Hoping for anniversary romance at Disney in August!

[kidsrfun]

While I'm waiting for August hours to finish posting, I thought it was a great time to start a pretrip report! I've never done one, but I've read LOTS!! So I thought I'd give it a try!

Cast of characters

Doug – DH. Full-time Air National Guard member. He loves Disney and has always enjoyed our Disney trips with the kids, but he not fanatical about it! For our 20th anniversary he asked if we could have an 'adult' trip... aka not a disney trip. I made him happy and we went to New Orleans. After a week of drinking, gambling, drinking, sunning, drinking, dancing, drinking, and touring... we both decided that even though we had a great time... we were going to wdw for our 25th!! Nothing compares to being at the world!

Us! Doug's fooling around... as usual!

Me – I'm a home daycare provider and being around kids all day/everyday just feeds on my disney obsession! I am the crazy disney person in the family! I do all of the planning. When the kids were young, I always had little index cards for each day of the trip. Everything was planned and timed. We always had down time, but that was scheduled in! OCD has definitely 'touched' me... but only when it comes to disney world trips!


Us again! At our son's wedding!

Other cast of characters who ARE NOT going to wdw. Our kids!

Our son, Matt just turned 24 last month. He's a great kid! He works parttime and is working on his masters degree parttime. His undergrad degree is in English with a minor in education, and now he's in grad school getting a teaching degree. He's going to be a great english teacher when he's done.

Matt and his wife on their wedding day!

Our daughter – Brittany – just turned 22 last month! Actually... on the same day that Matt turned 24! Yes, they have the same birthday, just 2 years apart! Anyway, Brittany will graduate from college in 2 weeks with a degree in Elementary Education / Special Education. I'm so proud of her too! She's going to be a great teacher! Her dream is to be a special ed teacher. She's a good girl! While she was in college she also played basketball and softball. She hopes to coach some day, but I'm going to miss not seeing her play her sports now that college is over!

Brittany and I before Matt's wedding!

Michelle – Our wonderful daughter-in-law! Matt and Michelle were married last October and honeymooned in Disney (our wedding gift to them) after the semester was over in December. Michelle is 23 and just truly the love of our son's life! They have been together for 8 years and are a great couple! Michelle works fulltime and is very supportive of our son's continued education and career goals.

Michelle and Brittany

What are we celebrating? - Our 25th Anniversary!! I can't believe we've been married that long and we're still only 30 years old!! Actually.. in real years, Doug's 43 and I'm 45. We got married when he was barely 18 and I was 19 and had Matt a little over a year later!! I would NEVER recommend that to anyone and if our kids had done it, we would have flipped out on them!! BUT... somehow it worked for us. Even if the first few years were a little rough, we are actually happier and more in love than we have ever been after all these years! It really does get better each year! (Everyone together now.......... AWWWWW!!!!) Anyway, in March we celebrated our 25th anniversary! Actually, we have 2 anniversaries because we had 2 weddings! Strange... I know. But here's the story. Basically, Doug joined the AF when he was 17 and our wedding wasn't going to happen until after basic training and schooling were over. We didn't want to take the chance that I wouldn't be on his orders, so when he came home for Christmas, we got married at the courthouse. Then, when his school was over in March, we got married in the church with all of our friends and family around us! That's the anniversary that we really celebrate, but we always acknowledge the other one by going out to dinner, just the two of us!

Disney info – I've been to Disney many times! When I was young, we'd go there at the end of August, right before school started. Of course, at that time it was only MK and it was a one day ticket! Can you imagine? Anyway, the rest of our trip would be spent visiting relatives on the way from NY to FL, going to Daytona Beach and some other FL attractions like Silver Springs or a place near Ocala that he hot springs that we used to swim in. I can't remember the name. DH was never at disney as a kid. Poor boy!! After my dh joined the Air National Guard and got out of active duty, we started taking the kids to Disney on vacation. We always stayed at Shades of Green and always had a great time! One year I even made a special trip with my nephew. It was the year that Hurricane Francis came through! Even though we lost a park day, we had a great time and realized that when hurricanes are forecast, the parks are really empty!

Trip info – Initially we thought of a 9 day trip! Then we found out about the current military discounts, so we increased to 12 nights. Then we found out that if we stayed one more night, we could go to the first MNSSHP of the year, so it was 13 nights! THEN free dining came out and we increased one more time to 14 nights!! We've NEVER been on vacation for 14 nights! We're so excited! So as it stands now, we arrive on Sat, Aug 22 and depart Sat, Sept 5th! We're staying at the Pop instead of Shades of Green for a few reasons. First, PRICE! Don't get me wrong, SOG is wonderful and we have loved it everytime we've stayed there, but we'd rather stay longer and play more for the same price. Second - FREE DINING! With a value resort and free dining, you can't beat it! I stayed at POP when I went with my nephew and it was just great for the two of us! Even though it's our anniversary trip, we'll be at Disney! We don't plan on spending a lot of time in our room, so having a really nice room/resort isn't important to us. Just personal preference.

Plan – We are getting the military tickets from SOG when we get there. Doug will get the complimentary ticket and I'll get the Companion ticket with park hopping. We're not planning to get the waterparks and more option because we're not planning on going to the water parks since it's just the two of us. So we'll both have 5 days on that ticket. Plus we have one day left on a old ticket, and we'll have one day on the base ticket that we had to buy to get free dining. I'm not sure if we're going to use that ticket, because I'm thinking that 6 days might be perfect for us, but it's nice to know it's there if we choose to use it. Otherwise, we'll save it for another trip! Good reason to return soon! We're also planning 2 days at US/IOA, 1 day at SW, and a ticket to MNSSHP.

So it adds up like this:

13 possible days (not counting arrival and departure days)

6 park days
2 US/IOA
1 SW
1 MNSSHP
10 'busy' days

That leaves us 3 down days to rest and fill with all kinds of relaxing things! Mini golf, dtd, resort hopping, napping, pool, water sprites, boardwalk, carriage ride, etc. Sounds perfect to us!! Just perfect!!

Ok, that's enough for a start! If anyone has any thoughts or anymore romantic ideas for our down days, please feel free to throw out your ideas. I'm also hoping to find a wishes cruise to share. I think that'll be fun!!

PS - I just realized how big the pictures are. Sorry! I don't know how to make them smaller in this forum.

 

[kidsrfun]

Finally, hours are out! It seemed like it took forever for August hours to be posted. The worst part, is that we're staying into Sept, so I'm still waiting on those. Actually, I'm just going to take a good guess on those hours and wing it as far as ADR's go! Hope it all works out ok.

I have a spreadsheet (color coded of course) all finished. Each park has a specific color, as well as down time, CS, and TS meals. The plan itself isn't 'perfect' but it's pretty darn close! It's really the best way for us to do it if we want to make sure that we see all of the nighttime shows. With Fantasmic and Spectro only showing a few times a week, it makes planning our days more difficult. Also, since we're not getting a length of stay pass, we have to be very specific about what we want to experience and figure out the best way to do that. Here's the plan as it stands right now. I know that it looks like a lot of downtime, but we're really looking forward to time where we're not running from one thing to another. We want to sit by the pool, nap when we want to, resort hop, rest, and I want to read a little bit. I want this trip to be more relaxing than any other trip we've ever had! Each park day starts at ropedrop and ends at closing, but there's lots of naptime in there to help with the August heat and humidity!

Sat 8/22 - Arrival - Nothing much planned except grocery delivery, unpacking, getting military tickets from SOG, TS meal and watching wishes from the Poly or GF (depending on what ADR I get)

Sun 8/23 - AM - AK / Rest at Pop in afternoon / PM - MK (open until 1am)

Mon 8/24 - Off Day - Resort Char Breakfast / Whatever we want all day / TS meal for dinner and then spend the evening at BW

Tues 8/25 - AM - EP / DHS for evening. Fantasmic dinner package

Wed 8/26 - US / IOA

Thurs 8/27 - Off Day - Resort Char Breakfast / Whatever we want all day / TS meal for dinner and then Carriage ride

Fri 8/28 - AM - DHS / Rest at POP / PM - EP

Sat 8/29 - AM - MK / PM - AK

Sun 8/30 - Off Day - Sleep in - DTD - TS - Whatever we want for the evening!

Monday 8/31 - AM - MK / PM - DHS

Tues 9/1 - US / IOA

Wed 9/2 - SW

Thurs 9/3 - AM - AK / Rest at POP / PM - EP

Fri 9/4 - Pack and rest all morning and early afternoon / Early TS meal / MNSSHP

Sat 9/5 - Leave

If anyone sees any flaws in this plan, please pass along your ideas!!

Next up... Ideas for ADR's!!!

 

[carissanboys]

Hello!

You mentioned your husband and children's names, but not your own.

What a beautiful family you have. And what an awesome trip you two have planned for your annivesary - 14 days - woohoo!

I can understand staying at Pop instead of SOG. SOG is nice when you have a bigger family, but you don't need much space for just the two of you.

I assume you guys know about the free tickets to Sea World? We went to SW on our trip so I'll be posting about it eventually.

 

[kidsrfun]

Hello!

You mentioned your husband and children's names, but not your own.

What a beautiful family you have. And what an awesome trip you two have planned for your annivesary - 14 days - woohoo!

I can understand staying at Pop instead of SOG. SOG is nice when you have a bigger family, but you don't need much space for just the two of you.

I assume you guys know about the free tickets to Sea World? We went to SW on our trip so I'll be posting about it eventually.

Whoo Hoo!! I finally have a follower!! I figured I'd just keep writing whether anyone stopped by or not. I always have loved journal writing!!

Thanks for the compliments on the family. I do love them!! My name is Laurie. I'm from Schenectady, NY. We traveled quite a bit for the 7 years dh was active duty, but have been able to settle back down since he got out due to a family illness. We've been home since our son was in kindergarten and actually bought the house that I grew up in.

I'm really excited about 14 days!! I never thought we'd be able to pull it off since we're just finishing paying for two kids in college and helping with Matt's wedding last fall. But with all of the military discounts and free dining, we just can't pass up a little extra time together! I can't wait!!

Yes we heard about the SW tickets, and also US is doing something for the military person. So that's a nice discount for us too! What a huge help!!

Thanks for checking out my PTR. I love keeping up on your report. You have a gorgeous family and seeing all of your pictures really make me more and more excited about going! It's going to be wonderful!!

 

[kidsrfun]

39 days until our plane takes off to go to the most wonderful place in the world!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I started this thread months ago, but a family illness happened since, and I wasn't able to work on it. Things have since calmed down... so here we are!! The plans have been going full speed ahead!! Since I last wrote I have all of my ADR's, planned a few 'fun' extras, and changed 2 days plans around. I have tip envelopes made, my binder is getting more and more full, color coded spreadsheet is finished, I know what outfits I'm bringing, sandals and bags are bought, plane tickets are purchased and the trip is completely paid for!! WHOO HOO!!!! Life is good!!

Let's see.... where to start?? How about the small change to our schedule and our adrs. When I was making our adrs, I couldn't get the F! Dinner Pkg that I wanted, so I decided to change to another night when F! is showing. It's so much more difficult now that F! is only showing a few times a week. Here's our schedule and adrs:

Sat 8/22 - Arrival at 9:40am. ME to Pop. If our room isn't ready, CS1 at dtd. When our room is ready, unpack and grocery delivery. Rest a bit. Monorail to MK to purchase/activate our military tickets, then monorail or boat to Poly for dinner (TS1) at Kona. Walk on Beach / Water Pageant / Wishes

Sun 8/23 - AM - AK (CS2) / Rest at Pop in afternoon / Dinner at Wave (TS2) PM - MK (open until 1am)

Mon 8/24 - Off Day - Breakfast at Chef Mickey (TS3) / Whatever we want all day / Dinner at Trails End (TS4) followed by carriage ride

Tues 8/25 - AM - EP and CS3 / DHS for evening and CS4.

Wed 8/26 - US / IOA / CS5 at Pop when we get back

Thurs 8/27 - Off Day - Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (TS5) / Whatever we want all day / Dinner at Yachtman's Steak House (TS6 and 7) / Possibly a photoshoot at beachclub if they do them as late as 7pm / Shared Illuminations Cruise

Fri 8/28 - AM - DHS (CS6) / Rest at POP / PM - EP and dinner at LeCellier (TS8)

Sat 8/29 - AM - MK (CS7) / PM - AK and dinner at Yak and Yeti (TS9)

Sun 8/30 - Breakfast at CP at 805am (TS10) so we'll be there before the park opens!! SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! / MK all am / DHS and F! Dinner Pkg (TS11) at Mama Melrose

Monday 8/31 - Day off. Sleep in / DTD / Earl of Sandwich!!! (CS8) / Whatever we want for the day / Dinner at Boma (TS12) and walk around AKL. If we were unable to do the photoshoot at the BW, we'll schedule one for before dinner

Tues 9/1 - US / IOA - CS9 at Pop when we return

Wed 9/2 - SW - CS 10 at Pop when we return

Thurs 9/3 - AM - Donald Safari Breakfast (OOP) before AK opens / Rest at POP / PM - EP with dinner at Teppan Edo (TS13)

Fri 9/4 - Pack and rest all morning and early afternoon / Late lunch at Raglan Road (TS14) / MNSSHP (CS11)

Sat 9/5 - (CS12 Breakfast) Leave

This leaves us two CS meals to play with if we get hungry during an early breakfast / late dinner day. Or possibly a breakfast or two on mornings when we would usually eat breakfast in our room.

Ok... that's it for this update. I'm going to take pictures of the outfits that I have planned and also the items I have ready to pack for a future update. I'll write again soon!

 

[kidsrfun]

Something that I forgot to mention is that a few weekends ago, our family gave us a wonderful 25th anniversary party! Our kids did most of the planning and our parents and siblings did most of the paying! Our kids are both still in school, so they dont' have much money. Anyway, we had a great time!

The story goes like this... my dh and I met when he was 15 and I was 17. My brother was on a 13yr allstar team that won our local tournament and was sent to participate in a regional tournament about an hour from our house. So our family went to Catskill for a week. On the first day of the tournament, we had a huge thunderstorm!! All of the adults ran for cover, but I just couldn't find anywhere to stay dry. So I sat next to a dugout that had a little overhang. I was still getting soaked! A minute after getting there this guy came up and asked if I had room for him. Let me tell you, even if I didn't have room, I'd have made room!! We stayed there laughing and talking until the storm passed. We talked and watched games all day. He was from the Catskill area and promised to be at the park every day of the tournament. By the time the week was over, we had exchanged addresses and phone numbers. I went home and told my best friend that I met the guy I was going to marry!! How funny is that? We were 15 and 17?!!? What was I thinking??? To make a long story short, I was right! For more than 2 years we traveled each weekend to see each other. When I went to college, I picked a college near him! We got married right after he graduated HS and the rest is history!

The reason I told you all of this during the 'Anniversary Party Story" is because our kids had a fantastic surprise for us. They told us ahead of time that we would be having a party and that we would be renewing our vows. So we were ready on that day with nice clothes and 2 sets of very personal vows. My best friend and maid of honor picked us up. We had NO idea where we were going! After an hour ride, we pulled into the driveway of the very ballpark where we met!! All of our family and friends were on the field and there was on archway right over homeplate!!! What a unique and personal place to have a ceremony!!! I cried!! It was so perfect!!! Our son officiated the ceremony and my dh and I said our vows. His were funny and made everyone laugh. Mine talked about how our relationship has been strengthened by his heart surgery that he had 5 years ago. Everyone cried from laughing so hard with his vows, and cried (some sobbed) thinking about our difficult time when I said mine. Everything was beyond perfect! Here are some pictures.

With our son, daughter-in-law, and daughter

Some of the people from our original wedding party

After the ceremony, we had a party at a local golf course. They had a great dj so we danced and partied the afternoon away! My dsil made us a baseball cake

More to come...

 

[kidsrfun]

Now that you know a little bit about us, these next pics will show you our sense of humor!! It was time to cut the cake!!

We had a great time!!

A few more family pics...

dh and dmil

my sister and I doing our family tradition! A shot!

Our kids and youngest nephew

Me and my daddy!!

Well, that's it for our party! It was a great time!!

Also... we got a great gift too!!! When all of the gifts were added up... the family was able to pay off the balance of our trip!!! Was that awesome or what??? I love our family!!

Next installment... CLOTHES!!!!!!!

 

[DWGal210]

Oh, Laurie, I know I am going to love your PTR!

I love the story of how you and your DH met...that is so sweet! I do believe that when you know, you just know, no matter what the age. I have a set of grandparents that were married when he was 17, she was 15 and he was going into the Army. They are still married 55 years later!

And the party your kids threw - how wonderful! That made me tear up reading about it. What a special memory for you all to have together!

Can't wait to read more! You're on the home stretch now!

- Katie

 

[kidsrfun]

Oh, Laurie, I know I am going to love your PTR!

I love the story of how you and your DH met...that is so sweet! I do believe that when you know, you just know, no matter what the age. I have a set of grandparents that were married when he was 17, she was 15 and he was going into the Army. They are still married 55 years later!

And the party your kids threw - how wonderful! That made me tear up reading about it. What a special memory for you all to have together!

Can't wait to read more! You're on the home stretch now!

- Katie

Thanks! 55 years is a LONG time!! Congrats to them! You're right, sometimes you just know!!!

 

[kidsrfun]

I just sent my grocery list to wegoshop!!! I'm so excited!! We're going to be at disney during free dining, so we dont need much, but I know that we'll want food in our room before leaving for the parks, during afternoon breaks, snacks to bring with us in my bag, and something back in our room at the end of the night. I ordered cereal/bagels, stuff for pb&j, poptarts and granola bars, yogurt, fruit, milk, and pretzels. I also ordered Capt Morgan, Vodka, and mixers!!! I think we're looking forward to that just as much as the food!!! I'm so glad that wegoshop will deliver alcohol. It really helps only having to bring my fave wine and not worry about anything else. We're also bringing a small cooler since I wasn't lucky enough to get in on a fridge swap. I have a Britta water system that I'm packing too!

I can't believe it's close enough to order our groceries!!