Our Biggest Trip Ever pre-trip report - Dec 07

[ghost1000]

Hello everyone! I'm an occasional poster but have been in lurk-mode for far too long.

We have had the basics of our trip planned for a while now but are now to the point where we need to work out the nuts and bolts of everything now that we are under 80 days! I decided to do a pre-trip report because we could certainly use some tips and suggestions since this will be our biggest trip ever - both group size and also it will be our first trip with our own child in tow.

Introductions

Family 1 - (Us)

My wife and I are both self-proclaimed Disney Ninjas for our mad disney skillz. We quiz each other "Where would you be at WDW now?" several times each week, constantly have park music going on in the background, and when any of our friends go to the world they come to us.

We are members of DVC at the Beach Club Villas. This will be our third trip "home" to the BCV. We were going every other year and borrowing points to stay longer and bring family with us. Our last trip was April 05 and we are both suffering withdrawal bad!

DS - First trip - He will be 17 months when we go. He just started walking a few weeks ago. Fortunately for me (I'm a stay at home dad) he is a very "mellow" baby.

Our main goal is to have fun seeing the world through our sons eyes for the first time and take way too many pictures.


Family 2 - My brother (B), his wife (BW), his daughter (BD, 11) and son (BS, 8). They have been once before when we went with them in October 03. It was during the big media push when Philharmagic opened, FiTS switched to Wishes etc etc so it was on the busy side, but thanks to Disney Ninja skills we were able to do all that we wanted to and they saw the way. I have a feeling with this trip they will be complete converts after seeing the wonders of Disney at Christmas.

My brother has said that he wants to do all of the special Christmas stuff.


Family 3 - My sister (S), her husband (SH), and their son (SS, 3). The last time we went with them it was Christmas during the Millennium celebration so it will be their first trip with a child too. Also, this will be their first time staying on property and they are already considering joining DVC.

They are game for pretty much anything.

Family 4 - And last but not least we have Grandma (GM) and Grampa (GP). They are also big Disney fans and have been more than my wife and I in the last few years. They were also present for the above two family trips. GM is not a fan of rides or fireworks so she will be happy to watch any of the kiddos who aren't up for things.


Whew that totals 8 adults and 4 kids! So we will have to readjust a lot of our typical touring strategies, but fortunately we have gone in the past with all the families involved so they know the general drill.


When and where?

We are all staying at the BCV. GM&GP will be sharing a two bedroom unit with us for 9 nights and the other two families will each be in a studio for 6 nights. It will be our first time in anything bigger than a studio. We figured it will be worth it for the washer and dryer alone and that way we will have a nice meeting area in the mornings in the living room.



Well thats long enough for one post - To be continued shortly with our first "OH NO!" and what we have planned so far

 

[ghost1000]

Our first "OH NO!"

Since this is fresh on my mind I'll go ahead and share the latest story. My wife and I bought our plane tickets back in April to make sure we were on the direct flight to Orlando there and back. It will be our first flight with an infant-in-arms so we wanted to minimize travel time. Well a week or so ago I heard that the rest of the crews flight time changed to an earlier departure (they were leaving the day after us).

We hadn't heard anything about ours so I went ahead and logged on to check. Sure enough they took the liberty of canceling our Saturday departure flight and reassigning us to a connecting flight that would triple our travel time.

We weren't happy about this but looking at it the only other direct flight was very late in the day and would put us there too late to do anything the first day. We were initially planning on getting in at about noon going to BCV taking our time checking in, unpacking and doing dinner at O'hanas with friends who live in Orlando. Now we would basically have to hit the hotel and leave for dinner.

So we just accepted it and hoped they would un-cancel our direct flight between now and December. After stressing about it for a couple of days DW suggested looking into if leaving Friday night would be a possibility. I looked and sure enough there was a direct flight that left if the evening. Then I looked to see how much the Value resorts were going for and sure enough they weren't to bad ($82 for Friday night). So I called up Delta and crossed my fingers. Fortunately since they cancelled the flight they were very willing to allow us to switch to the Friday night flight. Whew! and also YEAAAA! because this will mean we turned a "just dinner" day into a "can actually go to a park" day.

Then I went ahead and booked us into Pop Century, figuring we could use the bell services to transfer our luggage between resorts while we were out.


I called GM&GP to tell them about all the excitement and found out they had recently decided to arrive a day early themselves (they drive down) and had booked themselves into Pop that night also! So we can just throw our bags into their car and not have to worry about our luggage taking its time in transit!


Next post: Day planning

 

[jordanyosh]

You're very much like my cousin's family. They've been owners at the VWL since 2001. They like to go every other year as well. I usually am a direct beneficiary of this plan as I usually am invited along for the ride. They don't make me pay for the room, but I will pay for their tix or something. I also will babysit so they can go out to dinner/movie on a few nights.

We have travelled w/ large groups to WDW in 1999,2003 and 2005. In addition, I went w/ a group of 14 this past June (I was the chief organizer, of course). We've gone w/ 9, 12, 7 and 14. Oh and this Feb we are staying at BCV w/ 10.

Looking forward to hearing more......

 

[ghost1000]

jordanyosh - That sounds like us to - typically we just charge a deeply discounted rate enough to cover our tickets, etc. It works out well.


Now down to the good stuff -

Current schedule

First off we typically schedule one sit down meal a day and then have a general gameplan for the rest of the day. We try to be very flexible and encourage everyone if they want to go do their own thing they are welcomed to and we all have cellphones to meet up later.

I've loosely scheduled some down time in here, but we are pretty open to change. If any of the kids get tired/worn out/meltdown a parent will take their kid/s back to the resort for a nap or bed. My mom is not a fan of fireworks so I'm quite positive she will volunteer to join whoever heads back at bedtime.

(note if you don't want to read all the nitty gritty details I've put an at-a-glance schedule at the bottom)

Friday - we will be arriving in the evening and are planning on getting a towncar to take us to Pop - we were thinking about doing Magical Express but realized that doing the math if we had to wait a while for a bus and then wait for our luggage it might be midnight before we get settled down.

Saturday - We haven't decided what to do yet since this is our newly opened day. We will check out and drop off our luggage in my parents car before leaving. We will probably go this day solo or maybe spend it with our friends who we were just going to be meeting for dinner before. We had ADRs for O'hanas at dinner but will probably switch to something park based.

Currently I'm thinking of making this a leisurely morning and going to breakfast someplace. Park wise we are leaning to AK or MGM (sorry... DHS). We are looking forward to the new Nemo show and also DS is CRAZY for Bear and the Big Blue House so if Playhouse Disney is still running that will make his day (It should be according to schedule). Perhaps head to AK in the morning - take the bus to BCV to check in and nap. Then boat to MGM for the a few shows.

Sunday - The rest of the gang is arriving in the afternoon. While waiting on them we were thinking Epcot would be good since we wouldn't have to waste too much time traveling when they arrive. They are flying in and are taking a towncar.

After they get settled in the plan is to tour the deluxe resorts to look at the Christmas decorations - taking the bus to MK and hit the monorail resorts and WL. We currently have ADRs for Whispering Canyon but I'm a little hesitant after reading some reviews recently. We have been there before, but it has been several years - it seems like the dining plan has certainly had some negative effects. We are considering switching them to something a little more consistent. Any suggestions?

From there we are done but if we get done early shopping at Downtown Disney is a possibility for those interested, but we are planning an early morning to get the parks started with a bang.

Monday We have early ADRs for Chef Mickey's (8:10) so we will be waking up and hitting the Character Meal Bus to get to the contemporary. From there it is over to the MK - Fantasyland first. Naps for those that need them in the afternoon. There is a showing of Spectro in the evening.

Tuesday This will be an Epcot morning so we can sleep in a bit and just walk over - we will focus on Future world attractions. This day there will be mandatory down time in the afternoon - we are heading to MVMCP in the evening and doing the LTT dinner beforehand. Main focus for the MVMCP is just to see the shows and parade.

Wednesday - completely open morning to sleep in/ do whatever. We are suggesting people head to World Showcase when they are up and about and amble about at their own pace (I've always found WS the most frustrating to do in a large group since everyone has their own interests). We will meet for a late lunch at Biergarten for the Candlelight Processional package - from there we will see the 5PM CP and play it by ear after that.

Thursday DHS day - Going to try to be there early go get ToT, RnR out of the way then just amble around. We have lunch ADRs at Primetime. I just noticed that Fantasmic is showing at 6:30 this night - that seems early to me will it be dark by then?

Friday - AK morning - we were planning on doing Donalds Safari B'fast but the last few times we have called it hasn't been opened for ADRs yet. In the evening head to Downtown Disney to shop.

Saturday - DB&S families will be leaving in the afternoon so their morning is open to hit any must dos or misses.

Sunday TBA - probably just recover

Monday catch up day and leave in the late afternoon



So to break it down quickly -
(morning/night - planned meal)

1 - AK?/MGM?
2 - Epcot/(group arrive) Resorts - Dinner WCC?
3 - MK - breakfast Chef Mickeys
4 - Epcot (FW)/MVMCP - dinner LTT
5 - Sleep/Epcot (WS) - Lunch Biergarten
6 - DHS - lunch Primetime
7 - AK/DD - Breakfast Donalds?
8 - ?/(group leave)?
9 - ?/?
10 - ?/leave


As you can see we now have to decide what we want to do when we are on our own after the group leaves. When I was typing it up above I thought we were maybe over MK-ing but it is only a day and a half at most depending on naps.

Typing it out this way I noticed another option - perhaps we could split up the DHS day and do Downtown Disney that evening and then head back to DHS on day 7 which is a Friday when they are doing two shows of Fantasmic and open later.

Also maybe heading to DD the first night and then doing a resort tour later in the trip might be a better option too hmmm.

Oh well this is the fun part

Does anyone catch any glaring omissions/problems?

 

[jordanyosh]

My only other thought as an option other than WCC would be Ohana. Since it is on the monorail, it would be convenient as you would be doing the resort touring. In addition, you said you would be changing your previous Ohana ADR; this would replace your previous ADR. Perhaps Kona Cafe would be another option. I've heard pretty good things about this place.

Oh...and by the way, BCV is now my favorite resort. My next trip will be my 3rd time staying there. I love the proximity to Epcot. People don't realize just how close it is.......