He said we could go back. October Anniversary trip!

[chicagoshannon]

I didn't think I'd be doing a PTR this soon. We just returned from Disney in May and we're going back in October!

I'm Shannon- stay at home mom (for now). I'm in love with Disney even more now after taking our 2 year old there in May. My favorite ride is Expedition Everest.

Madeline- 2 years old and full of energy. She'll be 2 and half on our trip. Her favorite rides are Pirates and Snow White. She talks about them daily. We'd be back at Disney right now if she had her way!

Eric- underpaid Software Engineer. His favorite ride is also Expedition Everest. He wasn't planning on going back to Disney until just before Madeline is in Kindergarten.

Our trip this past May was somewhat unplanned too. Our original plans for Disney were to go in Feb. of 2010. We had a tough year up until March so we decided to bump up the trip. I needed the diversion of planning a trip and an actual family trip to just relax and get away.
The link to our May trip is in my signature.

Before we left for Disney I planned on getting an anual pass because Madeline and I were going to go back with my parents in 2010 in Feb. while she is still free. About a week into our May trip I realized I really wanted a family trip with just the 3 of us. When would this trip happen? How was I going to convince Eric to go back before Madeline was 5

 

[crocko]

Enjoyed your May TR and ready to follow along on your October PTR.

 

[Kirby]

Subscribing!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We're planning an October anniversary trip as well! When is your anniversary? Lucky you, going twice in one year!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Enjoyed your May TR and ready to follow along on your October PTR.

Subscribing!

Thanks for coming over

We're planning an October anniversary trip as well! When is your anniversary? Lucky you, going twice in one year!

Our Anniversary is Oct 23. 5 years.

 

[chicagoshannon]

As I was saying, about a week into our trip I realized I wanted to go with just the 3 of us. That same day Eric decided to check his work email. He was given another 2 weeks of vacation! This bumped him up to 5 weeks total. This gave me motivation to try to get another trip in THIS year!

The day after we got this great news we had one of our date nights in Disney (my parents were along so they watched Madeline) I brought up possibly coming back for our anniversary. Eric was hesitant. He didn't want to spend the money. I told him we could probably get a really good rate with my AP-around 40% off. He was taking it all in. I told him to think it over and that I didn't want to talk about it again at this point.

He kept bringing it up though. On our next date night at the Wilderness Lodge's WCC he had a fantastic time and that hotel was in the running. Our last day he took Madeline over to POFQ and she loved it so that hotel was now in the running. We still hadn't decided if we were going to go but we had a couple of hotels we were considering.

We decided to upgrade his pass to non- expiring just in case. He still had 4 days left and 8 and more options. If we didnt' use them this year we knew we'd use them when Madeline was 5. So with tickets obtained we headed home.

The day after we got home. Eric comes downstairs after his shower and says "I really don't want to go back this year. I don't want to spend the money." Of course he tells me this right before church (why does he always drop these bombs before church?). I was sad. We had only been back one day and I wasn't even ready to really talk about it yet. Apparently it had been bothering him. Our original plan was to FLY to Orlando and stay on Disney property.

I was upset and didnt' want to talk about it. I guess he thought about it some more and said "well maybe if we drive". UGH drive again. Ok maybe. He still didn't want to spend the money for a Disney hotel even at 40% off. He also wanted to check into renting a car from here and driving it down so we wouldn't put the miles on my car.

Over the next few days I checked into car rentals and they weren't all that cheap so we decided to just drive our car down "if we go". lol It wasnt' looking like I could convince him to stay on property this time so I started looking at exchanging our time share. I SO wish Disney wouldn't have dropped Interval International as their trading place.

I looked at availability and there were quite a few places available. We could stay at Westgate which was right by the condo we rented in May. I knew that would be super close. I wasn't loving the look of the place though. There was also availability at Marriott Harbor Lakes. This place looked FANTASTIC but it's in Orlando. Do we want to make that drive? How far is it anyway?

What would we decide?

 

[longing2Batdisney]

I'm in!
Eric reminds me of Danny...he said we could go back Dec '10(I want to see it for Christmas) than yesterday he says (while we are sitting in the looooong wait)he wants to wait until Ashton is 48" tall and can ride everything ...

 

[my2disneyboys]

GREAT START!!!!! I am SO curious how you got him to go! Where you will stay?? Are you going to drive again ??? (I would think you could get some great airline rates last minute!!) Could you cancel the car on a weeks notice or something if you got one of those great last minute deals!?

I should consider driving vs. flying. The total cost of our flights was $860 for the 4 of us last time- and I had to pay $120 for taxi's - and then we rented a car in florida for $300.00- so i guess we can figure it cost about $1,300 for us to fly there. Because you just did the drive... with a rental, gas, lodging, food along the way... I wonder what the difference would be!? What do you think??

 

[longing2Batdisney]

I should consider driving vs. flying. The total cost of our flights was $860 for the 4 of us last time- and I had to pay $120 for taxi's - and then we rented a car in florida for $300.00- so i guess we can figure it cost about $1,300 for us to fly there. Because you just did the drive... with a rental, gas, lodging, food along the way... I wonder what the difference would be!? What do you think??

Hijacking here...
we drove; I not sure what your hours would be but this is how we figure it
driving was a lot CHEAPER for us...we went in two vehicles (our own--to rent a mini van for 7 days was $350 for 9 day $780) we drove straight through...we will stop at a half way point next time (10 hr ride for us--its getting too hard for us as we get older)

1. so rental cost **if you don't rent and use your vehicle; we did the oil change before and after, filter changes before, tire rotation (Danny did himself)
2. fuel **mapquest has a fuel calculator**
3. lodging on the road
4. extra food cost (way there McDonald's got our business about $50 ride there/we stopped at Cracker Barrel & Wendy's way home $80 --depends on where you stop)
5. any stops you may want to add along the way
6. tolls for FL hi-ways (about $10--round trip)

(for us w/five adults this was still the cheaper way to go to fly would have cost us $1600)

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'm in!
Eric reminds me of Danny...he said we could go back Dec '10(I want to see it for Christmas) than yesterday he says (while we are sitting in the looooong wait)he wants to wait until Ashton is 48" tall and can ride everything ...

how frustrating! Aren't most rides 40". I know RNR is 48 what else is?

GREAT START!!!!! I am SO curious how you got him to go! Where you will stay?? Are you going to drive again ??? (I would think you could get some great airline rates last minute!!) Could you cancel the car on a weeks notice or something if you got one of those great last minute deals!?

I should consider driving vs. flying. The total cost of our flights was $860 for the 4 of us last time- and I had to pay $120 for taxi's - and then we rented a car in florida for $300.00- so i guess we can figure it cost about $1,300 for us to fly there. Because you just did the drive... with a rental, gas, lodging, food along the way... I wonder what the difference would be!? What do you think??

You'll see in the next installment. As for driving it's MUCH cheaper! I'm guessing you're about the same distance as me, maybe less. We spent about $200 on gas(mini van)-- this was before they jacked the price of gas back up We stopped quick for food on the way so maybe $120 for food but I think we'll pack stuff this time and eat at rest areas- at least for lunch. We stayed over night one night each way. So for a decent hotel that would be about $150 total but you could definitely find a place for less.

so under $500 plus we could bring whatever we wanted in the car with us.

Our drive was about 19 hours give or take. You could do it straight through if you wanted to save on hotel and pack stuff for lunches to save on food.

I'm figuring about $400 for our trip this time which is at least $200 less then flying. If we had more kids than we'd save even more by driving.

 

[crocko]

how frustrating! Aren't most rides 40". I know RNR is 48 what else is?

Some that are 40", some are 44", only a couple I believe that are 48". The surprising one is Chester & Hester's Primeval Whirl -- I absolutely love this ride....sad neither of my kiddos will be able to ride this trip. (oh well...guess I'll have to bring them back another time)

 

[chicagoshannon]

Some that are 40", some are 44", only a couple I believe that are 48". The surprising one is Chester & Hester's Primeval Whirl -- I absolutely love this ride....sad neither of my kiddos will be able to ride this trip. (oh well...guess I'll have to bring them back another time)

I just joined your PTR. Your countdown is AWESOME! Everyone on my thread is not required to go check yours out.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I won't keep you all in suspense any longer. We chose Mariott's Harbour Lakes. It's beautiful.

The pool is Pirate themed. Madeline is going to LOVE it.

I asked around on the Orlando boards and was told it's not more then 15 minutes away. I am so, so excited! It's a 1 bedroom condo with a king bed. The sofa pulls out so Madeline will sleep there. It also has a full kitchen and washer/dryer. Oh and a balcony. I can't wait to check it out!

So here are the details:
We're driving our own car- unless we can find a fantastic deal on a rental.

October 18-25--- we'll leave our house bright and early on the 17th (a Saturday)

Our anniversary is October 23rd


Eric came around becuase
a.) if we didn't use or exchange our time share we'd loose it for the year.
b.) we only needed to pay $130 to exchange the time share
c.) we're driving so we'll pay a lot less on our transportation
d.) It's our 5th anniversary and if we didnt' go there we'd be going to Hawaii (something we said we were going to do for our 5th when we got married)
e.) there is no where around here that we wanted to go to spend our anniversary.


We'll have 4 days in the parks. That means 2 off days, plus our arrival day.

 

[Kirby]

Do you think you could move your BMI ticker below your other one? It causes your posts to be past the edge of the screen.

 

[lisalonglash]

Wahooty, I finally have a few minutes to DIS!

Yahoooooooooo on getting to go again in October!!! That deserves my favourite dancing smiley:

That hotel looks fabulous! I'm sooo glad it all worked out for you to enjoy your anniversary at WDW

Looking forward to more!

 

[lisalonglash]

Do you think you could move your BMI ticker below your other one? It causes your posts to be past the edge of the screen.

Strangely, that doesn't happen on my screen Wacky!

 

[KathyRN137]

The pool is Pirate themed. Madeline is going to LOVE it.

Awesome pool; she'll go crazy for it!!

And trust me, WDW is so much nicer at 70 degrees than at 90 degrees!!


Kathy

 

[longing2Batdisney]

I love the pool and the resort; and it is sooooo affordable...great deal shopping...
It is so funny that you mention Hawaii...
we were suppose to go for our 20th; we had a hip replacement and Ashton instead
**both much nicer at least Ashton is...hip was very much needed --if he wanted to walk... so 2010 was suppose to be Yellowstone and 2011 Hawaii...looks like Disney is trumping one or both...

 

[wlwilliams9]

Great start! I'm glad Eric came around for the anniversary trip! It only cost us $240 total for the 3 of us to fly round trip to Disney, but we scored a great deal on Spirit Air. Last year our flights cost $560 for the 3 of us on Northwest. Anyway, I can't wait to hear about more of your plans!

 

[BTDTGB]

Loved your last trip report, looking forward to your PTR.