*dreamit*doit*
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2009
- Messages
- 451
Well, almost two months later I am finally starting this...my first TR!! So exciting but I'm not too sure of how to do this exactly, soooo....assuming I will have some readers - please stick with me! 
Okay, so as you can probably tell by the title...yes, there were 28 of us on this trip (and for a day, 34...but we'll save that for later
)
When? December 16th-21st
Where did we stay? Port Orleans Riverside - 7 rooms
Why? Good times and birthdays!
How did we do it? Lots of planning!
Who? I guess this would be a good time to introduce myself:
I'm Nathalie, wife to DH Ramon and mom to DD6 Miren and DD2 Nerea and...very much a fan of all things Disney!! but especially of going to WDW, did I mention we live in South Florida? Yup, we do and, other than our family, WDW is the BEST reason to stay here!
My first trip to the World was at 4 years old and I've been back pretty consistently at least once a year, some years more and maybe we've skipped a year here and there but not many. DH had been to Disney several times before we started visiting together but not at the rate that we go now, and even though he doesn't like to admit it, he's hooked just as much as I am. 
Miren went for the first time at 15 months and Nerea at 5 months - Miren said to me the other day "I'd rather have a better life living in Disney" - 'nuff said. 
Okay, so that's only four of us, the other 24 are all part of my large family: two uncles, two aunts, a cousin, her DH, DS3, DD1, another cousin, her DH, DS7, DS5, DS3, DD1, another cousin, his DW, DS8, DS6, DD3, another cousin, his DW, DS1, another cousin, his DW.
So, how did we decide to embark on this adventure? Four years ago, also in December, we had a similar adventure - only 19 of us that time: same two aunts and two uncles, three of my cousins with their families (only 5 kids that time, 12 this time!) and my parents, who weren't able to be a part of the fun this time b/c they care for my 94 year old grandmother (bummer for dad, my love for Disney comes from him...mom, not so much
) Well, back in February of last year just the four of us stayed at WL, which immediately became my favorite resort, and I decided to book a room for December to celebrate both of my daughters' bdays (five days apart). At that time, one of my cousin's booked a room for her family, as well. In March two more cousins decided to join us and the rest followed soon thereafter. However, when everyone started booking their rooms we realized that the first couple of days had great rates for WL but the weekend put us into peak season, so some of our group started looking into the moderates, in the end we decided a moderate made more sense and we would all stay together. 
We booked 7 rooms at Port Orleans Riverside and made it a grand gathering; this would assure us that our rooms would be together...or did it?? 
We won't know until we get there!
Planning: Once the rooms were booked we started planning and we decided it would be a good idea to have a planning meeting and I volunteered to host at our home. Somehow it evolved into only the ladies were getting together to plan and the dads would babysit, I don't remember how this happened but it was a great idea!
GREAT idea! So we planned to meet before our ADR booking date, which at that time was only 90 days, so we got together in early September. Surprisingly enough, we planned! And ate and drank...but we planned!! 
And so, with a notebook full of notes and 1st choices and 2nd choices, etc...I got up at 6am on the 90th day and got on the phone. Did we get everything we wanted? For the most part - YES! A combination of 1st and 2nd choices and we were all happy with our ADR's. I forgot to mention two things - 1. we were all on the dining plan and 2. even though the dates I listed were December 16th-21st, not everybody was staying that whole time, that was just us; some were there 16th-20th, some 17th-21st, and most 17th-20th, so that was another factor in making the ADR's: I had to make sure I had the right number of people for each meal. So, ADR's set, what was the next step...spreadsheet!! Now I have to thank someone on the dis who provided me with a copy of their spreadsheet and I used that as a template...however I don't remember who it was sorry! but thanks!! 
Oh, one more thing, it was also one of my cousin's sons' bday five days before Nerea's and 10 days before Miren's (we were going to be there on Miren's actual bday), so we decided to plan something special to celebrate all three birthdays while we were there and I made that reservation too. What did we do? Any guesses??
Well, I'll leave you with that; next time less pretrippie stuff and I'll get more into the actual trip!
Okay, so as you can probably tell by the title...yes, there were 28 of us on this trip (and for a day, 34...but we'll save that for later
)When? December 16th-21st
Where did we stay? Port Orleans Riverside - 7 rooms
Why? Good times and birthdays!
How did we do it? Lots of planning!
Who? I guess this would be a good time to introduce myself:
I'm Nathalie, wife to DH Ramon and mom to DD6 Miren and DD2 Nerea and...very much a fan of all things Disney!! but especially of going to WDW, did I mention we live in South Florida? Yup, we do and, other than our family, WDW is the BEST reason to stay here!
My first trip to the World was at 4 years old and I've been back pretty consistently at least once a year, some years more and maybe we've skipped a year here and there but not many. DH had been to Disney several times before we started visiting together but not at the rate that we go now, and even though he doesn't like to admit it, he's hooked just as much as I am. Miren went for the first time at 15 months and Nerea at 5 months - Miren said to me the other day "I'd rather have a better life living in Disney" - 'nuff said.
Okay, so that's only four of us, the other 24 are all part of my large family: two uncles, two aunts, a cousin, her DH, DS3, DD1, another cousin, her DH, DS7, DS5, DS3, DD1, another cousin, his DW, DS8, DS6, DD3, another cousin, his DW, DS1, another cousin, his DW.
So, how did we decide to embark on this adventure? Four years ago, also in December, we had a similar adventure - only 19 of us that time: same two aunts and two uncles, three of my cousins with their families (only 5 kids that time, 12 this time!) and my parents, who weren't able to be a part of the fun this time b/c they care for my 94 year old grandmother (bummer for dad, my love for Disney comes from him...mom, not so much
) Well, back in February of last year just the four of us stayed at WL, which immediately became my favorite resort, and I decided to book a room for December to celebrate both of my daughters' bdays (five days apart). At that time, one of my cousin's booked a room for her family, as well. In March two more cousins decided to join us and the rest followed soon thereafter. However, when everyone started booking their rooms we realized that the first couple of days had great rates for WL but the weekend put us into peak season, so some of our group started looking into the moderates, in the end we decided a moderate made more sense and we would all stay together. We booked 7 rooms at Port Orleans Riverside and made it a grand gathering; this would assure us that our rooms would be together...or did it?? We won't know until we get there!Planning: Once the rooms were booked we started planning and we decided it would be a good idea to have a planning meeting and I volunteered to host at our home. Somehow it evolved into only the ladies were getting together to plan and the dads would babysit, I don't remember how this happened but it was a great idea!
GREAT idea! So we planned to meet before our ADR booking date, which at that time was only 90 days, so we got together in early September. Surprisingly enough, we planned! And ate and drank...but we planned!! And so, with a notebook full of notes and 1st choices and 2nd choices, etc...I got up at 6am on the 90th day and got on the phone. Did we get everything we wanted? For the most part - YES! A combination of 1st and 2nd choices and we were all happy with our ADR's. I forgot to mention two things - 1. we were all on the dining plan and 2. even though the dates I listed were December 16th-21st, not everybody was staying that whole time, that was just us; some were there 16th-20th, some 17th-21st, and most 17th-20th, so that was another factor in making the ADR's: I had to make sure I had the right number of people for each meal. So, ADR's set, what was the next step...spreadsheet!! Now I have to thank someone on the dis who provided me with a copy of their spreadsheet and I used that as a template...however I don't remember who it was sorry! but thanks!! Oh, one more thing, it was also one of my cousin's sons' bday five days before Nerea's and 10 days before Miren's (we were going to be there on Miren's actual bday), so we decided to plan something special to celebrate all three birthdays while we were there and I made that reservation too. What did we do? Any guesses?? Well, I'll leave you with that; next time less pretrippie stuff and I'll get more into the actual trip!
I think the key is to pick the right 28! 
Hats off to you!
- not fun. 
), as we planned on only doing two parks as a big group. Even as we planned this we thought they'd probably be wearing jackets so it may not matter, but we thought it'd be cute anyway. 
All packed and ready to go!! Um, not so fast....Miren had a small holiday presentation in her class at 10am - not a problem. I took her to school in the morning came back home, made all last minute preps, Ramon, Nerea and I went to the school at 10am, signed Miren out early and we were home by 11am to load the car, change to comfortable clothes, have a snack and be on our way by noon!!!! Here are the girls in the car:
You guys did a wonderful job and so organized! I'd like to vacation with you people! 
You have such a cute family. Can't wait to read more! 
...Monday is a holiday, if we leave right now we have this afternoon, tonight, all day tomorrow, Monday morning and come back Monday afternoon...we didn't do it...but it was fun to dream about it for a second! 
