Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[All7OfUs]

I LOVED this update! For some reason the Retro Reports really resonate with me- they help me to understand the person, the dynamics, the whole reasoning behind the WAY things are currently being planned. The hows, the whys.

The backstory is so important to setting up the current trip to the point that if you don't know any history, how can you know why such and such resort (or not) is important? or why you'd get a dining plan, or why someone would choose to tour this way or that??

Phew! I can NOT imagine 4 kids with no sleep, sugared up, on vacation AT ALL!! Scary! but you survived- no you did better than that! You thrived! Now I understand how you came to love WDW.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for some glad!!!

 

[winkers]

the red eye with young boys???? Are you crazy???

I would have been going crazy! I don't do well without sleep.

That was a great "retro update"! I felt tired and over whelmed for you...litteraly. I think I'll go take a nap.

 

[creativeamanda]

Gosh--I am taking notes for my PTR and a retro report from (way back) in 2007 is in order. It's so strange how the first images and the CMs can make the World seem like heaven on earth for you!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Awesome story Cynthia! I was cracking up picturing the 7 of you piling into that Taurus!

Your papers are beautiful! I have to go back and look at them more closely when I'm sitting in another room - my internet is really slow in the corner of the living room for some reason. We call it the black hole!

 

[eandesmom]

I LOVED this update! For some reason the Retro Reports really resonate with me- they help me to understand the person, the dynamics, the whole reasoning behind the WAY things are currently being planned. The hows, the whys.

The backstory is so important to setting up the current trip to the point that if you don't know any history, how can you know why such and such resort (or not) is important? or why you'd get a dining plan, or why someone would choose to tour this way or that??

Phew! I can NOT imagine 4 kids with no sleep, sugared up, on vacation AT ALL!! Scary! but you survived- no you did better than that! You thrived! Now I understand how you came to love WDW.

"You can't imagine" says she who went to parks with FIVE kids, one in a stroller? Oh I think you can...



You'd just have been smarter about it and not let them have sugar (though really overtired outweighs sugar any day).

And 2 of them weren't mine though my beloved godson (the oldest nephew with us) is quite the rascal and instigator, I'd about had it with him!

More backstory coming which will definitely explain some of our choices!

Hurray for some glad!!!

I know, I realized I was sounding all doom and gloom and downerish! And I'm SO not!

the red eye with young boys???? Are you crazy???

I would have been going crazy! I don't do well without sleep.

That was a great "retro update"! I felt tired and over whelmed for you...litteraly. I think I'll go take a nap.

Hey, it was kids fly free on Alaska (which they don't seem to offer to FL anymore, WAH) And we used miles to pay for 1/2 off of the 2 adult tickets so I think we flew down there for about $300! We were BROKE with every penny going into the house and it was the only way we could swing the trip. We were also paying for the wedding and trying to go as cheap as possible there (by basically not inviting anyone but our parents) and so my sibs were a little annoyed with me to say the least, another stress going into the trip.

The funny thing, in retrospect, that red eye was the best decision ever despite the immediate pain. We hope to do it on this trip. And of course the kids are 6 years older. There is still a chance that Eric won't sleep though.

Gosh--I am taking notes for my PTR and a retro report from (way back) in 2007 is in order. It's so strange how the first images and the CMs can make the World seem like heaven on earth for you!

Well that lobby was shiny surreal like another planet actually. It kind of reminds me of the tunnel from the United outer terminal at O'Hare to the main one...it has these wierd lights that if you land late at night, are tired and it's empty you feel like you are in a movie and this is what the walkway to heaven or soemthing looks like...hard to explain but it always kind of weirds me out, to this day.

I could have kissed that CM.

 

[eandesmom]

Awesome story Cynthia! I was cracking up picturing the 7 of you piling into that Taurus!

Your papers are beautiful! I have to go back and look at them more closely when I'm sitting in another room - my internet is really slow in the corner of the living room for some reason. We call it the black hole!

Oh my gosh, that was insane. We had to put 2 of the car seats in. If memory serves I sat in the middle of the 2 car seats with a kid on my lap and the booster on my feet or something like that. Thank goodness that the Taurus has a big trunk.

I have NO idea how they let us leave the lot like that. You should have heard all three adults telling the kids.

THIS IS NOT OK, WE KNOW IT'S NOT OK. This will never happen again. You will be in your car seat the rest of the trip. Pretend it never happened....

The alternative was doing "shuttle" runs to Perkins and the fear of getting lost outweighed the sardine factor. I think it did help that the kids were little enough that they shared suitcases, their clothes and shoes were a lot smaller then than they are now, plus we had a house with a washer if we needed it.

My paper ideas are coming out faster than I can create...I hope it stays that way. I was worried about not having enough ideas but am really happy it's not been the case. Who knew?

Hoping to put a few sets on Etsy as early as next week!

 

[Happydog]

Great story! What stories everyone has to some degree... Disney over time, right? Funny. I love hearing about experiences that others have had... It is funny how we can totally go to Disney with no planning and not know that you have to, and still manage a trip that is fine, fun, etc.. You don't really know what you are missing when you are a little naive like that, and frankly that is kinda nice... no ADR stress, not FP rope drop stress, I think it really is only when no planning and high expectations colide, that the stress and disappointment happens. Understandably so because it is a lot of money for a Disney vacation. I have been to Disney with no awareness of planning, etc. and had complete fun. But I was younger and had no clue. I was with adults who did the work for me and then as adults not knowing any better it was no big deal... when I spy people like this now I laugh, like I am in on some big secret, but either way I know they are having as much fun as I am, and it is okay to be blissfully unaware of all those "must do" things...

Don't know if I mentioned it or not - have had a head cold, bleck, but I do like the dress and LOVE the color. I am a fall colors type person. Very vibrant. Reminds me of my flowers from my wedding reception!

Looking forward to more!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

The only sort of "Crafty" I am is sneaky !!! So no ideas from me !!!

sneaky is good Rosie!

Great story! What stories everyone has to some degree... Disney over time, right? Funny. I love hearing about experiences that others have had... It is funny how we can totally go to Disney with no planning and not know that you have to, and still manage a trip that is fine, fun, etc.. You don't really know what you are missing when you are a little naive like that, and frankly that is kinda nice... no ADR stress, not FP rope drop stress, I think it really is only when no planning and high expectations colide, that the stress and disappointment happens. Understandably so because it is a lot of money for a Disney vacation. I have been to Disney with no awareness of planning, etc. and had complete fun. But I was younger and had no clue. I was with adults who did the work for me and then as adults not knowing any better it was no big deal... when I spy people like this now I laugh, like I am in on some big secret, but either way I know they are having as much fun as I am, and it is okay to be blissfully unaware of all those "must do" things...

Don't know if I mentioned it or not - have had a head cold, bleck, but I do like the dress and LOVE the color. I am a fall colors type person. Very vibrant. Reminds me of my flowers from my wedding reception!

Looking forward to more!!!!

It's so true, we didn't have a clue on that trip about so many things, and it was fabulous!

I hope you feel better, I had a sinus thing that really drained me for about a week, just coming out of it now (which is good, it will help me survive the pinewood derby today!).

Thanks on the colors....I adore those colors myself and had them at my 2nd wedding. except for the gold which does help make it more spring/summer...it reminds me of Tuscany.

 

[Native NYer]

What an arrival day!
But I'm glad it all worked out

 

[Diamondintheruff]

I can't believe not one of them slept! Wow!

Been there with the "No car for you" rental place before. Makes me love magic express all the more.

 

[eandesmom]

What an arrival day!
But I'm glad it all worked out

It did!

I can't believe not one of them slept! Wow!

Been there with the "No car for you" rental place before. Makes me love magic express all the more.

We couldn't either. Eric we knew would be a problem but the rest of them? Didn't see it coming. They fed off of each other like little moneys on speed.

We could have taken ME to All Star and didn't even know it existed! Of course we still needed the car but had we realized, I could have just left Jeff and my brother to get the car and done ME and just eaten at the ASMusic food court.

Doh!

I think the last time I had rental car issues before that...was at MCO back in 92 or something like that. You think it would have occurred to me but it had been years since I'd rented from anyone but Hertz or Avis and was in the preferred clubs for both so just took it for granted we'd be in and out with a car in no time.

 

[All7OfUs]

"You can't imagine" says she who went to parks with FIVE kids, one in a stroller? Oh I think you can...

But you forget, we had a place to basically sleep whenever we wanted (and pee) all the way there! Those boys must have been way too excited to not have slept on the plane!! Mine always crash out pretty hard when we fly! but then again, we aren't on the way to Disney World either.

 

[eandesmom]

But you forget, we had a place to basically sleep whenever we wanted (and pee) all the way there! Those boys must have been way too excited to not have slept on the plane!! Mine always crash out pretty hard when we fly! but then again, we aren't on the way to Disney World either.

Well they could have slept or peed (pretty sure they did the latter) but yeah...wired for sound to be sure!

I dunno. 4 kids contained on a plane versus hauling 5 through a park on my own...which is worse? Or better?

Mine almost never crash when we fly. 3 out of 4 did on the way back from WDW last Feb but then again, we had to get up at 4am for a 6am flight so by the 2nd leg everyone was a wreck. We had the worst flight times on that trip, worse I think than the red eye! It took us days to recover once we got home.

But they were cheap!

 

[All7OfUs]

But they were cheap!

And that's what really counts!!

 

[eandesmom]

And that's what really counts!!

well we had time constraints which contributed to the bad flight times...yet another reason to never go during a school break again.

Cheap did ease the pain. Or enabled more spending while we were there...

 

[Native NYer]

AAA had some US deals listed in the AAA magazine. Have you been able to lower your US price at all? Seems like the deals are coming out now.

 

[carissanboys]

I checked out your site the other day and really love the papers too. The colors are so peaceful and make me smile.

After reading your retro report, I'm ready for a nap. And wow - that IS red!!! That's enough to wake a person up.

 

[eandesmom]

AAA had some US deals listed in the AAA magazine. Have you been able to lower your US price at all? Seems like the deals are coming out now.

A little bit but not much. With 2 rooms those 3 nights are killing me!I got it down from $311 to $276 a night (saving $210) and can drop it down to $258 (saving another $108 lol) if we change the package to a much larger deposit but we are waiting to do that until we see if we can get a better deal than that.

AAA shows $283 right now.

Our problem is the good rates start on the 15th, our check out date! If I could push our whole trip back 3 days we'd save a ton. I'm really hoping they come out with a buy one get one half off family package which they've offered before, that would make a huge difference. I can downgrade our room if I have to though (another whopping $72 lol), we did book Garden View, which with our All Access Pass "should" get us an upgrade to Pool View or Deluxe depending on what's available at check in.

If for some reason there isn't free dining available I might swap US to be at the end of the trip but FD outweighs what we'd save by moving our US dates. I really want to end our trip at WDW though, not at US!

I keep trying to see if staying at WDW works out better since we have the PIN code and it just doesn't as the cost of a rental car outweighs the savings plus we give up the US fast passes. Unless of course we stay at a mod or value for those 3 nights. We could save a little by switching to RPH as well but....

Given that everyone (including me) is excited about HRH....I just have to keep hoping a better deal comes out! The flight deals out there right now are actually awful, $600 flights! But I am hoping that might be an option as well although my preferred airline doesn't do US packages so we'd have icky flights.

I'm thinking if we did switch, it'd have to be to save quite a lot so would probably be 2 rooms at POP with the PIN code. That's enough of a savings (almost $800 for the 3 nights!) to deal with driving and parking and giving up the fast passes lol. And is my budget back up plan I think. I hope we don't have to go there but if flights are outrageous....it's good to have a backup I guess! Still, it's August. It will be HOT. I want to be able to go to the pool mid day and moving off property just...bleh. Don't want to go there.

I really need to do our taxes to see what we are working with!

Are you thinking of going while you are there?

 

[eandesmom]

I checked out your site the other day and really love the papers too. The colors are so peaceful and make me smile.

After reading your retro report, I'm ready for a nap. And wow - that IS red!!! That's enough to wake a person up.

I know, it was almost blinding! And very very shiny....sensory overload!