It all started with a whopping price error, and then
Its true, my love of family vacations at WDW started with a whopping price error. Sadly, there is no whopping price error in this trip report. I paid through the nose this time.
Thats what happens when WDW gets their hooks in you. Your days are spent dreaming of your next trip. You plan it to the nth degree. When the planning is done, the endless tweaking begins. Between planning binges you read trip reports. You already knew this, right? Why else would you be here?
Once upon a time I did find a whopping price error. If you want to read about it, grab your favourite beverage, a tissue or two and follow the link in my signature. It was quite a ride. The highs were breathtaking. The lows were crushing.
This is the and then portion of my familys WDW vacation journey.
For those who have not and will not read the other TR here is the Coles notes version of who we are.
I am A&Bmama, mother of two, wife of one. I was also dubbed, The Best Travel Agent in the Whole World on this trip by my family. Its a shame that it is an unpaid position. I work seasonally, 7 months a year and I get to be a SAHM for the other 5 months! I am economically disciplined. Not cheap, economically disciplined, theres a difference. Seriously. There is.
My wonderful DH will be dubbed DH cause Im real creative like that. He is a hardworking man who loves to kick back in the sun with his family when vacation rolls around. When DS was much smaller he started calling his father The Fixer which is quite fitting. DH is a Jack-of-all-trades, and master of a couple. When the chips are down DH is a great person to have by your side.
My first born, DS is 17. DS is a very quiet young man; he only speaks when he really has something he deems worth saying. He works very hard at never showing emotion, positive or negative. On our last trip DS was to celebrate his 16th birthday in WDW. Those of you who read my last TR know that tragedy struck and that DS found himself home on his 16th birthday without any celebration at all. This trip took place a couple of weeks before his 18th birthday and I planned a very special surprise for him!
My cute as a button DD is 11 . . . going on 18. She is the polar opposite of her brother. Her emotions cant be hidden they are worn on her sleeve. She loves dance and gymnastics. She is a very loving child always wanting and giving affection. So far teen angst has not hit and she still likes her parents. I hope it never changes.
If you read my last TR you know that this trip was supposed to be a Universal/Seaworld trip rather than a WDW vacation. If you still havent read my last TR I have to ask; how many times to I have to beat you over the head with it before you just read it?
Fate intervened and instead of having a one week school break in March we found ourselves with a two week school break in February. This was due to the Canada Winter Games being held in Halifax during that time frame. So our trip was expanded to include time at WDW as well. Since free dining was also during our time frame it was decided that we would stay on site for most of the trip and travel offsite to visit SW, US, IOA and DC. We also worked in a few days on the beach in the St. Petersburg area before heading home. It was a jam packed adventure!
There was some debate over which resort to pick. Isnt there always? At the beginning of the trip we were booked for 5 days at the Beach Club. Once we decided we would be on-site longer we changed it POR.
I admit it.
This decision caused me to suffer from resort envy on more than one occasion while planning the trip.
Not that I didnt think I would like POR, I did. I just thought I would like BC more.
My economically disciplined side was wrestling with the notion that the increase in price was disproportional to the increase in enjoyment of the resort. The increase in price seemed to far outweigh the benefit of staying at a "better" resort.
So we settled on POR and were done with that decision.
Sort of
Maybe we should actually stay at POFQ? About half of the rooms would be renovated by the time we arrived. I would request a renovated room and since we would be arriving while occupancy would still be on the low side I might have a pretty good chance of getting one.
But
When I look at pics of POFQ they just dont speak to me the way POR does.
Or
Maybe we should stay at CSR? The rooms look fantastic there and they use the same toiletries as the deluxe resorts.
Seems I have developed a bit of resort amenities obsession. I fell in love with the H2O products while staying at AKL. I admit when I first joined the DIS and discovered that there were people who worried about such trivial things I thought it was just a wee bit crazy. God saw fit to make me walk a mile in their shoes.
Like POFQ, CSR just doesnt speak to me the way POR does so we stick with our decision. I dont look back . . . often.
As is usually the case I find they things that I worry about, I neednt have.
Our WDW package will not start until Feb 11 and we arrive on Feb 10. I decide that I will book us at Loews Royal Pacific for our arrival night so that we can take advantage of early entry for WWoHP and use FOTL privileges. Our POR stay will be Feb 11-20 and we will be at Treasure Island Feb 20-23.
We considered staying for the full 2 week which would have us travelling home on the 24th but I needed to make sure our trip was completed before Feb 24. The 24th is my fathers birthday. It is also the day we embarked on out very first WDW adventure. That time frame is just too emotionally loaded for me so I cut the trip back by a day.
Up Next: Is It Too Late To Change My Mind?
Its true, my love of family vacations at WDW started with a whopping price error. Sadly, there is no whopping price error in this trip report. I paid through the nose this time.
Thats what happens when WDW gets their hooks in you. Your days are spent dreaming of your next trip. You plan it to the nth degree. When the planning is done, the endless tweaking begins. Between planning binges you read trip reports. You already knew this, right? Why else would you be here?
Once upon a time I did find a whopping price error. If you want to read about it, grab your favourite beverage, a tissue or two and follow the link in my signature. It was quite a ride. The highs were breathtaking. The lows were crushing.
This is the and then portion of my familys WDW vacation journey.
For those who have not and will not read the other TR here is the Coles notes version of who we are.
I am A&Bmama, mother of two, wife of one. I was also dubbed, The Best Travel Agent in the Whole World on this trip by my family. Its a shame that it is an unpaid position. I work seasonally, 7 months a year and I get to be a SAHM for the other 5 months! I am economically disciplined. Not cheap, economically disciplined, theres a difference. Seriously. There is.
My wonderful DH will be dubbed DH cause Im real creative like that. He is a hardworking man who loves to kick back in the sun with his family when vacation rolls around. When DS was much smaller he started calling his father The Fixer which is quite fitting. DH is a Jack-of-all-trades, and master of a couple. When the chips are down DH is a great person to have by your side.
My first born, DS is 17. DS is a very quiet young man; he only speaks when he really has something he deems worth saying. He works very hard at never showing emotion, positive or negative. On our last trip DS was to celebrate his 16th birthday in WDW. Those of you who read my last TR know that tragedy struck and that DS found himself home on his 16th birthday without any celebration at all. This trip took place a couple of weeks before his 18th birthday and I planned a very special surprise for him!
My cute as a button DD is 11 . . . going on 18. She is the polar opposite of her brother. Her emotions cant be hidden they are worn on her sleeve. She loves dance and gymnastics. She is a very loving child always wanting and giving affection. So far teen angst has not hit and she still likes her parents. I hope it never changes.
If you read my last TR you know that this trip was supposed to be a Universal/Seaworld trip rather than a WDW vacation. If you still havent read my last TR I have to ask; how many times to I have to beat you over the head with it before you just read it?
Fate intervened and instead of having a one week school break in March we found ourselves with a two week school break in February. This was due to the Canada Winter Games being held in Halifax during that time frame. So our trip was expanded to include time at WDW as well. Since free dining was also during our time frame it was decided that we would stay on site for most of the trip and travel offsite to visit SW, US, IOA and DC. We also worked in a few days on the beach in the St. Petersburg area before heading home. It was a jam packed adventure!
There was some debate over which resort to pick. Isnt there always? At the beginning of the trip we were booked for 5 days at the Beach Club. Once we decided we would be on-site longer we changed it POR.
I admit it.
This decision caused me to suffer from resort envy on more than one occasion while planning the trip.
Not that I didnt think I would like POR, I did. I just thought I would like BC more.
My economically disciplined side was wrestling with the notion that the increase in price was disproportional to the increase in enjoyment of the resort. The increase in price seemed to far outweigh the benefit of staying at a "better" resort.
So we settled on POR and were done with that decision.
Sort of
Maybe we should actually stay at POFQ? About half of the rooms would be renovated by the time we arrived. I would request a renovated room and since we would be arriving while occupancy would still be on the low side I might have a pretty good chance of getting one.
But
When I look at pics of POFQ they just dont speak to me the way POR does.
Or
Maybe we should stay at CSR? The rooms look fantastic there and they use the same toiletries as the deluxe resorts.
Seems I have developed a bit of resort amenities obsession. I fell in love with the H2O products while staying at AKL. I admit when I first joined the DIS and discovered that there were people who worried about such trivial things I thought it was just a wee bit crazy. God saw fit to make me walk a mile in their shoes.
Like POFQ, CSR just doesnt speak to me the way POR does so we stick with our decision. I dont look back . . . often.
As is usually the case I find they things that I worry about, I neednt have.
Our WDW package will not start until Feb 11 and we arrive on Feb 10. I decide that I will book us at Loews Royal Pacific for our arrival night so that we can take advantage of early entry for WWoHP and use FOTL privileges. Our POR stay will be Feb 11-20 and we will be at Treasure Island Feb 20-23.
We considered staying for the full 2 week which would have us travelling home on the 24th but I needed to make sure our trip was completed before Feb 24. The 24th is my fathers birthday. It is also the day we embarked on out very first WDW adventure. That time frame is just too emotionally loaded for me so I cut the trip back by a day.
Up Next: Is It Too Late To Change My Mind?
Lucky that several of the chargers managed to make the trip anyway!
