Our Pilgrimage is over. Now for the trip report w/pics

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Hi All,

Ok, so I'm new at all of this but I figured just jump in. Doesn't matter that I can't swim, no life jacket, or coast guard anywhere in site. Sweat, wipe brow and go!

We, my family and I are going to Disney World. Oh, what was that? Oh, you kind of figured that out already? So sorry. But hey, it's cool right?
Well, I have never been cool. Don't expect it now or even after a few pages of typing about my obsession. So here I am like it or not, I'm gonna plow on.

Cast of Characters:

Me, Karla, 38 I love all things Disney. Favorite Character: Sleeping Beauty ( also love Dumbo and Figment)

DH, Matt, 37 He is not as obsessed as I. Favorite Character: Stich (disclaimer- he likes him because he's disgusting and irreverent -both of which DH can do so well! )

DS, Alex, 8 He loves his computer and movies. Favorite Character: Buzz Lightyear.

DD, Paige, 4 True Princess and howler monkey at times. Favorite Character: Cinderella (emphatically stated! that's my little howler monkey rotfl


I feel I need to give a little background on our lovely little family.
I went to Disney World with my family 4 times while I was living with my parents and siblings. I loved the World but family trips, ugh!
Not always a good mix. But we have since been able to get over the fact that we don't travel together well. We all need our space.

Enter my then Fiance.

My parents give us a Christmas present to visit them in Florida for Thanksgiving. Cool, we can go to Disney World. What???? You my soon to be DH have never been??? How could I be marrying a non-Disney goer? Oh well, I can help you with that. And so it began for him.

This is our 10th trip together (including our honeymoon to Walt Disney World).

We have since had 2 children. Alex our loving and slightly high strung son. He has PDD-NOS. For those of you who don't know, that is a diagnosis that falls on the Autistic Spectrum. He has many social issues. I won't go into too many details but if you would like more info, PM me. He is a sensory seeker and that is great for going to Disney. But he can melt down so much quicker because he can't regulate all the sensory input. He also has auditory hypersensitiviy disorder. He can't make any noise he hears background noise. Everything that comes in is at the same level and trying to be the loudest in his head. Not a good thing in Disney. He loves Disney so much and how do you not take a boy who loves Disney so much??? So, enter the GAC. This is a magical piece of cardboard for our family. If he can't handle the crowds and noise of lines, we can use a different entrance and not get touched or spoken at and overwhelmed. We love Disney.

Then there is DD Paige. She is a normally progressing little ball of fire and energy. I refer to her as my heart attack child. If I have a heart attack, it will be because of something she does. Does the vision of the tasmanian devil give you a clue about what it is I speak??? Lovely little curly haired ball of energy that usually doesn't stop for very long, but loving and motherly all at the same time. She looks like me and DH says everything she does is because she takes after me in every way. Ok, it's true .

So, That's us. 4 Crazy Disney fans. Ok, 3 crazy Disney fans and a DH that likes Disney and will go to Disney because it is a good vacation for the kids.

Guys believe me, I am trying to bring him over to our way of thinking. I will say that he didn't even try to object or offer another place for vacation this year when I brought it up. I consider that a true victory

So, you want to know when we are going?? Ok I will tell you.

August 23rd - August 30th, 2007 and staying at POP Century.
This is my 14th trip to Disney World and the very 1st staying entirely on property with my DH, DS, and DD. I know, How can that possibly be? Well, budget, budget, budget. And when you have a DM and DDad that lived 10 miles from Disney, Hotel Grandmom and Pop-Pop is cheap and good. But now, DM and DD have moved a little farther away and I am not willing to drive 45 mins every morning and evening to Disney. So, Pop it is.

It all started in February. I called and said I wanted the best price on a Disney vacation for my family. And the Wonderful man on the other end of the phone tells me he has blah blah blah. I say, "that is a little out of our reach I need cheaper". He says," Do you have to go in June???"
"Well, NO", I said "we just wanted to". He said "If you go in August, I can get you 7 nights at Pop Century with 6 MYW base tickets and including the Dining plan for $1899. How does that sound?" "SIGN ME UP NOW!!! I'm sorry nice man, I didn't mean to scream in your ear." He says "it's ok ma'am."



So, then I call my DH at work and say, "guess what I did?"
DH "What did you do now?"
Me " Put a down payment on a vacation to Disney."
DH " WHAT???"
ME " Yeah, what of it?"
DH "nothing, when are we going?"
Me "August 23rd"
DH "August??? ok, whatever..."

Not what I was hoping for, but he didn't tell me to cancel. That is a good reaction for me and I will take it.

So, if anyone is gonna read, I will be posting my itinerary in my next chapter and ADRs and my initiation into the DISers world.

(and just so you know, the title is my DH inspired thought and input to this little pre-trippie)

 

[KathyRN137]

The husband doth protest to much, methinks.

I'm looking forward to more!

Kathy

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Kathy,

Hey, thanks for being the first to reply to my pre-trip. And yes, I do think he doth prostest too much. But, I was always taught that means just the opposite of what they are saying. He really does love Disney! Woo-Hoo

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Ok, so we have our tickets and hotel ressies. Good, Good. And we have the dining plan. Sweet! I always wanted to do the DDP, but we never stayed on property for our entire trip. So, perfect timing.

So from the time I booked the trip, I had about 1 week to come up with a plan. 1 week, are you kidding me. I had to get my act together and quickly.
I had to find out park hours, EMHs and combine those to maximize our park time. Plus we had to figure out how to do it and not be at the same park 2 days in a row. I think my little computer was about to blow as I was doing all this research.

So, silly me, I ask my husband where he wants to eat at WDW. I also tell him that he needs to let me know in 1 day. Well, can you guess what happened in my livingroom after that?? He was like a volcano that was about to erupt and I mean now!

Well, after I cleaned up that mess, I actually had some information because I sat next to him and made him look at all the menus. So he picks his favorites and I pick mine. We throw out all the ones we don't agree on and find common choices. This is what came out through all the fog and smoke

8/23 fly in and check in to Pop
ADR at Maya Grill at 7:00pm

8/24 Epcot all day and Akershush 6:20pm (so wanting to see Aurora-my fav. Oh wait, we are going to this so my daughter can see all the princesses. Yeah that's right )

8/25 AK(EMH morning) all day and Chef Mickey's at 6:50pm

8/26 MK(EMH evening) all day and Tony's at 6:30pm

8/27 MGM(EMH evening) all day and H&V at 12:30pm

8/28 Epcot(EMH morning) all day and Garden Grill at 12:20pm (still hoping for Le Cellier for either lunch or dinner- please send some pixie dust for me, I really need it )

8/29 MK all day and Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:05pm.

8/30 Check out way too early and fly home.

I will tell you all this, I have made at least 500 phone calls to the dining number to change times, days, locations and party sizes. It has been tiring some days, exciting on other days. I am still waiting for that wonderful CM to say "yes ma'am we have a slot for Le Cellier on 8/28 for your party of 4". Oh, well, what else would I have to do everyday if I didn't have my daily call?

I should at this point let you know that there will be some Cameo appearances being made at Chef Mickey's. Here they are:

My Dmom: Will usually go to Disney with us for 1 day when we visit. Not this time, as they don't have APs anymore. But because they want to see Grandkids #'s 2 and 3, dinner it is.

My Ddad: ditto above.

My Dsis, Dbil, and DNiece: want to visit and have food. Dbil used to work at WDW but now is elsewhere for employment. Man I miss those free tickets. We would take our niece(11) to the parks, but she is in school by then, so oh well.

My Dbrother: Another past WDW CM. He did some of our favs. He did the meet and greets in about 30 different furries and such. Again, miss those free tickets. He now works at the other park place.

My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this fall and since we can not get back down to Florida, we are going to do something special at Chef Mickey's for them. They have no Idea- LOVE it!

So, next: Chapter 3: What to do to fill the time between getting reservations and the actual vacation. Find out how I fill that space- enter DIS.

 

[KathyRN137]

So from the time I booked the trip, I had about 1 week to come up with a plan. 1 week, are you kidding me. I had to get my act together and quickly.
I had to find out park hours, EMHs and combine those to maximize our park time. Plus we had to figure out how to do it and not be at the same park 2 days in a row.

Hmmm. I could probably do that......
Yeah, right! Maybe with meds and oxygen!!

I'm pulling for you!

Kathy

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Ok, for all you viewers out there, I have come to a very sad realization , I am no where as funny "on paper" as I am in my own head. I keep thinking of all these quirky, funny, quipy, humorous things to put in my report and what comes out is dryer than burnt toast that's been in the Sahara Desert for a week.

So, if you don't hold that against me, I shall plug on.

I also wanted to give you a little more background on our family. We are a family of ever changing numbers. Just last week, we had 4 children. Now we have 2 children. Next week it could be 3 or 4 children again. My DH and I are foster parents. We never know when we will get the call to receive more children who need a home. We have done this for 6 years now. We have had about 13 or 14 placements. On Saturday July 21st, we had 2 biological brothers leave our home and go to their new adoptive home. They were 4 years old and 20 months. The 4 year old we had for 10 months and we got him 16 days after moving into our new home. I told them that I needed to unpack from moving and then I would take him. I am proud to say that it only took me 13 days to completely unpack a 1900 square foot home. Then it took 1 more day to get the 4 year olds clothes into his new dresser. His brother, the 20 month old, we have had since he was 10 weeks old.

So, Little sadness going on at the loss of half our children. But also, during the week, along with my 2 children, I babysit for another foster child that is 16 months old.(like my life isn't crazy enough). And I own my own business. For those of you in the know, I sell Partylite Candles. Yes, I am CRAZY!

So, planning a vacation is happening in, around and all over the rest of this craziness going on in the house. Babies down for a nap at the same time, woo-hoo time to do some preparations. I am looking for something, what is it? I have no idea. Oh wait, I got it. Stroller rental at the parks. Yep, write it down so I don't forget. Ok paper and pen. Where are all the pens??? ALEX..... yep he's the pen chewer and stealer. Ok, he has relinquished his grasp on one of his prized possessions(and it still works, it really is my lucky day). Ok, what was I gonna do with the pen??? Oh yeah, strollers. Website after website to find out. Ok find a disney forum site... Hey, look it's this thing called DISboards. Maybe they will be able to help.

Do I really need to say that I have been hooked ever since?? My DH now is really regretting finding this for me. I think he feels neglected. Hey, it's the price he has to pay right now for us to have the BEST vacation ever (at least until next Disney trip)

Oh, yeah, I did find the answer I needed and so much more. So, this is how I spent my days. 5 kids and the boards. What a great combination to pass every minute of every day.


I will be posting pictures of our crazy gang and all the things I have learned from the boards. I made a 45page notebook. It is decorated with all things Disney and has all our ressies, itinerary, flight info, rides and attractions we must do, menus of where we will eat, park hour calenders, day sheets to tell us what we are doing on that day, and personalized park maps, and our vouchers and GAC.

I also made a countdown calender with the infamous paint chips from home depot. The kids will not go to bed without putting an X on the next Mickey Head. They are getting into it(Thank goodness someone else is now besides me, it was getting lonely in my own insanity but there is always room for more insane Disney fans.)

Well, it is time for my daily call to see if anyone has been crazy enough to cancel their ressie for Le Cellier for the day and time I need. HAHA . I wil keep calling until the day is gone.


Up next: pics of my projects (if DH will help) and putting a link to this on my sig. Also, Chapter 4: Must have a themed shirt for all of us. Nope don't care if DH wants it or not. Gonna do it because I HAVE to.

 

[mvazul]

Great start!!

What a great thing to be foster parents. My cousin and her husband were foster parents for many, many years. They tried for awhile to have a baby and couldn't, so they decided to foster instead. After several years of fostering, she finally got pregnant. Well into her pregnancy, her doctor told her the baby had Spina Bifida and wanted her to terminate. They refused. Her son was born with absolutely no problems. (He is now 18!!) They kept fostering for awhile after the baby was born but eventually couldn't do it anymore. It got too hard to have to say goodbye to such beautiful children.

Anyway, I look forward to reading more!

Michelle

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Michelle,

Hey, thanks for joining in on my pre-trippie. Glad to have another person join our little party. You will be down during some of the time we will. Where are you staying?

We thought about fostering when we were trying to get pregnant but I couldn't do it then. We went through fertility treatment for 2 1/2 years for our DS8 (austistic spectrum) and 11 months for our DD4. When our DS was 2(actually on his 2nd bday) we got our first foster placement. We have been going non stop ever since. My kids like having new and different kids come and "stay over". We love being the "until" parents, however long or short that is. I just love kids.

Stay tuned for the pics next.

 

[KathyRN137]

I don't think that I could ever be a foster mom; I would wind up wanting to keep all my kids. It must be so difficult to say goodbye!

And if your toast seems dry, just slap some butter and jelly on it!!

Kathy

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Kathy,

Some are harder than others to say goodbye to, but we know that when they go, they are either going back to parents who have gone through much work to get them, relatives who want them or adoptive parents who can give them a good life.

As for the toast, I prefer mine with crunchy peanut butter and marshmallow fluff!

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Hi Y'all. Got them thar pics I promised earlier.

First up is All of us crazies

Here are my little luv bugs

So that's us. Now onto the really cool stuff. I made a countdown calender with the wonderful and free Mickey Heads donated by Home Depot. We are now with only 28 days to go(don't count tonight)

As I said before, I made a binder that has much stuff in it. It has a twofold purpose. First, it is so my kids(especially for my ASD son) can be aware of what we are doing and when. Secondly, it helps me allow my obsession to keep growing when I want to.

This pic is of the 2 notebooks that I bought to keep notes for our trip report and for the food porn thread and can remember all the details for when I can post.

And for really exciting items now... Last week we got 2 things in the mail. At the beginning of the week we got our luggage tags for the ME. OOOHHH it is really happening. YEAH!!!

And you know you're close when you get your Itinerary and vouchers in the mail and here they are...

So Next: Free Dining... What to do? Change dates or locations or do nothing different??? Stay tuned!

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Ok, so just after I get all my things set and am happy as I can be and sooo proud that I got everything good.... I get this information that there is gonna be free dining plan just like last year. Ok so when, where, what dates??? Where's the info... Wait, wait, wait...

The dates... Starting August 26th.. That's only 3 days after we wanted to go anyway. So, get out my trusty phone and speed dial... I'd like to change my ressie and get the free dining... Our conversation goes something like this:

"Ma'am you have a great package deal."
"I know, but I'd like to try and get free dining as well."
"Ok, what date would you like to checkin?"
"the 26th"
"where?"
"Pop century"
"I'm sorry, all the values are sold out for that date. The first date I have at a value is the 28th."
"no, that would be too late. My son starts school on Sept. 4th. That would mean we would have to cut our vacation a day short. No, that won't work. Can you check moderates?"
"sure Ma'am."
*
*
*
*
*
So, as it turns out, to get free dining starting on the 26th at a moderate, would cost us $75 more than what we are already paying. DH says no way. He wanted to stay at POP anyway. Why pay more to get something that is supposed to be free. Now I know it is an upgrade in accomodations but it's like I'm getting my dining free anyway. So, woohoo and we keep the same dates and ADR's don't need to be changed.

So, the only thing I am left with is trying to still change my Epcot Dinner from Garden Grill to Le Cellier. I can dial that number in my sleep(and I think I may have done that at least once.)

Next: What shopping needs to be done??? Well, if it's up to me, lots. If it's up to my DH and my bank account, very little .

 

[KathyRN137]

I love all your pix; and I'm glad you're keeping that extra day!!

Kathy

 

[mvazul]

You have a beautiful family!! Your weren't kidding when you said your daughter had a head full of curls. I have always wanted curls like that. Mine was always straighter than a stick. It's wavy now - especially if t's humid. Unfortunately, my daughter has inherited her straight hair from me.

We're staying at POP, too. This is my first time staying on property. It's my mother and sister's first time to Disney ever. We are getting so excited!! Maybe we will see you around - we get in a couple days after you.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great pre-trip report, I love reports with pictures!! We are staying at Pop in November it will be our first time. I found your pre trippie when I was reading Kathy's.

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Great pretrippie. You have a beautiful family.

Your husband sounds like mine when it comes to shopping. One of the most fun parts of planning the vacation is the shopping. How come some men don't get that?

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Kathy- I know we needed that extra day because we can not do Disney in less than 6 days. We always do Mk & Epcot for 2 days each. The other 2 parks 1 day each. Since we don't do park hopper, it just makes it easier. Alex just doesn't like the thought of hopping from park to park. So, to make our vacation as Magical as possible, we don't hop.

Mvazul- Curly hair, that's an understatement. I have wavy hair but the only reason I think she has curly hair like that, is that I prayed for it while I was pregnant with her. As you can see by the pic of the 2 love bugs, DS has pin straight hair like DH. What is your itinerary like? Do we have any common park days?

Mrsksomeday- Thanks for joining in. I will be taking pics of everthing from rooms and hotels and food and more. I will be doing a trip report, posting on food porn threads and hopefully the room thread.

Tat2ddisneymom- Thanks. I agree about the shopping. DH just doesn't get why we need more stuff for vacation. It must be that stinkin chromosome in men that won't let them see this properly.


And on a shopping note, I found some rain ponchos that the DH let me purchase. Found them at the Dollar Store. Perfect. Only need them to last for 1 week. $4.24 good value. All matching yellow. I also bought t-shirts from Zazzle and they should be here on August 1st. When they get here, I will post a pic of them. Can't wait!

 

[OhMari]

Don't feel bad about being as dry as toast, you are doing a great job with your pre-trip.

My nephew has the same thing as your son, he went to WDW 2 years ago and they are going again next spring. WDW is a great place, especially with the badge of honor as we like to call it. My sister just got my nephew a really cool swimming pool, and I told him I will be over to use it and not pee in it, which is very important to him

Bless you and your family, and let me know when you return, so I can move your pre-trip over to the regular boards.

Do you like Tony's at MK, I would maybe take a boat ride and go over to the Campground and do the Trails End Buffet, just a suggestion.

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

ohmari- Since we are on the DDP, we wanted to try some places that we either haven't tried or haven't eaten at in a long while. We also wanted to let the kids pick some places they wanted to eat. Our son Alex picked this one. We don't usually leave a park to go to another place to eat because he doesn't tolerate all the traveling well with his PDD. He can stay all day in the parks but doesn't want to travel until the day is over. Since he can handle that, it's what we do. Makes it Magical for everyone involved.

What is the word on the street in regards to Tony's??? I have seen some mixed reviews. Any input??? HELP!

I will be sure to let you know when we are back. I want to do a trip report also. And add some pics to the food porn thread.

Thanks for reading.

 

[kindakrazy2]

Hi Karla! Joining in on your per-trippie!

Your family is just beautiful! I have the utmost respect for people who foster. Love those kids all the way until its time to send them home. My hat is off to you. Really amazing.

Keep the report coming!