If I don't go insane from the planning we'll be taking the kids to Disney June 2011!

[southern_redhead]

That title's kind of long.......but it's the truth Planning this trip will, at the very least, give me a few gray hairs and, if it all goes south, it may send me to the funny farm!! But, so far so good


Right now we are still trying to figure out who is going. We know 5 of us are, DSS tends to vacillate on things like this and he goes from yes to no to maybe about 12 times a day. This is one of the things threatening to send me to a rubber room Ah, the joys of teenage boys!

We went round and round about when we would go. I'd love to go during a value season or free dining and stay on site. I'd love to go when the weather is cooler and the crowds are fewer. Alas, we aren't doing any of that. We are going smack-dab in the middle of summer when the heat is boiling and the crowds are roiling. Basically, we can't miss just a whole lot of school (or work) and, sadly, our school holidays don't exactly match up with any really great times to be at Disney. C'est la vie.

So now we know we are going in June but will it be five or six of us? Where will we stay? Hmmm, it's late.........I guess I'll save that for another installment

 

[mrssmith06]

we are also going in June!! Looking forward to seeing your plan!

 

[southern_redhead]

Yea!! How exciting that we are both planning first family trips for June!!

 

[southern_redhead]

Okay, so last night I introduced the family. Tonight I'll discuss lodging. First, let me say that I have visited SO MANY resort websites (including Disney resorts) and crunched so many numbers I think I now qualify as an honorary travel agent. S'riously.

At first I was determined to stay on site. It was easier, right? It was better.....more magical.....right? What it was (for us) was a whole lot more expensive. See, in all my waffling I missed booking anything for free dining (and, to be honest, those dates weren't exactly calling my name.) And we never - I mean NEVER, not since DS11 was a baby - stay in the same hotel room with the kids. We avoided traveling for years just to get the kids old enough to feel comfortable allowing them to sleep in a connecting room. So, never once did it cross my mind to try to squeeze us all into one room.


Well.......maybe just once. I did look at the All Star family suites. But our oldest boys are 6'2 and 5'2. Both over 100 pounds. I couldn't see them PLUS our two littles into a den on pull out beds. So I looked at 2 rooms but didn't really want to stay at a value, not this go round. I looked at a deluxe and after I picked myself up off the floor I looked at a mod. Wow. Disney thinks VERY highly of their rooms LOL Now, no one drag out the torches and pitch forks just yet!!! I'm sure their accomodations are nice. And I intend to try them. Someday. But this time.......

We are staying here:

http://www.lbvorlandoresort.com/

Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa

It *sounds* nice, it *looks* nice....we'll have to see in June if it *is* nice.

I tried searching it on the boards but only turned up a handful of references. They were good, though. We are terribly excited about that pirate ship pool. We love to swim. Did I mention we love water and the beach? And are having a hard time giving that up for Disney (drop the pitchforks, folks!) even though we are excited to go to Disney? Well, DH and I are.......we haven't told the kids yet. We have, according to my little countdown ticker on my computer, 116 days/2 hours/1 minute until we arrive in Orlando. Believe me when I say that if I clued our kids into our trip NOW I would feel Every. Single. Second. of that time!

So, I shelved my dreams of falling asleep on Disney property for a later date (perhaps with free dining) and booked our 3 bedroom/2 bath condo at LBVR&S. I should also add that since we are paying OOP for food this is a budget saver for us. We plan to eat a few meals on site but the rest will be home cooking in the condo. DH travels for work and isn't home all that much so he really prefers me to cook when he is around. He gets enough McD's and Pizza Hut on the road.

We are also driving down to Orlando from our home in Tennessee. Have you priced air fare for six people? Yeah, it's that bad LOL Someday I hope to fly the kids somewhere. Currently DH and I have flown and DD flew out to AZ with my mother 2 summers ago. Our boys have terrible plane envy

So, now that we finalized our dates and decided where to stay........what about actually getting IN to Disney? Does my husband have a clue how much it costs to walk through Mickey Mouse's gates? Can he multiply that by 4 (for Disney, anyway) adults and 2 kids?

 

[mrssmith06]

The Resort looks nice! I'm with you on missing a regular beach vacation. We usually hit a florida beach every year and we are giving that up for Disney this year... but I can't complain, Disney has been a life long dream of mine!!
We wanted to fly too but airfare was WAY out of our budget! I'm not sure you would get me on the plane anyway, I've never flown and I'm fearful

 

[southern_redhead]

To answer my earlier question, no DH had NO idea how much WDW cost. I was talking about buying tickets and he said "So, they are pretty expensive? About $80 a piece?" *Sigh* And, yeah, I'm pretty sure he meant the FULL ticket for however many days not just ONE day even. When I do something stupid he always likes to say "You're so pretty." in a patronizing voice. Boy did I whip that one out and use it back at him. The cost of a 6 day ticket with park hopping and waterparks and more option is $350 for an adult (should you ever need that factoid!) This was DH when he discovered that nugget of information ........

Happily, someone here on the DIS boards pointed me towards the YES program. Through this program your kids can take a class (ours is 3 hours, I think they all are more or less) and you get discounted tickets for the family. Steeply discounted tickets. I paid $198.27 per person for ours, saving $758.65 off the cost of tickets for 5 people. Yeah you read that right. Five people. We decided to buy for us and the three that live with us. We still want DSS to go but he still, as of today, doesn't know if he will. I did a quick number crunch and decided saving approximately $151 wasn't worth the gray hair I was getting. Heck, I'd probably end up spending that just to cover the gray So, if he goes then we'll happily buy his ticket at the gate. He was too old for the class we signed up for, anyway, so this way he and DH can do something fun without "little people" (although my 11 year old may seethe with envy that they are going somewhere else and he is going with little brother and sister) while we do the Synergy in Science class.


I CAN'T WAIT!!! The class sounds neat and my kids will think it's fun to have participated in an actual "class" at Disney!

But, I'm going to have to wait a little while. Because we aren't even telling our kids where we are going. It's a secret! YDS was asking me tonight about vacation. He went on and on.......and on LOL Then he said "Can we go on that boat? The one with the slide and that turtle you talk to?" Um....what? A Disney CRUISE? Not hardly, better luck next time buddy! But, I did say "Well, that is a cruise but I think Crush is in Disney WORLD, too. Maybe, if we ever go, you could see him there." He was so excited he was jumping up and down LOL One of his BFFs went for the first time ever this fall and he immediately said "BFF went there. I want to go, too!" I did my best stern mom and said that we would see, summer was still a long way off.

So, now we know when we are going......where we are staying.......and the tickets are on their way to my hot little hands (soon.) Bwa ha ha ha!! Oh, um, sorry But will we eat at the condo only to further save money or will we dine in the parks to spend more time at Disney? Decisions, decisions, decisions.....