Hi DISers.
Last Tuesday, I made a split second decision to take my daughter to Disney for Spring break. She's 11 and had this week off. We've gone to Disney on 5 prior trips and she always enjoys it so much, as do I. I am a divorced mom - one child just graduated college and is living on his own and this one at home. It had been 1.5 yrs since our last Disney visit.
I first checked airfare and found that, of course, it was high...given that this was Tuesday and I wanted to leave on Saturday. I r/t non-stop found tix for $380+tax/fees from PHL to MCO. Grabbed them.
Then called Disney and booked a MYW - 2 nts at GF / Castle View / Concierge and the other 4 nts ar Beach Club, Pool View / Concierge. Actually, there was some back and forth on my part...decisions...calling back a few times....trying to decide on Contempory Bay Lake Towers or BC. I would also have liked to have returned to Poly (this is where we stayed on our last visit), but they didnt have anything available - and it is nice to try something different. We'd never before stayed at GF, nor BC, and EPCOT is my favorite park, so BC was a natural choice.
This visit is right in between my daughter's Birthday and my birthday, so I told Disney about that when they asked while I was booking the reservation. Apparently, they are really into this whole "Celebrate Today" thing, as you will read on this report. The cast member who booked my visit was so happy and perky - she really got me into the mood.
Then, on Thursday, my daughter asked me if she could take a friend. Hmmmm...that would be nice for her....and I might get some chill-out time by the pool.....but what friend would just jump in and go at the last minute like this and we just moved to this area last July, so freinds are relatively new. I was pleasantly surprised when she invited one of her new best friends and the parents said yes. They booked the LAST seat on the plane (and paid much more than I would have paid for a flight to Orlando - ouch!). The girls were on Cloud 9.
Ok, so we only had a couple of days to pull this off and I realized that we needed to do a few things in very short order
:
1. Shop for summer gear
2. Do a little research (after all - EVERY Disney trip requires research to some degree)
3. Shop for things like sunscreen, carry-on size toiletries, etc
Finally, I guessed we were ready. I had no idea about park hours, etc. I couldn't find my bathing suits (rememebr, we'd moved, so some things were still in boxes in the garage)....I just decided to wing it and buy what I needed down there, which would be interesting since I was using DME and wouldnt have a car.
The night before we left, my daughter and I ran over to the closest mall and hit Macys and Bloomies. Good thing it was end of March and they had Summer clothing on the racks.
Came home, threw the clothes into 2 carry-ons. Made a quick call to the parents of the young lady who was coming with us - told them "Carry on only, please", which they were fine with. Then realized I had a message on my voicemail. It was the concierge who was helping me whip up this last minute caper - she was all bubbly and told me that she was leaving for the day, but wanted to check in one last time before our arrival. She confirmed that we were all set for DME and that she's taken the liberty of booking us a reservation at 1900 Park Fare for Sunday morning - she thought the girls would like that - which they DID!
I could barely sleep that night. I must say that I did feel somewhat that I'd cheated myself of the joy of planning. The big thrill of any vacation is the joy of planning (for me, anyway). In this case, I had only 3 days to plan and most of that was spent focused on work and making sure my work was done and other items were delegated to people who were also on last-minute notice of my vacation...so I had to be delicate about handling that.
Saturday morning came VERY quickly and our flight was at 7:55am. We arose in the dark and my daughter said "mom, I love when we're going on vacation and we wake up to go to the airport in the dark - it means we're going someplace really good!" (I haven't yet introduced her to European travel, where you leave in the early evening....or she'd be saying something different!
)
Next Chapter - Part II - The airport, flight and our MAGICAL arrival with the big CELEBRATION Surprise from Disney
Last Tuesday, I made a split second decision to take my daughter to Disney for Spring break. She's 11 and had this week off. We've gone to Disney on 5 prior trips and she always enjoys it so much, as do I. I am a divorced mom - one child just graduated college and is living on his own and this one at home. It had been 1.5 yrs since our last Disney visit.
I first checked airfare and found that, of course, it was high...given that this was Tuesday and I wanted to leave on Saturday. I r/t non-stop found tix for $380+tax/fees from PHL to MCO. Grabbed them.
Then called Disney and booked a MYW - 2 nts at GF / Castle View / Concierge and the other 4 nts ar Beach Club, Pool View / Concierge. Actually, there was some back and forth on my part...decisions...calling back a few times....trying to decide on Contempory Bay Lake Towers or BC. I would also have liked to have returned to Poly (this is where we stayed on our last visit), but they didnt have anything available - and it is nice to try something different. We'd never before stayed at GF, nor BC, and EPCOT is my favorite park, so BC was a natural choice.
This visit is right in between my daughter's Birthday and my birthday, so I told Disney about that when they asked while I was booking the reservation. Apparently, they are really into this whole "Celebrate Today" thing, as you will read on this report. The cast member who booked my visit was so happy and perky - she really got me into the mood.
Then, on Thursday, my daughter asked me if she could take a friend. Hmmmm...that would be nice for her....and I might get some chill-out time by the pool.....but what friend would just jump in and go at the last minute like this and we just moved to this area last July, so freinds are relatively new. I was pleasantly surprised when she invited one of her new best friends and the parents said yes. They booked the LAST seat on the plane (and paid much more than I would have paid for a flight to Orlando - ouch!). The girls were on Cloud 9.
Ok, so we only had a couple of days to pull this off and I realized that we needed to do a few things in very short order
:1. Shop for summer gear
2. Do a little research (after all - EVERY Disney trip requires research to some degree)
3. Shop for things like sunscreen, carry-on size toiletries, etc
Finally, I guessed we were ready. I had no idea about park hours, etc. I couldn't find my bathing suits (rememebr, we'd moved, so some things were still in boxes in the garage)....I just decided to wing it and buy what I needed down there, which would be interesting since I was using DME and wouldnt have a car.
The night before we left, my daughter and I ran over to the closest mall and hit Macys and Bloomies. Good thing it was end of March and they had Summer clothing on the racks.
Came home, threw the clothes into 2 carry-ons. Made a quick call to the parents of the young lady who was coming with us - told them "Carry on only, please", which they were fine with. Then realized I had a message on my voicemail. It was the concierge who was helping me whip up this last minute caper - she was all bubbly and told me that she was leaving for the day, but wanted to check in one last time before our arrival. She confirmed that we were all set for DME and that she's taken the liberty of booking us a reservation at 1900 Park Fare for Sunday morning - she thought the girls would like that - which they DID!
I could barely sleep that night. I must say that I did feel somewhat that I'd cheated myself of the joy of planning. The big thrill of any vacation is the joy of planning (for me, anyway). In this case, I had only 3 days to plan and most of that was spent focused on work and making sure my work was done and other items were delegated to people who were also on last-minute notice of my vacation...so I had to be delicate about handling that.
Saturday morning came VERY quickly and our flight was at 7:55am. We arose in the dark and my daughter said "mom, I love when we're going on vacation and we wake up to go to the airport in the dark - it means we're going someplace really good!" (I haven't yet introduced her to European travel, where you leave in the early evening....or she'd be saying something different!
)Next Chapter - Part II - The airport, flight and our MAGICAL arrival with the big CELEBRATION Surprise from Disney
