I must be crazy! A March 2012 PTR - update 3/26 - We are home!

[ksl5f123]

Hello and Welcome! I am so happy to be back on the trip report boards after about a 3 month hiatus.

Let's start with the important stuff. Who is going on this trip?

Me! I'm Karen (37). I love the atmosphere of Disney and the joy in my children's eyes when we are there. I typically describe my riding strategy as "only things that move slower than I can walk". This will be my 14th trip to WDW. I am the one who must be crazy to be going on this trip, but more about that later.

DH (39) enjoys Disney very much. He will ride anything except for the tea cups. He is from Florida and can't remember how many times he has been to Disney.

DD8 started riding thrill rides for the first time on our June 2010 trip. She loved BTMRR the most and is VERY upset that it will be closed for this trip. She has mostly left Disney characters behind for the moment and currently loves Harry Potter (she has read the first 4 books). However, when asked what she most wants to do at WDW, she answers, “Since Big Thunder Mountain is closed, I want to eat in the castle with the princesses.” At home, she is in 3rd grade and does gymnastics, sings in the choir, and plays chess. She is always on the go!

DD6 loves purple and Rapunzel. She still enjoys being a princess and will probably dress up for our trip. She is completely uninterested in thrill rides despite being tall enough. Her favorite attraction in all of WDW is Carousel of Progress. When asked what she most wants to do at WDW, she answers, “See Rapunzel”. At home, she is in Kindergarten and does gymnastics, ballet, and tap and loves to do art of any sort.

DS3 loves Cars. He is the stereotypical little brother who gets into stuff and makes lots of messes. On our March 2011 trip, he suddenly developed a fear of all of the rides. The only one he liked was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin. When asked what he most wants to do at WDW, he answers, “See Buzz Lightyear and shoot Zurg.” At home, he goes to preschool 2 mornings a week and loves to play with his cars.

MIL and FIL will be along with us again this trip as well.

Somehow, I never get a picture of FIL, but here is a group shot from our March trip last year

They generally go with the flow and let us lead the way with one exception – food. MIL must “dine” at least once per day. This is our one small point of contention. Left to my own devices, we would be sharing CS meals and cooking our own food. But, I have to keep the peace. So, dine we will. As you will see, this will make for a trip of dichotomies (did you ever think you would see that word on the DIS?) as our styles are clashing a little this time.

Up next, the where and when!

 

[ksl5f123]

The where and when!

This trip has a little bit of an auspicious (another $2 word for you!) beginning. It began with me doing some reading over on the Budget board. Someone mentioned a deal where you could buy one adult ticket to Legoland and get a child ticket free. We REALLY want to go to Legoland. The park is marketed toward 3-10 year olds and our kids are 3, 6, and 8. Perfect! In addition, DH is a college professor. One of his classes is a general education robotics course where they use Lego robots. I think it is a cool course. If you were an English or a history major, what would you rather take to fulfill your science requirement: Chemistry 101 or Robotics? Yeah.

Needless to say, we bought the Legoland tickets which are good until the end of May. Now, we needed to decide when to go. We decided to head down for spring break. MIL and FIL live in a condo in Vero Beach so we thought we would spend a few days there and stop at Legoland on our way home. Simple and very inexpensive vacation (probably around $500).

You all know that if that was still the plan, I wouldn't be writing a PTR on the DIS. So, what happened? Well, MIL and FIL decided to spend a couple of months at their other house out in the Colorado Rockies and RENTED OUT THE CONDO for March!!!!!! OK, time to regroup. We are going to FL and now have nowhere to stay. The obvious answer became WDW.

Which resort to choose? Oh, there are so many good choices. Since it is March and the Flower and Garden festival is going on at Epcot, I would love to stay in an Epcot area resort and be able to walk into the parks ($2300 just for the room with the spring discount). Oh, and DD6 is absolutely in love with POR and wouldn't it be awesome to go stay in one of the new Royal themed rooms ($1400 for the room with the discount). She would be ecstatic (more $2 words for you). OK, back to reality. We can't afford either of those this trip. So, where are we staying? We are tent camping in Fort Wilderness! ($523 for our very own patch of Disney dirt... ok....sand!)

DH and I both love to camp, but we have never camped with our kids. This is our first year in 8 years to be diaperless, so it seems like the perfect time. (We cloth diaper and even though I know people manage to do that and camp, I personally can't envision it! ) So, there is the new plan. We will drive to FL, camp in Ft. Wilderness, enjoy the resort, go to Legoland, maybe go to Seaworld for a day, cook all our meals at camp, and probably spend $1200. Still affordable.

Wait! MIL and FIL want to come along? Now we need plan C. We can't cook our meals at camp, we must "dine" so I need some places to eat. OK, there are plenty of good restaurants in the other resorts, I will add some ADRs and we will figure it out.

What? DH doesn't think he wants to go without going to the parks? He thinks the kids will be upset? (I asked them, they think the Fort sounds like fun.) Alright, plan D. DH and I have some non-expiring tickets from 2001 that each have a day left on them. If we buy an additional 1 day ticket for each of us and MIL and FIL buy FL resident tickets for themselves and the kids....

So, that is where we now stand. We will leave on Friday March 16 and drive to Orlando. We will arrive late on Saturday, March 17 (it is a 20 hour drive and we need 2 days). We will stay until Saturday, March 24 and then we will drive home. If you have read any of my previous TRs or PTRs, you will know that we are a family that lives by a budget. For every trip, we decide on an amount that we can afford and we stick to it like glue! Sometimes that number is $1300. Sometimes it is $4000. For this trip, our budget is $2000, but we would REALLY like to come in under that.

Up next, the plan for days 1-3.

 

[cbcrockett]

I'll jump aboard! We love the Fort, and while we did our trip with just me and DH, we did the combo of cooking at the campsite and "dining". Honestly, I really liked being able to come back "home" and eat what I cooked. I know it's vacation, but sometimes, I just get tired of eating out. You just want normal, simple, regular food sometimes, you know?

Can't wait to see your plans! I may be borrowing some budgeting tips, as It seems you are a pro!

 

[jpmom97]

Can't wait to read more! I am curious about the tent camping, my Girl Scouts want to go to Disney in a few years, tent camping is an option I was looking into.

 

[TinksThree]

I am here! Don't you love going from Plan A to Plan Z?? Tent camping should be interesting! I can't wait to here how it turns out. We have tent camped plus we have a pop-up camper and I have considered trying it for a budget trip. I am also thinking you are brave for other reasons!

I will be at WDW March 23-25!! But we will be there for a band trip so no planning for me. Last we heard they are marching in MK on Friday...but I still have few details which is driving me crazy!!! Can't wait to here more!!

 

[cogero]

okay your title sucked me in. You are brave to camp with 3 small children. Not sure I could ever do that.

 

[KTgE]

I'm here...subscribing...can't wait to read more!

 

[ksl5f123]

I'll jump aboard! We love the Fort, and while we did our trip with just me and DH, we did the combo of cooking at the campsite and "dining". Honestly, I really liked being able to come back "home" and eat what I cooked. I know it's vacation, but sometimes, I just get tired of eating out. You just want normal, simple, regular food sometimes, you know?

Can't wait to see your plans! I may be borrowing some budgeting tips, as It seems you are a pro!

Welcome and congrats on being first!

I like eating my own food too. After a week, restaurant food just gets to heavy for me. I like being able to eat a couple of small, light meals.

I am a SAHM, so sticking to the budget is a normal part of my "job". For me, it is like solving a puzzle: How can I make all of the pieces fit within the framework (lodging, food, gas, etc.)?

 

[ksl5f123]

Can't wait to read more! I am curious about the tent camping, my Girl Scouts want to go to Disney in a few years, tent camping is an option I was looking into.

Welcome!

Both of my girls are Girl Scouts too and I am leading DD6's Daisy troop. They are kindergarteners so we are nowhere near ready to camp, but most of my experience camping came from Girl Scouts.

 

[ksl5f123]

I am here! Don't you love going from Plan A to Plan Z?? Tent camping should be interesting! I can't wait to here how it turns out. We have tent camped plus we have a pop-up camper and I have considered trying it for a budget trip. I am also thinking you are brave for other reasons!

I will be at WDW March 23-25!! But we will be there for a band trip so no planning for me. Last we heard they are marching in MK on Friday...but I still have few details which is driving me crazy!!! Can't wait to here more!!

I am so happy you made it over!

This trip may drive me crazy with the plan changing. I like to get the basics down early so I can work on the details. Here we are 29 days out and I still have some basics that aren't decided! I may lose my mind!

Hmmm. So you will be in the MK on Friday, March 23. We may have to figure a way for a quick DIS meet!

 

[ksl5f123]

okay your title sucked me in. You are brave to camp with 3 small children. Not sure I could ever do that.

Welcome! I am not sure I can do it either, but we are going to give it a shot!

I'm here...subscribing...can't wait to read more!

Hello and welcome! Since we only have 29 days to go, I hope to post every day.

 

[ksl5f123]

The girls get out of school at 3 PM on Friday March 16. We will leave directly from the school and try to get as far south in Alabama as we can. We should be able to make at least Birmingham, but we would love to get to Montgomery. If we stop in Birmingham, there is a Hyatt Place that we just love. The look of their hotels is more business class than family friendly, but they allow 5 people in all of their rooms unlike most of the major hotel chains. Often their rooms will have 2 queen beds and a huge sectional sofa (which my girls love to sleep on).

Saturday morning, we will get up bright and early and finish the drive to Orlando. If we only make it to Birmingham, we will still have 12 hours to go. We had originally planned to drive straight to Ft. Wilderness and set up camp that night. But that was before we found out that I would be 5 months pregnant on this trip!!

So, there you have the reason for the title of this PTR. I will be tent camping at WDW during Spring break while pregnant. I don't know if you can get much crazier than that!

Anyway, after consulting with some experts on the camping board, we came to the conclusion that setting up camp at night... with 3 kids... while pregnant would be an utter disaster. So, we are spending Saturday night at Caribe Royal resort. We got the Mousesavers deal that came out a month ago so we will be sharing a 2 bedroom unit with MIL and FIL that night. We figured that this was a good place to try out since future trips will involve rooms for a family of 6!

Sunday morning, we will get up and go to church, grab some lunch at Macaroni Grill and then go set up camp. The plan for the day is to go swimming and enjoy the fort. We will then cook supper at our spot that night – once I come up with something to cook that everyone will eat. This is my greatest challenge for this trip. (I need an emoticon of someone banging their head into a brick wall!) Let me explain the restrictions to you:

1)DH is a vegetarian who will occasionally eat fish.
2)In the 12 years I have known my MIL, the only things I have ever seen her order in a restaurant are steak and seafood. I have never seen her eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich or macaroni and cheese or any other “cheap” food.
3)I am allergic to shellfish.
4)We will have no refrigeration at the Fort – just a cooler.
5)I am pregnant and am having lots of food aversions.

So, put all of those things together and I have no idea what I am going to cook! If I were just cooking for myself and my children, we would probably do cheese quesadillas with raw carrot sticks and apples and s'mores for dessert. I doubt that any of DH, MIL, or FIL would consider that a “meal”. Any brilliant meal planners out there have an idea?

After supper, I want to head out to Chip & Dales campfire and movie at the Fort. I am hoping the movie will be something my kids want to watch. If not, we might go over and watch Wishes from the Poly or the Contemporary. Or we might just go watch the Electrical light pageant. Or we might all be exhausted and just go to bed.

Up next, I've been shopping!

 

[cbcrockett]

I am a SAHM, so sticking to the budget is a normal part of my "job". For me, it is like solving a puzzle: How can I make all of the pieces fit within the framework (lodging, food, gas, etc.)?

Me too! Though it's something I'm still getting the hang of!

Bless you for camping at 5 months with the little ones! We typically camp a lot, but cut back a lot while I was pregnant. I was very very sick though . 9 months worth. Ick.

What type of cooking appliances will you be taking? I will go through my "camping cookbook", but don't want to give you ideas that aren't practical! My initial thought was doing something like a baked potato bar night or baked potato soup (with lots of toppings). You could do both in a crock pot and let them go while you were out enjoying the day!

 

[ksl5f123]

Me too! Though it's something I'm still getting the hang of!

Bless you for camping at 5 months with the little ones! We typically camp a lot, but cut back a lot while I was pregnant. I was very very sick though . 9 months worth. Ick.

What type of cooking appliances will you be taking? I will go through my "camping cookbook", but don't want to give you ideas that aren't practical! My initial thought was doing something like a baked potato bar night or baked potato soup (with lots of toppings). You could do both in a crock pot and let them go while you were out enjoying the day!

I have actually been more sick with this pregnancy than with any of my others. I have just started to feel better in the last week. I was getting really nervous that I would be spending all of my time resting in the tent.

We are certainly taking the crock pot and the griddle. We are still debating the rice cooker. DH actually just suggested a potato bar when we were talking about it this week. I love potatoes baked in the crock pot. They come out yummy!

 

[ksl5f123]

I will get back to the plans tomorrow, but I have been doing some shopping and want to share some of my purchases. First, I want to give a picture of our new tent. We got this for Christmas from MIL and FIL. Since we are now a family of 5, we clearly couldn't fit in our old 4 person tent that we used to use. So, we have this new Coleman 9-person instant tent. If the weather breaks (we are supposed to have light rain all day tomorrow), we are going to practice setting it up in the backyard this weekend. I think the kids will enjoy that.

I also bought myself a new air mattress on Black Friday. I got this double high Coleman queen size air mattress for $45.

We have a single high full size air mattress that we will take also. We were originally going to buy cots for the kids, but now since we are expecting a new baby and we don't know how long it will be before we camp again, we are just going to let them either share the full size or let them sleep on their own pool float (I will probably pick up 4-5 of those just in case).

On Wednesday, I bought these on ebay:

I want to put them across the front of our tent so that we can find it when we come back in the evenings. Aren't they cute?!

I also bought this on ebay on Wednesday:

It is an electric cooler that plugs into the car battery. I am also planning to get an adapter so that it can also be plugged into a regular outlet. It is supposed to hold 19 cans, so it isn't really big, but it should be big enough to hold anything that is really important thereby giving me a little flexibility.

Yesterday, I went shopping at Target. I bought a few things there for the trip also. First, I got a new mallet for pounding in the tent stakes. I am sure that we used to own one but I haven't seen it in years. So, for $3 we can now set up our tent. I also got a bottle of shake and pour Bisquick pancake mix. It was on sale for $1 and I thought that would make a simple breakfast one morning. I also gave in and picked up a Mickey head shaped serving bowl. I have been stalking these for the past 4 months waiting on them to go on sale. It still hasn't happened, but they had moved them to the endcap and there were only 3 left. I didn't want to wait any longer, so I paid $10 for it. Finally, I bought a 3 drawer plastic storage unit. We are going to use it for the girls' clothes rather than suitcases. This will give them a table next to their beds where we can put a light. They can also put all of those small things that girls seem to accumulate there so we don't all step on them.

After Target, I stopped at Hobby Lobby for some fabric. For $7, I got enough to make both of my girls skirts for our Legoland day. I finished the one for DD6 tonight:

It is supposed to look like stacked Legos. I have never made a patchwork skirt before and I have to admit getting all of the seams clean was really a challenge. It made me want to put a serger on my Christmas list. I am still planning some shirts to match, but I am waiting on a sale so I will keep you in suspense on those.

Up next, back to the daily plans!

 

[ksl5f123]

Monday, March 19 will be our Legoland day. The current park hours are 10 AM to 6 PM. We will get up Monday morning and finish the muffins that I will bring from home. Then we will try to be on the road by 8 AM so we easily make park opening. I don't really have a touring plan because I really have no idea how fast lines form or if there are some attractions that are better in the morning. If anybody knows, please clue me in!!

So, given that I am making up my plan with no prior knowledge , the current plan is to go in and head to the right and go counter clockwise. Looking at the map, I think that will take us to the LEGO Kingdoms first. We will start with letting the kids do the Royal Joust. I know DS3 will love this. He carries a sword and shield around all day playing “knight”. We might then try Merlin's Challenge which is described as a wooden train ride, but looks more like trains going in a circle over a bumpy path. We might also let the kids play for a little while in the Forestmen's Hideout which looks like a place to climb and slide through a fort in the trees.

From there, we will head over to the Land of Adventure where we will see if DD8 wants to ride Coastersaurus. She is very upset about Big Thunder Mountain being closed so maybe she will want to try this roller coaster. It looks like a pretty tame wooden roller coaster. I think we will all try the Safari trek (a little car ride past LEGO animals), Lost Kingdom Adventure (a TSMM type ride with an Egyptian theme), and Pharaoh's Revenge (a net maze with foam balls you can shoot at each other).

Next, we would go to LEGO City. This has a couple of cute attractions. There is Ford Jr Driving school for kids ages 3-5 to drive LEGO cars and Ford Driving school for kids ages 6-13. There is also a boating school for the kids to drive their own boats.

We will probably split up at this point with one or two grandparents taking DS3 to DUPLO Village where they have more little cars and climbing stuff for the preschool set while everyone else heads off to Miniland USA. I know DH and I will want to spend a lot of time looking at this and DS3 will probably get bored quickly so I think it will be best if he wait to join us for a little while. Miniland USA is the area where they have several cities recreated entirely out of LEGOs.

Finally, we will take the Factory tour and ride the carousel in Fun Town. I know at some point, we will come into Fun Town to get some apple fries. It seems to be the only food in the park that anybody says is good. We will have to have lunch at some point too. I am guessing that will either be at the Pizza and Pasta buffet in Fun town or at the Market Restaurant in the entrance area. I am currently not planning to have supper here since the park closes at 6 PM. It looks like there is an Applebees and an Olive Garden pretty close to Legoland, so we will probably go to one of those.

If anybody has actually been to Legoland, I would love to hear your suggestions. Any attractions that I have planned that we should skip? Any that I don't have planned that we should add? Touring plans? Restaurant recommendations? There is nothing on the Legoland website about restrictions for pregnant women. Are there any? I can use any help I can get!

Up next, more shopping and a Disney Theme night!

 

[TinksThree]

I am so happy you made it over!

This trip may drive me crazy with the plan changing. I like to get the basics down early so I can work on the details. Here we are 29 days out and I still have some basics that aren't decided! I may lose my mind!

Hmmm. So you will be in the MK on Friday, March 23. We may have to figure a way for a quick DIS meet!

I will have to PM you! As of right now Madison's band is supposed to be marching in MK on Friday afternoon!

I hit 29 days today...I can't believe it has gotten so close!

I really thought I had subscribed and began thinking you had stopped posting! I love the Mickey lights for the tent. Very cute. And I am impressed with the skirt you made! Cute! I am no help on Legoland! Sorry!

I love your Disney theme nights! Can't wait to see this one!

 

[pinkxray]

I am finally here. I read your intro the other night at work, but totally forgot to come back and post. (I can read the Dis at work on my phone during on the over night shift but posting is tough)

Fort Wilderness sounds like so much fun. I have always wanted to stay in the cabins there but DH refuses to do any type of camping, not even a cabin. He was in the Marine Corps for 4 years and had enough of sleeping in tents outside to last him a life time, he says anyway

I do think you are a little crazy to be staying in tent at 5 months pregnant though Hopefully you will be feeling good when you go.

I love the Lego skirts. Very clever

I am looking forward to reading about Legoland in your TR. I haven't seen much about it.

 

[ksl5f123]

I will have to PM you! As of right now Madison's band is supposed to be marching in MK on Friday afternoon!

I hit 29 days today...I can't believe it has gotten so close!

I really thought I had subscribed and began thinking you had stopped posting! I love the Mickey lights for the tent. Very cute. And I am impressed with the skirt you made! Cute! I am no help on Legoland! Sorry!

I love your Disney theme nights! Can't wait to see this one!

I know. We are down to 22 days until we leave. Time is just flying by!

I love the Mickey lights too. They arrived a couple of days ago and I couldn't wait to plug them in and make sure they work. They are so cute!

Thanks for the comment on the skirt. I have never done patchwork before so I was really nervous about getting all the seams straight. It didn't turn out too bad.

 

[ksl5f123]

I am finally here. I read your intro the other night at work, but totally forgot to come back and post. (I can read the Dis at work on my phone during on the over night shift but posting is tough)

Fort Wilderness sounds like so much fun. I have always wanted to stay in the cabins there but DH refuses to do any type of camping, not even a cabin. He was in the Marine Corps for 4 years and had enough of sleeping in tents outside to last him a life time, he says anyway

I do think you are a little crazy to be staying in tent at 5 months pregnant though Hopefully you will be feeling good when you go.

I love the Lego skirts. Very clever

I am looking forward to reading about Legoland in your TR. I haven't seen much about it.

Welcome!

We stayed in a cabin back in October 2000 (i.e. well before kids). Despite the fact that Disney calls them cabins, they really look RVs that have been permanently mounted to the ground. Anyway, staying in one didn't feel like camping at all. It was like staying in a little house.

I hope I am feeling good too. I have been less naseous the past 2 weeks, but DH made something for supper today that has us airing out the house tonight. Luckily it was 82 degrees today.

I wish more people would post some info on Legoland. There is very little out there. I guess I will get to fill in the gaps.