Insert Catchy Title Here Pre-trip Report

[AMaloy314]

How far in advance are you allowed to plan for your next WDW trip before you are considered truly pathetic? Whatever the answer, I think I qualify.

Let me introduce myself and the cast of characters that you may be getting to know, if I don't immediately scare you off, that is! There is me--PTO Mom, wife extraordinaire, and closet Disney freak. DH--great husband and father, loves WDW, but totally doesn't get the need for the constant planning, thinking, preparing, etc. (Although, to be fair he is the first to thank me for all the work while we are there!) DSD1- 14 going on 40, hitting adolescence--or is adolescence hitting us???? with a vengenance. She will be turning 16 on our trip. DSD2- just turned 13, great kid, but at that awkward stage/age where she isn't quite sure where she fits in. I think she is trying to figure out if it is cool or not to be excited about the trip. In the meantime, she's withholding judgement, listening intently when I talk about it, but pretending to be watching TV. DS1- 7, tried to be a tough guy, but is really a big softie inside. He loves StarTours and Power Rangers. DS2- 6, 1st class optimist convinced that he will grow 5 inches before we leave so that he can ride everything, loves the characters. DS3- 2yo, doesn't remember the last trip, but loves his Simba plush and watches Disney movies so I'm still hopeful that I can indoctrinate him.

Our trip isn't until September 2008, and I've been planning it since we arrived in WDW for our last trip in Feb. Why would I begin planning my next trip while I was already there, you ask. Simply put, when we got to FL the weather was cold and rainy, my youngest son was teething, and I had a big Christmas and played WPASADI for the couple of months preceding the trip instead of obsessively preparing. I spent the first day feeling disorganized, frazzled and cold. I knew then that my next trip would be in Sept.

Unfortunately, we are not a family that can afford to do Disney more than once a year. (Not the way I like to do Disney, anyway!) Hence we are now going in September 2008.

 

[ChrisLei]

We are in the same boat your family is in. We can't afford to go to Disney more than once a year. Heck, we can't even go every year! Our first trip all of us as a family was in November 2005. Now, 2 years later, we are going on our next trip. This is only because it happens to be our 10th Wedding Aniversary and we made a vow that on our 10th we would go on another cruise. Since we are going on the Disney cruise, we might as well go to the world again!

 

[AMaloy314]

I'm really excited that my two stepdaughters are coming on the trip this time. They've been to WDW once before with their mother about 3 years ago, but they were there for 1 day and did 2 parks. As DSD1 says, they "went to the one with the castle and one other, but I can't remember which it was." In effect, this is their first 'real' trip.

The first thing I always do after figuring out when we are going is to figure out where we are staying. If you think finding a good WDW solution to housing a family of 5 is tough, try 7!! Theoretically, we could get 3 rooms at one of the AS resorts and hope for connecting or cram ourselves into 2 rooms at a moderate, but that just doesn't scream rest and relaxation to me. And when we return to our room after a visit to the parks, I'm going to be counting on some down time. So what to do?????

Answer, hit the DisBoards, of course! After spending a loooooonnnnngggg time researching off site properties, I kept coming back to the same houses over and over. Luckily, they were all owned by the same person, and believe it or not, a DisBoard member on top of it. For less than the amount we paid for a ASMu Family Suite, we are renting a beautiful 4 bedroom vacation home. (If you want to check it out, here's the link: http://mydisneyhouses.com/Templates/mickey.htm ) I've never stayed in a vacation home before and I'm really excited. Minutes from the parks, a private pool, space and privacy!! YAY!! The kids are excited, too. Over all, the kids all get along really well, but it's very hard for teenagers to put up with little, little brothers all the time. I was a little concerned about 10 days of nonstop brotherly love. (When I first wrote that I typed "botherly love". Freudian? Hmmmm.) This should give them room to get away for a bit, too.

I'm still working on the rental car issue, but I know that we won't be able to manage with less than a minivan. That is still a work in progress, and will be until the countdown ticker moves quite a bit.

Since, we've never stayed at a home before, that added a whole new planning and preparation element. I got to make a brand new list of "THINGS TO BRING FOR HOUSE" and "THINGS TO BUY ON ARRIVAL", as well as "OFF-SITE RESTAURANTS!!" I started signing up on sample web sites and am now reaping the rewards of freebies. I've got 2 dishwasher detergent packets and 3 laundry detergents to use when we are there. Wooo-hooo! (Slightly OT, I also got signed up as a HP delta tester and am getting to test a new product for them. How cool is that????) I wonder if any of the rental car companies need cars test driven by a large family for 10 days or so in the Orlando area.......

Still to come, schedules, lists to make and things to do.

 

[AMaloy314]

Okay, so now I have a place to stay. Time to get organized.

Uh-oh. I just used all my PassPorter Passpockets for the Feb. trip. Being the budget minded woman that I am, I set out to make my own version of these indispensable planning accoutrements. I used regular envelopes and did my best alterations to make them work. No go. I ended up buying refill passpockets because it was too early <gasp> to even pre-order the 2008 version of the PassPorter. (For anyone reading this now and thinking they want to do something similar, I recommend ordering the close-out deal of the Deluxe refill kits for previous years. You get the Passpockets for like $3, rather than the refill price which is more than double that.)

Anyway, now I have a place to put all my lists, time to get them started.

Things to get for the girls:
Fanny packs (Wal-mart clearance)
guest of honor badges
pins for trading (ebay.com)
suitcases
excitement builders (like what???)

Matching Shirts
10 days X 7 people (shirtsupplier.com for shirts, ebay for transfer paper, DISsigns Board for images)

Park days (signed up with TourGuideMike.com)

ADRs

One step at a time, right?