I'm The KOTS for a Birthday Surprise in August for Free DDP, so please Ssssh.....

[mom2taylorandemily]

Well, I'm not sure I know how to do this, as I've attempted this once before, like 3 years ago, and I got thru 3 posts and gave up. But, this year I'll try to keep it up, so my DDs can read it once we get home.

To begin with, last year when we came from our Annual trip to WDW at CBR, DH suggested that we go on and book a Land & Sea for our next trip and try the cruise, since he had read a few reports on the Cruise Board and we have friends who go on DCL every other year. So, I booked it for Dec. 3rd thru the 10th, with us being at the Poly Dec. 3 thru 6 and then boarding The Wonder on Dec. 6th and disembarking on the 10th. So, this was going to give us the best of both worlds. But, there was a big part of me that wanted more park time. I was actually longing for more park time. I think DH could see me agonizing over it, so in Feb. my DH got a really good bonus and we also got a great Tax refund (thanks Uncle Sam!!!), so he said see if you can figure it all out and if it makes financial sense, we'll talk about it. I just LOVE my DH, he's the best!!!

I looked at all the scenarios I could come up with and realized that it would be impossible to take the DDs out of school twice in one year to go to WDW, so that left me with a few school breaks to work between or go in the summer (but oh the heat!!!!). What to do!!!???

For the past 3 years we have gone in Dec. and DD12 always gets to celebrate her real birthday while we are there, and to satisfy both girls we let DD9 have an "un"birthday birthday celebration for a day while we are there. Well, almost 3 months ago, she began asking if there was anyway possible after our trip with the cruise, could we please go for her real birthday one year?

So, I put my thinking cap on and looked at the calendar and then the numbers and called my TA at AAA and she and I worked out some preliminary numbers with the 4/3 deal, but the only problem was the dates we wanted to go was after the current cut off date on that promo, but we thought that they might extend it. The numbers looked do-able, so later that night I ran it by DH and he said book it. I called AAA as soon as I got the kids off to school on Feb. 10th, and booked a trip for Aug. 16 thru 23, with the hopes that the 4/3 is extended. Then the announcement that 4/3 was going to really stop on 8/15, now what to do.......Well, my TA told me to leave it as it is and we'll see what happens.

OMG!!! So, the next promo announcement I hear about on the DIS is Free Dining and it looked like the dates would include our scheduled dates, then the waiting began. The first release of dates was for Disney Visa's which we don't have, so I'd have to wait until Monday, March 30, and yes our dates were included!!! YAY!!!

So, here we are!! We are going to be at WDW Aug. 15th (we are going down a day early) and staying until 23rd. We are staying CBR in a Preferred Room and we got Free Dining. I couldn't believe it, my DH and I are so excited we can hardly contain ourselves. My DDs birthday is Aug. 17th and we will be there this year for her actual real birthday!!! But the deal is, it is a secret. Please don't tell......

Please come back and read some more, I'm new to this and I'll get scared if no one reads this and then I'll quit again.

Up Next: The Cast

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

I have to say, its taken me a while to write my 2nd installment to this but right after I began this, I tore my rotator cuff pretty severly and really have only posted on other threads. I'm in the process of trying to get an MRI and then schedule surgery. I am hoping that I'll be healed enough to go in August. So, I wasn't really sure I was going to be able to finish my Pre-TR because I'm trying to not be on a fence here, and DH says we're going whether I have surgery or not!!! And since DH insists that I do this, I will attempt to finish some more of it.

So....on to the Cast:
First is me: Mary, I'm a huge Mickey and Minnie fan and I hold a special place in my heart for Cinderella, because every girl wants to be Cindy at some time or another!!! But I actually love ALL THINGS DISNEY!!! I am 46 and I grew up singing Disney movie soundtracks on my old fashioned kiddy record player!!! Some of my best childhood memories were singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as loud as I could get that record player. I drove my parents crazy. While I was growing up all my friends were going to WDW when I was in Middle School and High School, but my parents could never afford to take us, so my first trip to WDW was when I was 29 years old, and I went with DH on our first trip together before we got married. That was quite a bonding experience for us, I knew then and there that he was the man for me; he shared my love of Disney!!! Anyway, we've been married 14 years this year and we have 2 beautiful DDs, and I'll tell you all about them next. But I'm a substitute teacher, I have been for 5 years now, and I love it. It gives me the flexibility to plan and take my trips without jeopardizing my job and I get to stay on the same schedule as my kids.

Next is Glenn, my DH!!! He is the best husband in the whole wide world!!!! He indulges me in all my Disney aspirations, and a few others as well. He works for our Electric company in a Nuclear Power Station. He is a Health Physics Technician (Radiological Tech) who specializes in Respiratory Protection. He has worked for them for almost 25 years and he is lucky enough to get 4 weeks vacation a year, so we plan all our vacation time around our trips to Disney and Christmas vacation!!! He also grew up loving Disney but he spent a great deal of his childhood in Germany because his dad was military and Disney World was not even around until he was almost an adult. But lucky for me, he saved his first trip to go with me!!!!! His favorite Disney character is Cinderella!!! He thinks she is the prettiest, and all boys want to be Prince Charming to their own Cinderella.

My Oldest DD is Taylor, she is 12 trying to go on 21 but she is my princess!!! She has always known about Disney, her nursery was decorated in Mickey and Minnie Baby!!! I started collecting Disney movies and books for her before she was born. She caught the magic on our first trip together as a family in 2006. She loves all things Disney just like DH and I, but she is my Disney partner in crime!!! She loves to plan where to stay, our ADRs, and then our plan of action in the parks!!! She is getting to the age where now she wants to tour alone with her sister, but we aren't ready for her to do that, I still like her close to us. Her favorite character is Pooh and we make sure every trip that she gets to eat at Crystal Palace so she can see Pooh!!!

My Youngest DD is Emily, she is 9! She is my baby and my sunshine!!!! Emily is a lot like Taylor in that she has always know about Disney, the movies have always been around and available to watch!!! Emily loved watching Playhouse Disney as a toddler, especially Bear in the Big Blue House (we miss him) and PB & J Otter (we miss them too!!!). So, when we went the first time as a family we made sure to see them at DHS before that show closed. Emily had the Disney bug before we went but she didn't quite get the magic of the parks that trip, for her it came on our 2nd trip. Emily also has epilepsy and she takes medication for her seizures, so for the most part it is controlled. Emily's favorite character is Tink, so we were so very happy to get to go to Pixie Hollow last year!!! I'm sure she'll try to get us to go again this year.

My next installment will have where we are staying, when and how long. Plus our travel plans and maybe our ADRs.

So, if you are reading thanks!!!

Here is the family on our trip in 2007:

This is my DDs on our first trip in 2006: (sorry its so small, I can't figure out how to resize it )

Then here they are in 2007 after they went to BBB:

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Well, I've had some readers, but no takers! UH OH!!! What am I doing wrong? Well, lets see if the next installment will do it!!

So, we found out that Free Dining was available during our planned dates! Or at least we are hoping it will be YAY!!! We've never been for Free Dining, so this is going to be a new experience for us. Also we as a family have only gone in Dec. so we are not used to the Florida summer sun. We have pretty hot humid weather here in Virginia, but I think that Florida's heat may be a bit hotter. DH and I went in Sept. and in Oct. previously so we are somewhat prepared for the heat. We plan on going to the parks early, take breaks mid day, then returning to parks at night. We are hoping with this schedule we'll be ok, maybe?!

Anyway, back to our plans. Our initial plan was to go 8/16 thru 8/23, and stay at CSR. It has been newly renovated and it had Queen beds!!! Oh that has to be better than DH and I trying to go from our King size to a full size bed. So, my initial ressie was set to be in a standard room at CSR. Initially we were excited to try this resort, then the tug of CBR at our heart began. We really love it there, we've already stayed there twice and it was also recently renovated and we love the new pool. We got to swim in the pool a few times last year in Dec. and the kids would really love to swim there again. So, as time went on, DH and I really just wanted to go back to CBR, so I called our TA and asked if she could switch us to CBR and get us a AAA discount, and yes it was available. So, we switched. I felt so relieved, we were going home!!!

Now, all we had to do was wait for Free Dining to be released. We knew that the 4/3 deal was going to end on 8/15 and our dates began on the 16th, so now the wait to see if FD was going to start that early in Aug. The waiting game began. I scanned the boards every day and evening waiting for a glimmer of a announcement, and then it came someone posted that FDDP was going to be released towards the end of March and it looked like our dates would be included!! First it was open to those with Disney Visa then the following Monday, it was going to the public. Darn, I was going to have to wait until Mon. March 30th. The waiting was almost unbearable, as I watched others who have Disney Visa, get their vacations booked and I watched with envy. Oh gosh, I hope they don't sell out my dates before I get to book my vacation. I know now how silly that sounds, but on my end I wanted this trip so so so bad and Monday wasn't coming fast enough.

Finally, my phone call came at 7:25 am, my TA from AAA called me at home, she took all my info home with her that weekend so she could call at 7:00 am for me. I had booked initially with AAA because we had hoped that Disney would release Free Dining with the AAA Magical Moments, but I knew from these boards that it was unlikely, but she kept on insisting that they had done it before. So, I was willing to let her try and even if they don't offer it that way, AAA has a few other benefits to their package that it was worth it to book with them again this trip. We've booked with them before and gotten great savings so, I thought it was at least worth the try. But now I know that Magical Moments is not available during Free DDP, so in the future I'll book it myself. But I do believe that AAA does offer great savings during other times so, I will continue to book with them in the future for my vacations.

About 2 weeks after we booked our trip, we pulled park hours from last years Aug. schedule and I began to see how we could maximize our time there. Then I began looking at flight schedules and Aug. was looking like we wouldn't get to WDW from Air Tran until 4:00 pm our first day there and we would be losing a whole day of park time, well that just wouldn't do, so we talked about going down a day early on 8/15 and doing a room only ressie so we wouldn't mess up our Free DDP. There was availability and so we booked it, and it will give us an extra evening to get in, get settled and get a good night sleep so we can hit the parks bright and early on the 16th. Then later that day I went ahead and booked our air fare. So, we fly out of Richmond on Air Tran 8/15 with return on 8/23. Then they changed our flight times, so on the 15th we fly out at 8:00 am and on the 23rd our flight home isn't until 8:30 pm, that was like adding 2 more complete days to us!!!

I'll have to come back later today and finish this installment, I have to go and teach 4th grade today!!! Everyone have a good day!!!