Moving right along, its about time to start in on Trip #3. The title here is spot-on. And heres why
What self-respecting Floridian would even have the
nerve to consider visiting Walt Disney World in July?! As if thats not bad enough, what Floridian, who holds a Seasonal Pass in order to avoid the worst of heat, crowds and holidy-itus, would actually
look to see what kind of rates might be had
over July 4th weekend????
Hi. Im V. And Im a bad Floridian.
Id suggest revoking my Florida license, but that doesnt seem to stop anyone down here from driving
I suppose you could not count my vote in the primary race
OH SNAP!!!!
So yeah, I committed the ultimate Florida sin and visited WDW in July. During a holiday. With Gramma, no less.
What on earth would possess me to engage in such reckless behavior?
I had my reasons. And. They were pretty good ones. If you ask me. Even, if you dont.
WHY I WENT TO DISNEY IN JULY, by PrincessV
Heres the thing: Leo starts 1st grade next fall. And, while I would happily pull him from school for vacations, my job doesnt provide enough vacation hours to cover the times school is out for various breaks as well as vacations during school. This all dawned on me sometime in late June, as I struggled to create a vacation plan for the next year.
Add to this new situation a burning desire on my part and Leos to get ourselves some more water park time before our WP annual passes expire in late August. A sprinkling of sauna-like summer conditions that spell Summer in Florida only added to our desire to hit the waves, which, by the way, are about 10 degrees cooler than both our home pool and the Gulf of Mexico.
So, I started thinking we could head over to WDW sometime over the summer. But when? Remember, by the time I started thinking about it, it was mid to late June. Leo would be with his dad for two weeks in July, and every other weekend the rest of summer, excepting my own two-week vacation period. AND, we have the big FockerFest DIS meet coming up in late August, so August was pretty much out.
Look at your calendar narrows it down quite a bit, no?
A couple other factors at play in the decision-making process were:
1. Wed really need to stay overnight and hit our water park upon opening. If we wanted to visit more than one water park it would require two nights. Hard to do over a weekend, since I refuse to ever attempt the Friday night drive to Disney again.
~shudder~
2. Recession, recession, recession.
Huh???
How does a recession play into a last-minute trip to Disney? Easy: its nailing tourism in Florida. Which isnt a good thing overall (especially for V I work in economic development!), but can spell BIG savings for Floridians wishing to vacation in their own state. Id seen the reports trickling in at work; visitors were down already by late June and the outlook indicated a further decline.
Junkie that I am, I knew
just what to do with that kind of information
PASSHOLDER WEBSITE!!!!!
It started out with me saying Ill just look. Out of curiosity. Will there be any deals this summer? But I needed some dates to plug in. And July 4th weekend stood out as the best possible time. With Independence Day falling on a Friday, Leo and I had a three-day weekend, thus providing plenty of time to water park our little hearts out.
But seriously.
July 4th weekend???? 
No way. Impossible. Uh-uh. Forget it.
I looked anyway
O
M
G!!!!!!
Not only were there discounted rooms available, there were
many discounted rooms available! At
every WDW resort! In nearly
all room categories!!!
It was really too much. I couldnt even make a decision. I needed to sit down, take some deep breaths and think things through.
I also needed to consider the Gramma Factor.
She had to work the morning of July 4th, but wed already made plans to see our local fireworks that night, and they included her. I couldnt really ditch her and say, Sorry Gramma, we decided to bale. Were goin to DISney and youre NOT, neener, neener, neener!!
At least I dont think I can do that
By the time I got home that night, Id decided we could celebrate the 4th at home and leave for WDW early the next morning. Really early. Like 6am, to make it to a water park by its 9am openings.
All of which I shared with Gramma that night.
This would be the Gramma who was so happy to hear that she was under no obligation to come on our August trip. Who happily waved us off when Leo and I hit The Wolrd by ourselves in April. The Gramma who HATES crowds and HATES heat and humidity.
That Gramma
asked if she could come along. In
July! No joke. Not only did she want to come along, she also offered to contribute to the cost, (I rarely touch on this subject in my TRs because it seems too mean even for me, but trust V money is one of the issues I have with Gramma),
and suggested that we go over on July 4th and stay two nights, instead of one.
Who is this woman?! thought I. Whilst powering up the laptop to make a reservation before she changed her mind.
Ill say this, my options were decreased some when I looked for a room over both nights, but there were still plenty of resorts and room categories from which to choose. Gramma claims not to care where we stay and I basically picked our destination through process of elimination:
Values nope, need a fridge and not willing to pay for it.
Mods nope, too hot for outdoor walkways
Most Deluxes too expensive, even with the AP discount
Animal Kingdom Lodge well be at the Villas in Dec., so nope
Wilderness Lodge (WL) we have a winner! Only Courtyard View available, but at a great rate; booked!!!
I was stoked. And actually, so was Gramma. Because, while professing to have no preference at all, she secretly loves her some WL. And we havent been there since December 2005.
Within a few days of booking, I called WDW Dining to see what, if anything, we might get for a July 4th dinner
Tea at the Grand Floridian? Nope.
Narcoosees? Nope.
Citricos? Nope.
Grand Flordian Café? Nope.
Kona Café? Nope.
Artists Point ? Yes! Clearly, we were meant to be at the WL.
And there you have it how, only two weeks out, I planned a July 4th trip to Disney World!
But.
Ive heard stories about July 4th visits. And I bet you have, too. Maybe youve even been one of the storytellers. Stories about crowds so thick a melted Mickey bar couldnt fit between people. Stories about waiting three-ish weeks for a bus to show up. Stories about mean Cast Members, diminished food quality and disgruntled guests. Stories that could make the most ardent Disney fan run screaming to the nearest Six Flags park. (NO Soon-to-be-owners of Busch Gardens
)
Just what would
our July 4th story be?????
I'm so glad you liked the GF, this will be my first stay there, but I have always been curious to stay there and since Kelly likes frou frou, what better trip to finally try it.
.
I don't know any one fitting that description around here 
I'll PM shortly...
I won't give anything away! It was sooo nice walking around before it opened though.
I wish it worked for you. 
Too much to do and too little time! But I'll try. 
