Is 7 times too many times in one year? **w/pictures

[Mickeefan]

Hello, everyone. This will be my 7th trip this calendar year. Is that too much? Should I just move down? Since I've only done a trip report one other time and it didn't get much response, I'm trying again. I'm going to attempt a pre-trip report. I've done them in the past, but I'm not that great a writer and they've been less than stellar.

First off, I want to clarify why I am calling my parents "The Old People". They moved to a continuing-care facility 2 years ago. They live in a cottage that is fully independent, but, in the event that they need more care, there is assisted living, nursing care and more on site. Now, they are allowed to have dinner in the main dining room, if they would like. Everytime they go, they comment about "all the old people" and we all think it's pretty funny.

So, let's start with a little background about the cast:

Me, Julie, I'm 44 and single and a Disney freak. This is the 2nd year I've had an AP and this trip in December will be my 6th trip on this pass. That's a total of about 25 days, making it about $20/day to get into the parks. Not too shabby.

My Mom, Joy. She's 73 and still working 4 days a week for my sister & brother-in-law's RV dealership. She even learned a new job to be able to help them out at the store. She's very tech-savvy for a "senior" and is secretly looking forward to this trip. (Okay, maybe not so secretly.)

My Dad, George. He's 75 and recently closed his flower shop that was in business for 49 years. He has neuropathy and walks with a cane now. He's not tech-savvy at all and is happy to be going out of town, it doesn't really matter where he goes, as long as it's out of town. He likes to travel.

The only request my Dad had was that we say at Port Orleans-Riverside. We had stayed there 7 years ago when it was still Dixie Landings and he just loves the landscaping and theming.

So, resort booked for 12/4-7/08, the next task was airfare. We purchased our airfare on May 7th and we land in Orlando at 9:53 am. We'll take Magical Express to the resort and we plan on just relaxing for the rest of that day.

Stay tuned . . . to see what's in store!

 

[Mickeefan]

Hello? Anyone there?

So, we've booked our resort and the airfare. As the days pass, I check the Airtran website for our itinerary daily. One day, the time of our flight changes. Because I've flown Airtran before, I knew that we could change our flight without penalty now because they had changed the schedule. So, I talked my Mom into going a day early. So, I called and changed our flight. So, we're flying out of Indy on Wednesday evening, December 3rd. This will give us the opportunity to sleep in and relax on the 4th.

Speaking of the 4th, I purchased (as a surprise) tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom for us. My parent's have never been to Disney at the holidays and they are looking forward to seeing all the pretty decorations. I went ahead and purchased these tickets because they were only planning to go to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. This event will get them into the Magic Kingdom that night. It's a surprise gift from me because of everything they do for me. It's a long story, but my condo flooded on June 7th and they have helped me get it all put back together.

So, that's the update. We arrive at "home" on 12/3 and leave on 12/7. More to come . . . . . .

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I'm here!

I'm laughing about your parents. My parents live in a "retirement community" in Florida - my Mom is constantly talking about the old people as well. Ummm ... Mom. Apparantly, there is old and there is OLD!

 

[Mickeefan]

Welcome! eyeheartgoofy. My grandmother was the same way when she lived in an assisted living place. She always talked about all the old ladies!

How many tickets do you need?

So, where were we? We've made the flight reservation and the hotel reservation. My parents need park tickets. I have an AP, so I don't need park admission. We're only planning to visit Epcot & Animal Kingdom (as far as my parents know). See previous post for *surprise* tickets to MVMCP on 12/4. So, we go online and order 2 2-day non-hopper tickets for pick-up at Disney World when we arrive. I receive the confirmation email and promptly put it out of my mind. That was early August.

It is now late October and I'm at my parent's house using their computer. We start to talk about park tickets. She tries to get me to order them 3-day tickets (remember, she doesn't know about the party at the Magic Kingdom). I keep telling her that this is supposed to be a more relaxing trip and that we don't need to run around WDW the whole time. I am trying desperately to not tell them about the *surprise*. She finally relents and agrees to only get a 2-day ticket.

When it's time to order the tickets through AAA, she goes online and does it herself (she's very tech-savvy). In the meantime, she and my Dad have talked and they decided to get a 5-day non-expiring ticket because "they'll be back to Disney and be able to use it". So, she orders the tickets and has them mailed. The day after she ordered them, I found the confirmation email about the 2-day tickets purchased in August. Oops!

So, they've got 7 days worth of admission, as well as tickets to MVMCP, and it's only a 4-day trip. Needless to say, they are planning to use the 2-day tickets and save the 5-day tickets for another trip. My uncle lives in Bradenton and if all goes right, I'm planning to move to Florida in about 3 years or so. So, they'll be down and able to use the tickets. Hopefully, she won't forget about them!

Now that we've settled on just visiting 2 parks and attending the party at the Magic Kingdom, we need to choose our dining locations. We did purchase the Dining Plan, so stay tuned to see what we choose and how many times we change them!

Thanks for reading.

 

[bellasmommy0]

I am subbing in! Sounds like it is going to be a nice trip and I hope they enjoy MVMCP. We are going to the one on the 9th.

 

[Mickeefan]

Where shall we eat?

So, we booked our trip with the dining plan. We've got 3 nights, so that's 3 TS, 3 CS & 3 snacks for person for 4 days/3 nights.

Here's our dining itinerary:

12/4 - night of MVMCP - Probably enter MK at 4pm and have dinner at Columbia Harbour House.

12/5 - 5:45pm - San Angel Inn - Candlelight Processional Package for 8:15 show

12/6 - 7:30pm - Boma

12/7 - 10:30am - Boma (I've never had breakfast here, I'm looking forward to it.

So, those are our dining plans. Now, for some pictures from a trip earlier this year. Next up, our rough itinerary and must-do rides & attractions.

My new favorite ride:

Wish we had time to go to Beaches & Cream:

 

[Mickeefan]

Just a quick update!

Yesterday in the mail, I received our Magical Express documents/luggage tags. It always seems like more of a reality when I get those!

Here's a picture of me showing Mickey my tattoo of Mickey:

Here's an OLD picture. That's my Mom on the far right and my sister in the middle, circa 1974ish. We went to the Magic Kingdom with both sets of grandparents that trip.

 

[Mickeefan]

A preview to a great meal!

I made the Pepper Pot soup on Saturday that I had at Boma in September for myself and my parents. It was really good. I found the recipe at allearsnet. It was a delicious reminder of my meal at Boma and gave my parents a taste of what they're in store for when we eat there in December. Can't wait.

We leave a month from today. So, here's a rough itinerary for you.

I'm planning to work on December 3rd. I work as a scheduler for an OB/GYN office. I will hopefully go to work at 6:45 that morning and work until 3:15. My parents will pick me up at 3:15 and we'll head to the airport. Or flight is at 5:51 and we arrive at MCO at 8pm. We'll be taking DME to the resort and getting checked in and settled that evening.

Thursday, 12/4, we plan to sleep in a little bit and then head to POFQ for beignets for breakfast. Then, we'll hop on the boat and go to Downtown Disney to shop and have lunch. After lunch, we'll return to the resort to relax for a while. I am surprising my parents with tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night, so we'll get ready and get a bus to the MK by about 3:30 that afternoon for dinner and the evening.

I'll finish the itinerary tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

[Mickeefan]

Before I get to the rest of our itinerary, I wanted to show a couple pictures and explain why I wanted to surprise them with tickets for MVMCP.

That's my Dad sweeping water out of my condo. On June 7th, we had a flood in Central Indiana. My parent's, sister, brother-in-law and nephew came and helped me. At the highest level, there was probably 6-8 inches of water in my house. We moved everything upstairs that we could and tried to extract as much water as we could. It was a long day.

So, on with the itinerary:

On 12/5, we'll get up and head out to Epcot for the day. I'm planning to have lunch in the World Showcase and hopefully take advantage of the Visa Meet & Greet photo opportunity. Then, we'll head to the World Showcase for the afternoon. We'll have dinner at San Angel Inn and then enjoy the Candlelight Processional. I've seen it, but my parent's never have. Our narrator is Brian Stokes Mitchell.

On 12/6, we'll get up and go to the Animal Kingdom for the day. I want to see Nemo, the Lion King show and the bird show. The rest will just be gravy. We've got an ADR at Boma that night, so we'll head over to the AKL to look around and have dinner.

Right now, our last day, 12/7, is sort of up in the air. We'll probably have breakfast and then do a monorail tour to see the Christmas decorations.

 

[bettyann29]

Im in!!

But HUSH your mouth!! How can you possibly ask if 7 times in one year is too much?? In my opinion, its not enough

I bet your parents will be surprised with the MVMCP! Sounds like they definitely deserve it..

Your food choices sound great!

 

[Mickeefan]

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my addiction.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Mickeefan]

It's only 19 days now, so I thought I should update you all.

I finally got carpet in my condo yesterday after it was flooded on June 7th. Now, I can put my furniture back downstairs where it belongs and get decorated for the holidays. Yay!


The new airport here in Indianapolis opened on Wednesday, so we get to fly out of it in December. My parents are talking about making a "dry run" out there on Sunday to check it out. They are such "old people!"

So, I made parking reservations at a long-term place that we always use and I got a discount! I'm saving us enough money to buy 2 of these:

My parents still don't know about Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party or the Candlelight Processional for that matter. I'm really looking forward to seeing the parks with all the decorations with my parents.

That's all for now . . . . just more waiting.

 

[kayla87]

Sounds like a fun trip coming up!

One of DH's grandparents really are the young old people at their retirement village - his grandma always talks about those old 95 year olds moving in, and how young it makes them feel!

We are flying out of the new airport for the first time in January. My DH says we have to arrive early so we can look around and see everything. That's fine and dandy to a certain extent, but I can't even count how many times he's driven me around perimeter road, just so we can look at construction, planes, etc

 

[Mickeefan]

2 weeks from today, we'll be at WDW preparing for MVMCP at the MK. As far as I know, my parents don't know about it yet and I'm trying to figure out a way to tell them. Anyone got any ideas?

I've been checking the weather and thinking about what kind of bag I'll take. I think I'll take a tote bag, so that I can carry a sweatshirt in case it gets chilly in the evenings.

My Mom was just saying the other day that she needs a vacation, so I'm really glad we're going to Disney. I did remind her, however, that even though it's called a vacation we'll do a lot of walking and standing.

I need to send/fax a request to the room controller regarding our room location at Port Orleans-Riverside. How does one word this type of document?

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer!

 

[Mickeefan]

Tomorrow is the day!

Well, we leave tomorrow evening at 5:51 out of Indy. I'm mostly packed, but I still have a lot to do tonight when I get home. I am also working part of the day tomorrow and have to be at work at 6:45 am. Yikes, that's going to come early and cold and dark!

The weather looks fantastic. I debated about not even taking my poncho, but it put it in, just in case! My parents still don't know about MVMCP, so that will be a good surprise for them.

I'm planning to take notes and many pictures, so I can do a trip report when we return. Thanks for reading. Only 1 more sleep!