going Feb 7-15..maybe our paths will cross...we have never been in Feb. either...hoping it's a little warm we are from New England so it should feel warm to us...

 

[thebyrdwoman]

Woohoo! We just booked for February 11-18. I'll be following along!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans!

 

[April2713]

As a Harry Potter fan I highly recommend going to universal! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is such a fun experience. Usually DH and I go to universal for one day and I feel like we get to do everything we want in a day, even other parts of universal but since you have a group I say you can definitely see it all in two days. DH and I will actually be arriving on the 19th when ya'll leave. February is when we always go, it's not overly crowded and the weather is perfect but can be chilly in the mornings and at night.

 

[cyndiella]

Your link worked!! So I'll be following along! Hopefully it will pass the time until we're ready to leave for our vaca. We'll be going to WDW right after our first cruise. So excited!. Anyway, Have a magical time!

 

[tbhh1234]

We are going Feb 7-15..maybe our paths will cross...we have never been in Feb. either...hoping it's a little warm we are from New England so it should feel warm to us...

Here's hoping for great weather & decent crowds!!

 

[tbhh1234]

Woohoo! We just booked for February 11-18. I'll be following along!

Awesome! Where will you be staying? It's getting closer!

 

[tbhh1234]

I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans!

I'm excited about making them! I need to get on the ball! Lol.

 

[tbhh1234]

As a Harry Potter fan I highly recommend going to universal! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is such a fun experience. Usually DH and I go to universal for one day and I feel like we get to do everything we want in a day, even other parts of universal but since you have a group I say you can definitely see it all in two days. DH and I will actually be arriving on the 19th when ya'll leave. February is when we always go, it's not overly crowded and the weather is perfect but can be chilly in the mornings and at night.

Thanks for the input! It would only be our family of 4 going to Universal. I just don't know if we can swing the extra $1,000 or more it would cost us to spend 1-2 days there. But I really want to go!!

 

[tbhh1234]

Your link worked!! So I'll be following along! Hopefully it will pass the time until we're ready to leave for our vaca. We'll be going to WDW right after our first cruise. So excited!. Anyway, Have a magical time!

That sounds so awesome! Hoping to do a cruise one day too!

 

[tbhh1234]

I'm BACK!!

You may wonder what has taken me so long to get this going? I have been planning like a mad woman & accomplishing...nothing!! Anyone else do this? I have made ADR's, canceled ADR's, added days to the trip, canceled days, changed flights, changed them back! Could there be a bigger hot mess than me?? Please someone tell me I am NOT the only one that is doing this nonsense! I must be the most indecisive person on the planet.

So, at this point, it is mostly back to the same except we are leaving a day earlier. We will now fly in Feb 11, arriving at 4pm & staying one night at Port Orleans Riverside. I'm excited to be back there...the location of our very first family trip to Disney.

We will be eating OOP & it will be late afternoon, so no big plans. I think we'll just eat at Riverside Mill & maybe try to catch Yehaa Bob?!

Either way...we'll be hanging out at POR for the night.

So I originally booked OUR immediate family 2 extra nights on the end of our vacation. I justified doing this because the return flight was so much cheaper 2 days later. However, it wasn't cheap enough to cover a Disney resort for 2 nights. Disney logic right? I mean there is real world logic & there is Disney logic. They are two totally different things!

We were going to spend 2 glorious nights alone as a family at the Wilderness Lodge. The possibilities were endless. We could hang at the resort all day, go back to the parks, eat wherever we want, maybe go to Universal? We would do whatever our little hearts desired. Rainbows & sunshine...right? Well, then I got greedy. I started thinking...what if we came a night early too? We saved so much money switching the flight...it's doable. Then we can have a fresh start our first day! I'm so brilliant y'all!

But, my sister, & my kids especially, were super excited about all flying down together. I mean, that's part of the fun of taking a vacation together...I guess. So, I tried to talk her into leaving a day early too. Unfortunately, she is still using real world logic & said it wasn't in their budget. So I had to take matters into my own hands. I checked their flight & the return had gone down so I was able to get them a $90 credit, which made it only $40 to change the flight to a day earlier. Then, because it's almost Christmas & my sister's birthday...I felt generous & paid for the flight change AND the room. Yaaay! Another day for all of us at Disney! Woohoo! This feeling was quickly followed by... What. The. Heck. Is. Wrong. With. Me???? Is there a support group for people like us? Hello, I have a Disney addiction. I need help. I'm ashamed.

After the buyers remorse set in, I quickly canceled MY family's extra 2 days. BOO!! This is me throwing a tantrum. Lol!

I want my days back...so I can't guarantee that our trip will stay this way. My real world logic is currently fighting it out hard with my Disney logic. We'll see what happens...​

 

[tbhh1234]

Day 1

It looks like Arrival Day has now turned into Day 1. I managed to grab us a PPO for BOG at 8:25am. MK is scheduled to open at 9. We don't really care to use a QS credit for BOG breakfast, so I think we will just order some cupcakes OOP. The main idea here is to get in early, get some castle pics & let the family see BOG. It seems like the perfect way to get in the park early, and without spending a ton of money. Anyone have any reviews on doing it? I'm hoping to get a ride on Mine Train before the line gets crazy. In both of our trips to Disney, we've never made it to MK for rope drop. OOPS. We've gotten there just after it has opened though. In fact, we've never made actual rope drop at any park. We have obviously been slacking!

BOG was our very first restaurant on our very first day of our very first trip. My planning wasn't the best at this point & we had a ton packed in, after a VERY early flight. FAIL! Our ADR time was after 8pm, which was late for my kids at that age, especially after being up since 4am. Not only did we wait about an hour past our reservation time, but it was COLD outside! We were exhausted & freezing by the the time we got seated & then the food was just...ok. Our steak was tough & overcooked. I'm sure they were still working out the kinks of being a new restaurant. But, this experience is why we've never felt the need to re-book BOG. I'm not expecting anything amazing from the breakfast...like I said before...it is purely for strategy & atmosphere. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a mistake.

Here are some TERRIBLE pictures from our first BOG dinner. Enjoy!





We still have our Chef Mickey's dinner planned for 7:50pm. Since this is no longer a travel day, and because I would love to watch Wishes, this time doesn't seem to be the best idea anymore. I tried to get earlier, but nothing available so far. My plan is to be there early for BOG, get in as many rides as possible during the morning, & then leave for an afternoon break. We both will need to check in to our next resorts. My sister & her family will be going to CBR & we will be at BWV. Now that people check in online, is this step even necessary? Hmmm, see I'm not even sure about our first day. The struggle is so REAL people!! So basically, I've added a day, a reservation for breakfast... and everything else is still up in the air. I have to make FP next week! I really hope I get it together by then. GEEZ. I will go back to scouring everyone else's trip reports for ideas... ​