It's a "You're Starting Your PTR already?" PTR.

[TandLMommy28]

Yes, our trip is somewhere between 16 and 18 months away (still haven't settled on September or November). But I have so many ideas for this trip and things are a little complicated because we have family joining us for part of the time and we still haven't decided if we should drive or fly.

I just need a place to collect all my crazy thoughts on our next adventure!

 

[TandLMommy28]

The Characters:



Me

Lover of everything Disney. Spent my entire childhood dreaming of the day I'd finally get to go to Disney World. My dream didn't come true until I was 14 years old. My parents told me I had to miss school for a doctor's appointment. When I got up that morning they handed me a suitcase and said "Surprise!" Three years later, I was lucky enough to be invited along with my best friend's family and I got to go again. In college, even though I lived in Florida, I never made it to WDW! I did manage to get to Disneyland, though. After that, I didn't get to go back until 2010.


Hubby

Back when his grandparents lived in Florida, his parents took him to MK once for the day, I think he was about 6. When I insisted we take our kids he said, "Fine. But just once. Because seriously, no one needs to go there more than once. I can't even believe I have to go again--and what are we going to do there for an entire week? I'll do it for the kids but I assure you this is a one time deal." On the fourth day of our trip, he turned to me and said, "So next we are here, I think we should..." ANd I laughed and laughed and danced for joy! I had created a WDW fan!

Bumpy

Yeah, we call him Bumpy. Not sure how it started. He's one pretty lucky kid, though, because he got to celebrate his 3rd birthday in the Magic Kingdom--and he got to go there 11 years sooner than I did! Do you see that glow on his face? He looked that way the entire week. When you see that kind of joy on a kid's face, how can you NOT go back?

Lumpy

It was a natural progression from calling him Bumpy that she somehow became Lumpy. She was 5 on the first trip. She's been asking since we left how many days until we can go back. The first time she asked was while we were still on Disney property!

My Mom

Mom came along with us on the last trip. It was her second trip. She surprised the kids--they had no idea their "Mum" was coming! (And no, we're not even close to being British but when Lumpy was itty bitty, she insisted that both of her grandmothers be called Mum.)

My Dad

Dad couldn't come on the 2010 trip, he had to work. My mom's sister actually came instead. The only pictures I have of my dad at WDW aren't digital so I don't have one to share. His one and only trip was the one in 1995, when they surprised me and my siblings.

 

[mrssmith06]

Yay for planning a 2nd family trip!! I'm hoping to turn my DH into a Disney fan this trip. None of us have ever been and he's excited but not too thrilled about the money spent or the idea of doing this again any time soon hahaha so I hope this trip will change his mind and I get to start planning again soon!

 

[TandLMommy28]

Now that we've covered the WHO, we can move on to the WHEN...

And the answer is... I don't know yet! It will be in 2012. It will be either in September or November. I really wanted to go at Christmas but there are obstacles in our path:

1. I hate flying. I mean, I really hate it. When I was in college, I flew all the time and never thought much about it. And even when Lumpy was born, she and I would fly to visit my parents 2-3 times a year (back when she was under 2 and she didn't need a ticket!). But then I don't know... I just don't like to do it.

2. If we do fly, we'll want to fly Southwest so we don't have to worry about paying baggage fees (assuming they don't change their policy!). And that involves driving to the airport 2 hours away, paying to park the car for the whole week, AND worrying about snow. It seems every time we fly after October, snow interferes and we have a very hard time even getting to the airport--and actually flying out is always even more difficult! It seems the last few years, the snow starts in early November and makes it impossible to travel. I hate snow.

3. If we were to drive in November, it's even more frustrating with worrying about snow. And I will worry every single day. And the entire time we are there.

4. Hubby loved MNSSHP and wants to go back.

All in all, whether we fly or drive, September makes more sense and keeps Hubby happy. And if you understood what a miracle it is that he wants to go back, you would understand that it's super important to keep him HAPPY. But I really wanted to do a Christmas thing. I don't know, maybe sometime we'll do a really short trip for the Christmas season. A long weekend or something. Today, my heart is screaming September.

The trip was supposed to be a Christmas surprise, though... But I highly doubt the kids would be upset to get surprised at another time of year.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Yay for planning a 2nd family trip!! I'm hoping to turn my DH into a Disney fan this trip. None of us have ever been and he's excited but not too thrilled about the money spent or the idea of doing this again any time soon hahaha so I hope this trip will change his mind and I get to start planning again soon!

Oh, I hope he falls in love with it the way my hubby did! I was so surprised when he started talking "next time" I thought I would cry! Disney magic is for real--it has to be, or there's no way I'd be planning a second trip!!!

 

[TandLMommy28]

The WHAT:

Well, it's going to be a surprise trip for the kids. Last time I was too excited to keep quiet. I think this time I can. Lumpy thinks we aren't going back until she's "at least 8" (but in reality she will be 7 on this trip!). I had a plan for how we would tell them if it were a Christmas trip but in September it would have to change a little bit.

If we do it after Thanksgiving, this is how the surprise will go:

On the morning we leave, I will wake up the kids super early. I will tell them that Santa came early and to come see! Their stockings will be overflowing and of course, everything will be Disney themed.

So then they will get to the bottom of their stockings and find Christmas ornaments that say WDW 2012. And my Lumpy, she's a perfectionist. And she WILL say, "Mommy! We did NOT go to WDW in 2012! Why would Santa give these to us, that's just silly."

And then I would say, "I know! And 2012 is almost over, anyway. Why would Santa do that? Unless..."

For September, I have no idea what we will do. I'll find my inspiration.

 

[TandLMommy28]

And, of course, the WHERE.

This isn't the simplest answer. We plan to do 8 days, Saturday to Saturday. But my parents only want to do 5 or 6 days. So...

We are planning on a Family Suite at Art of Animation. Hoping for a Cars room if those are open (I've read that they are opening one section at a time?). I'm NOT a Value fan. I've never done it before and it's never appealed to me. I'm a mod girl all the way! But, it would be much easier for my parents if just shared one family suite. However, we are staying longer than they are so this is what I am thinking about right now, if we drive. If we fly, I'm not messing with switching rooms, too much work!

We arrive Saturday around lunch, just like last time (we will drive all the way to somewhere in Georgia on Friday and have only a little left on Saturday).

Last time, we had actually booked a Sunday-Friday, so when we arrived on Saturday (which was unplanned, Hubby got an extra day off work so we went ahead and left), we stayed offsite at Holiday Inn Express just outside the gate. We did DTD that day and it was nice and a good "transitional" day.

So I'm thinking this time, we will stay on property that one night without a package. Just try for a room discount for the new princess rooms that are going to be opening up at POR. We won't have our dining plan or even park tickets yet, so I think we'd just do the campfire at Fort Wilderness that night, boat over to DTD, swim, etc. Lunch at CiCi's just outside the gate, too. YUM!

And then Sunday morning, we'd check out of POR and head over to AoA, where we check in with our full package, including DDP.


Of course, all of that could change, who knows!

 

[TandLMommy28]

And finally, the why.

Other than the fact that I love Disney and don't need a reason to go, these photos pretty much sum up the WHY:

Pure joy.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Decion: Made.

September. For sure.

That makes our trip now 10 weeks sooner, woohoo! Granted, it's still over a year away but it's 2.5 months closer than it was! Hubby was all for going to MNSSHP again, September means we can drive and not worry about snowy weather (I know, I know. Hurricanes. But I really tend to not worry about hurricanes, I lived in FL for five years and you just stop worrying about the "what ifs?" after awhile!). And driving means we can afford to go for 8 days for sure. Airfare would have been probably been around $1200 for us and we can drive for around $500 (including a hotel each way to stop and sleep). That extra $700=more Disney fun!

My parents are cool with September, too. now we just have to pick a week.
The 8th to the 15th?
The 15th to the 22nd?
The 22nd to the 29th?

I think it will end up being the 15th to the 22nd. The 8th is so early, I think we'd only catch the first MNSSHP and I love to obsess over the Disboards, I don't want to go to the first party, I want to read all about it before I go!

The 22nd to the 29th is probably out, too. Bumpy turns 5 on the 28th and he already had a birthday at Disney. If he gets ANOTHER one, Lumpy may start to get jealous. Last time it was a coincidence. Hubby already had that week off and things just fell into place and we went--it wasn't planned when he requested that week off. We were originally planning to do a lot of stuff around the house that week...

 

[TandLMommy28]

Crunching Numbers.

Last time we did adjoining rooms. My mom and aunt shared a room and we had the adjoining room. Our reservations were connected but we could pay separately.

This time we are splitting a family suite. My parents are only coming Monday to Friday and we are staying Saturday to Saturday. Kinda tricky, right?

So I am thinking the best way to tell them how much their share is would be to just calculate a regular room in the same hotel with 2 people for 5 days/4 nights but 8 day tickets (because I'll have to pay for 8 days for everyone on the package).

I'll have them pay that amount and we will pay the difference. Does that seem right?

This will work out incredibly in our favor if we should score free dining (fingers crossed!). We would have 3 extra days of meal credits because we'd be paying for my parents to be there the whole time even though they won't be. So we'd have 6 extra credits of TS, QS and snacks. And that means we can do the Castle with some of the extra credits... at some point we will come up short on kids TS credits and have to pay OOP but that's OK. Unless they let us use the adult credits for the kids? I have to read up on that more, I guess.

 

[TandLMommy28]

I ran out of deodorant so I went digging through my basket for back up. I came up with the clinical strength stuff I had bought specifically for Disney last year. I only used it on the trip. As soon as I opened it, it smelled like DISNEY to me since that is the only time I used it! It made me smile!

I love when Disney memories pop up unexpectedly like that.

 

[TandLMommy28]

I know. It's so far away and that is why nothing is certain. But some things should be certain. Such as my dad being able to handle being sober long enough to enjoy a two day mini-vacation with his grandchildren.

But since that is not the case, and since our weekend "trial run" of going away with my parents was an enormous failure, I am back to square one on this trip.

Dad was a mess. He "fell" and went to the ER for pain meds. He rolled around on the hotel room floor screaming and throwing things. It was... horrific. And I am surely NOT doing that at Disney. Disney is the happiest place on earth and if you can't find a way to be happy, well, you aren't invited on my trip.

Which means a family suite at AoA is probably not an option. Because if would mean my aunt coming again instead of my dad. And last time we did adjoining rooms and had 4 beds. That wouldn't be the case in a family suite and sleeping arrangements would be weird. I'm really psyched for AoA so this is a bummer. But I guess we could do adjoining rooms in the Little Mermaid section. Assuming it's open. Sigh. And we wouldn't have a fridge. We'll see... We would possibly stay 10 days this way because my mom and aunt would be able to stay however many days they choose and we'd stay as long as we want since it would be separate.

If it's just my mom coming along, we'll switch over to POR and only charge my mom the cost of her ticket. Bumpy can sleep on the trundle, he'll only be 4. Mom will share a bed with Lumpy. We'll stay 8 days because it's not a Value.

Why can't my dad go on vacation without ruining everyone else's fun?

 

[TandLMommy28]

This higher-than-expected pricing at AOA has thrown me for a loop!

For 8 days/7 nights for 4 people including tickets, I am coming up with about $3150 (we are either going to have 5 or 6 people, but I did all my pricing based on 4 people for so I could compare rooms that sleep less people).

For 8 days/7 nights for 4 people for $3250 I could do a standard room at AKL or WL. For about $2750 we could do the princess room at POR. For $2400 we could do a regular room at POFQ or POR. And for $1700 we could do Pop.

Now, if it ends up being just my mom who joins us, our best value is going to be one room at POR, right? And we would only ask my mom to pay for ticket and maybe $200 towards the room. Money is tight for her so we don't mind carrying most of the cost. And if my mom and aunt both come, we would be better off at Pop with two rooms (which would run about $2800 total for all 6 people including tickets).