Mom's Evil Plan To Turn Them All Into DisneyFanatics!!

[Nicholfamily5]

Hi!
This is my first go at any sort of trip report, so I thought I'd start with the pretrip! Be kind, and feedback about our itinerary is REALLY appreciated!
We've (I've) been wanting to go (back) to Disney for awhile now, but there was always something else to spend the money on. Well, this year I put my foot (and the nonrefundable deposit) down and Darn it! We are going to DisneyWorld!!!!

The Cast:

ME- 27, Stay at home Mama. I live for my kiddos, and I'm already living my dream! My husband is so good to me, and works hard so I can raise em right!
I Have been to WDW quite a few times, but my last time was in 1996, our last trip with my beloved and much missed Papa. I've been blessed to have many awesome vacations in my lifetime, and unfortunately I tend to "overplan" too many activites on my vacations. I'm a get up and go! type vacationer.

DH- 31, Never been to WDW, has hardly traveled out of the state! His idea of vacation is playing video games for 4 days straight, so we occasionally butt heads on vacation. He's a wonderful Hubby, an awesome dad, and a Sox Fan. Nuff said.

DSS- 11, aka Goob, 5th grade, VERY active and also a Sox Fan. Baseball is life, except of course when the Pats are on and then Football is life. This trip is really for him, since there is such an age difference between him and the babies. I really wanted him to experiance WDW before he became a teen and didn't want to spend quality time with the family anymore

DD- 4, aka Tink, Not in school yet, we spend our days doing laundry, drawing, playing games and watching PBS. Thank GOD for PBS. She’s growing up sooo fast and I can’t stand it! Now, I know what you are thinking, she must be the princess of the family. This is true, she is definitely a princess. However, my little “princess” REFUSES to wear cute little dresses and currently shows NO interest in any of the Disney princesses. Nooooo, it’s all pants and cars and stuff like that. Hey, I was a tomboy too, but Cindy still has a special place in my heart, ya know? In fact, Tinkerbell is the closest she’ll get to liking a Disney Princess, and Tink fits her well. Mischevious, stubborn, sometimes bratty, most times sweet and ALWAYS sassy. Guess Tink is the nickname for this trip!

DS- 7 months (will be 11 months at trip time) We call him a few names, including Stinky, or The Noisy One, depending on the situation. We’ll call him Squirt for Disney Moniker purposes though He’s just tagging along, since the primary purpose is to show the older ones the magic of Disney. Hey…gives us an excuse to come back right?


Well that was drawn out! My goal is to have a bit of a journal here, and then my real trippie will have lots of pics, and I’ll try to do a food report as well, though I don’t know how many people will be interested in sugar free jello ;P

 

[Nicholfamily5]

So I’ve been planning this trip in my mind forever. My DH finally caved when he started seeing those commercials on tv. You know, a family of 4 for $1500? Or whatever. So he turns to me and says…$1500? We can do that. Why don’t you plan that trip?

UmmmmYEA!!!!

I wasn’t about to argue, and I CERTAINLY wasn’t about to tell him that I would be hard pressed to only spend $1500. First off, the airfare alone came to $800!! And I REALLY didn’t feel like staying at the All Stars. Nothing against them, It’s just that we haven’t been on a big vacation since our honeymoon, and I wanted our resort time to be resorty. It wasn’t a hard sell since we spent our honeymoon in Aruba, and I told him the resort would remind him of that. Oh yeah, and that little bundle of joy that entered our lives last September? We’d need the extra room. So Carribean Beach was an easy choice. It would probably be the LAST easy choice!

 

[Nicholfamily5]

I promptly went out and purchased a few books, I had already been checking out allears for awhile. I thought about doing the trip myself, but decided it would be best to have a travel agent help me with my first big trip. So I went with the recommendation from allears and our travel agent Mike is fabulous!
I couldn’t decide between 6 or 7 days. I knew it would reaaaaally stretch our budget to do 7 days, but from past experience I also knew that we would want to stay longer.
Well I let my financial gene call the shots and chose to stay 5 nights 6 days.
We chose the MYW with dining and park hoppers.

Fast forward a few months, my DisneyFan gene took over my financial gene in my sleep. I found myself deciding on another day. It’s quite funny, because it happened as I was going to buy our flight tickets. I realized that if we left ONE DAY EARLIER we would save over $180! So I called my SIL to see if she could get us a discount at the MCO Marriott. She could, but then I was left with trying to figure out how I’d get from the Marriott to CBR the next day. Well, after playing around with ideas, I decided to just add another day at CBR! Makes sense doesn’t it?
Well, my DH needed a little convincing. After all, by flying in the day before, we are now saving $180 on airfare, but spending $200 on the extra night. To me, it’s clear as day!
Instead of flying in on our first “ticket” day, wasting half the day getting settled, and then only having a little while at a park, we now can have most of one day to relax and explore the resort, swim and get to bed early, then have a WHOLE day for going to a park! (More on that later)
Totally made sense to me. Right?

So, as it stands, we are staying 7 days 6 nights at the CBR, room only the first night, and MYW park hoppers with DDP. Whew.

 

[ILuvWishes!]

From one Sox & Pats for to another........ We were born and raised in MA and almost 1 year ago moved to TX (DH could not turn down the GREAT job offer). We truly miss seeing our hometown teams!!!!

Great start to your first TR. My DD (who will be 5 on Monday) is a true princess!! She will not wear pants or shorts, only skirts or skorts for her. She needs to be pretty all of the time. She also has a bit of "Tinker Bell" in her, too. My DS (2) is, as we call him, Stitch. He is wild and crazy, but very loving.

You kids will love WDW and will want to go back every year!

Keep it coming....

 

[ILuvWishes!]

Just another thought.....

Take a look into www.TourGuideMike.com. He has a website and for a fee ($18.95) he/his website will plan out your trip. It will give you advise on how to spend each day. We purchased it for our trip in May/June. I have heard great things about this website. We like it so far. I can give feedback after our trip. Give it a look....

 

[Nicholfamily5]

I might as well go ahead and post our current Itinerary. That way everyone can help me out with anything that needs to be changed.

Here goes!

Departure August 16, 6:45 am Boston Logan
Arrive MCO around 11:30

Pickup Magical Express and head to CBR. Spend the rest of the day lounging by the pools, exploring, and just resting up for our busy days ahead.

August 17, Friday

Breakfast @ hotel
Head to rope Drop at Animal Kingdom. Hit rides and attractions. Break for lunch at either TuskerHouse or Pizzafari.
Head back to CBR for pool, naps and showers.
Dinner ressies at Shutters for 5:40 pm. More pool and watch Illuminations for the beach.

August 18, Saturday

Breakfast @ hotel
Rope Drop at Epcot. Lunch where ever we find ourselves.
Break at CBR for pool, naps and showers (see a trend?)
Back to Epcot for Garden Grill ressies at 5:50pm. MAYBE stay for Illuminations.

August 19, Sunday

This day is a weird one, and I’ll probably change it AGAIN before I’m through…any ideas?
BIG breakfast at hotel, head to MK for opening. Hit the biggies and have a light lunch. Head back to CBR for a break.
I got stuck with a 3:40 ressie at Mama Melrose for a Fantasmic! Package, but I’m really not feeling it. I’m going to try for a later one, but if not, we might just go with the flow in the afternoon. With the little ones we might be needing a break.

August 20, Monday

Breakfast at CBR, Meet BIL and SIL at Animal Kingdom. Play, eat…you know the drill.
Take the kids back to CBR for a break. Meet everyone at the Poly for Ohana’s at 5pm. From there it is MK for Spectro and Wishes. Oy that’s going to be a long day!

August 21, Tuesday

Breakfast @hotel
Rope Drop at MGM, smooze with characters with the babies, the Goob and DH can hit the thrill rides. Hit lunch somewhere (any suggestions?) and head back to CBR for a Looooooong break.
Then, Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner 4:30 pm and PIRATES AND PRINCESS PARTY!!! Wooohooo!!!!!!

August 22, Wednesday

Light breakfast at hotel, do the checkout thing, hit MK for the rope drop. Do our final wishes and have breakfast at CP at 10:30. Then it’s time for some shopping and head back to CBR for Magical Express back to MCO.

Flight home at 5:30 pm arriving home at 9:30ish.


Soooo...what do you think? Too much for the babies?

 

[Nicholfamily5]

Just another thought.....

Take a look into www.TourGuideMike.com. He has a website and for a fee ($18.95) he/his website will plan out your trip. It will give you advise on how to spend each day. We purchased it for our trip in May/June. I have heard great things about this website. We like it so far. I can give feedback after our trip. Give it a look....

Thanks for the tip! I just bought the subsription the other day, that's what has helped me narrow down my plans thus far. Before they were a REAL mess!
I highly recommend him as well, so far anyway!

 

[momof2boyz12]

Sounds like you have a good trip planned. I think the best thing to keep in mind is to go with the flow. Anyone else agree? I mean it is good to have an itinerary and your ADR's, but the little ones will dictate how much you can actually get done.

We are going in July with our immediate family of 4 (me, DH, DS6 and DS3) and then meeting up with in law family that will make us a family of 9 (including a 6 week old baby).

I used to work at WDW, and it just drove me nuts to see the parents that would overstimulate the kids, and then get mad at them for being kids that are overtired. I know the trip is $$$, but you might as well enjoy it while you're there, right?

Just my two cents.

I have two sons, and would love to have a daughter...still working on DH for that one, but I just know if I do have a daughter, she will be a tom boy because I want a princess!

 

[Nicholfamily5]

Sounds like you have a good trip planned. I think the best thing to keep in mind is to go with the flow. Anyone else agree? I mean it is good to have an itinerary and your ADR's, but the little ones will dictate how much you can actually get done.

We are going in July with our immediate family of 4 (me, DH, DS6 and DS3) and then meeting up with in law family that will make us a family of 9 (including a 6 week old baby).

I used to work at WDW, and it just drove me nuts to see the parents that would overstimulate the kids, and then get mad at them for being kids that are overtired. I know the trip is $$$, but you might as well enjoy it while you're there, right?

Just my two cents.

I have two sons, and would love to have a daughter...still working on DH for that one, but I just know if I do have a daughter, she will be a tom boy because I want a princess!

Absolutely. I was just going over the plans with my DH, and I told him the same thing. If it appears like we are running out of steam, then we'll jsut jead back. That's part of the reason why I chose the CBR, I certainly won't be dissapointed to head back there!

 

[ILuvWishes!]

I think the best thing to keep in mind is to go with the flow. Anyone else agree? I mean it is good to have an itinerary and your ADR's, but the little ones will dictate how much you can actually get done.:

I think this one is the best piece of advise anyone could get. The little ones need to be catered to during vacation to keep everyone happy. You ARE at the Happiest Place on Earth....

Just know what you really want to see, maybe create a priority list of must sees & do's. If you don't get to see everything (which is impossible), just book another trip, ha! ha!

Happy planning.....