Oh boy...I certainly slacked off on the rest of this trip report
...
I will try and load some pictures of the Parisian lunch from Sunday. Kaedyn really liked it and I was so proud of her for trying everything. She couldn't even finish her macarons
...and they were the whole reason she wanted to do the lunch. She discovered that she loves vichyssoise (good grief, did I spell that right?
) and she also learned that some things might look and sound terrible, but they are still worth trying because it might surprise you.
I will get into more details later, but one thing that Kim and I learned on this trip is that our husbands do NOT want to go again. About halfway through the trip, we realized that we had added two additional children to our group...and they were prone to meltdowns and needed frequent naps
.
On the flight home, Kim had a thought....she started planning a trip for 2018 which would not include our husbands. How fun! Me and Kim and our 4 girls who will be 15, 13, 10 and 7, taking a fall break and doing the
MNSSHP
. Of course, the wheels of planning started turning right then and there. I looked at my points' situation and realized that I will have enough points (195) to do 6 nights at AKV in a 2BR standard view in October. The plan was set....
...and then Kim realized that she has a wedding in NY that fall and will not be able to afford two trips
. We decided to put it off until 2019, but it will be a little longer. Kim is planning on going down on a Friday and returning the following Saturday. My girls and I will come down on Saturday and we will stay that first night at Pop Century since I only have enough points for 6 nights at AKV. Kim is planning on Friday and Saturday at Pop Century and she said she will probably do non-park activities for those first two days. The plan was revised...
...and then we told Dad
...
...and of course, he wants to come too! Now, he and mom are planning on joining us
. Remember how crazy my dad is
? Well, let me tell you.... HE ALREADY BOUGHT PARK PASSES
. UndercoverTourist had a deal going on and dad bought (2) 7-day park hopper tickets for a total of $838! My dad will be 70 years old when we go and he is as excited as a kid in a candy store
. He got the SWA Visa card so that he can use the points to pay for their airfare. He asked me how much I wanted for "his share" of the
DVC points that we will be using. Yeah, right...like I am going to charge my family to come with us
. So, he said he will use whatever points he has leftover in his SWA account when the time comes and he will book our flights with his points to compensate me for using my DVC points for the lodging. He has even started his blog for this trip! It's so funny because he talks to me about it almost every time I see him, like we are going next year or something. It's funny because he and mom are taking a Panama Canal/Costa Rica cruise in February and he rarely mentions it! I think he would rather go to Disney World
.
There's lots to do between now and 2019. My family (of 4) is heading to HHI for the first week of April. Then, in October 2017, one of my best friends is coming with me to AKV for her very first F&W festival. In October 2018, I am planning on taking my girls back to AKV. One of my other friends is interested in coming along and, ironically, it will be a trip that is exactly 10 years since she came along with me and the girls back in 2008.
So much planning....and a LOT of time to do it
.
. Since dad only has a 6-day ticket, he would have to add a day. I calculated the cost to be about $16 and he is still thinking about it. I think the plan right now is to play it by ear. If everyone is pooped, or if it's raining, I think dad's night in the MK will have to wait until later in the week. 
We are in the home stretch
...so back to bed I went.
. Mom and Dad are picking up their rental car at 4:30pm. Then, Dad is driving the rental back to his house to load it up. In the meantime, Mom is picking us up at 4:45pm and dropping us off at the airport, hopefully by 5pm. On the way home from the airport, she is picking up my sister and her kids. They are going to head back to Mom's house, drop off the Tahoe and hop in the rental car with Dad. They are heading to Flint to spend the night before their flight on Saturday and my sister wants to let the kids have a little pool time before bed. My BiL will be driving their minivan with most of their luggage directly to the Flint airport on Saturday morning since their flight isn't until 12:30pm.
. They said they saw the solid block and had to check. The agent was super nice and even commented on what a great job of packing I did and he loved the powdered peanut butter. 
. That was WAY too fancy for us common folk
, and the girls still ended up sharing the bed because neither of them wanted the sofa bed. In the morning, we picked up Starbucks and ate breakfast in the room. I managed to get everyone out of the door by 9:45 and we headed down to Magical Express.
.
!
.
.
Dad found his bench
