Planning our first trip with a new little guy! May 2017

[katriscari]

Hi all! My name is Kim (age 33), and I am currently planning our 4th (should've been 5th!) Disney trip since May 2014. I was never really a Disney addict growing up. I went a couple of times when I was younger. We played a lot of sports in my family, so those trips trumped any kind of family vacation. I went to Disney World when I was about 5 years old, and then I went again when I was 13. My husband (Big Shane-age 32) never went before our first trip in 2014, and my son (Little Shane-age 7) is clearly going to be the one who is most spoiled out of the 3 of us! He has gone 3 times before turning 7.

Our first trip in May 2014 was to celebrate my son's 5th birthday. It was awesome! We did one park a day, had the dining plan, stayed at All Star Sports, and we had an all around wonderful vacation! It was also our first family vacation. Daycare costs really put a damper on our budget for the first 5 years of my son's life (yes! I could own about 1000 resale DVC points right now if it was not for daycare! I know some of you feel my pain!) At first my husband was just going along for the ride, and it was going to be a one time trip, but we were all bitten hard by the Disney bug. Before we could even land at home we were planning our next trip in May 2015!


We loved May so much the first time (upper 80's, lower crowds, very little rain) that we decided to go back pretty much the exact same week in 2015. This time we did things a little differently. We rented DVC points (split stay at Beach Club and Animal Kingdom Lodge), we paid out of pocket for meals, and we park hopped all over the place. We had another fabulous vacation in 2015!



I will skip over our November 2015 trip which was very laid back and relaxing and jump right into why we had to cancel our May 2016 trip.....



Baby Bryson is due on June 24! We booked a May 2016 vacation right when we returned from our May 2015 trip, and we knew we wanted to start trying to have our last child as well. Coronado Springs was our resort of choice for 10 glorius nights! Fast forward to the beginning of our November 2015 trip....I was already pregnant. No pina colavas, no Schoefferhoffer, no nothing for this gal! Once we made it to the 18 week ultrasound we canceled the May 2016 trip. I exercise and try to stay fit, but upper 80's while this pregnant is not up my alley. I always want to feel like I am enjoying vacation and the photos we get, and being pregnant would not allow me to do that.....Over the last several months I have received a pin code every. single. time. one. has. come. out!!!!!! I am not kidding. I have received 5-6 just during this pregnancy. I know there is not supposed to be a rhyme or reason as to why, but I cannot help but think it has something to do with me having a trip booked, canceling, and constantly playing around with dates and times of year for trips!

HOW WE DECIDED ON MAY 2017!
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I have always been the type of person who said I will never take a kid that is not potty trained and cannot walk on his own to Disney World.....then, I started missing it!!! A LOT!!!! Then it changed to I will not take a baby who is still drinking formula....so we were going to shoot for October 2017....when I saw a countdown well over 500 days I was no more happy LOL! It then changed to I miss it too much, and I love May! May 2017! My husband is pretty much a go with the flow type of guy. Deep down I know he is missing it just as much as I am. Under a year is SO MUCH BETTER than a year and a half away! Plus, I know time is going to fly by once our son arrives! Stay tuned for our bigger plans for this trip (insert evil laugh) and our resort choice

 

[katriscari]

Tomorrow is my 11 month mark until our trip is here! It excites me because we have decided with our plans being more concrete next year we will rent DVC points again. You can book DVC reservations at the 11 month mark for stays. We rented from a guy we found on the DVC rental board on Disboards twice before, and we are comfortable using him. He has been great for us. I reached out to him over a month ago to see if he would be able to rent to us for next May, and I just confirmed with him again today that he will have the points & do the reservation for us for next year! Because our trip is 10 nights long I am having him wait until we can book our entire trip at once. I believe DVC reservations can only be 7 nights at exactly the 11 month mark. Therefore, at the end of this week I should see the 10 night reservation in MDE!! We are requesting a standard studio at Jambo House - Animal Kingdom Lodge for the full 10 nights. It is our absolute favorite resort that we have stayed in so far. Although it is a little less convenient getting to parks we spend a lot of down time at the resort, and my older son tends to want to swim and relax once fast passes are done for the day. It is so beautiful there as well. If you never stay there check out the lobby at the very least and have dinner at Boma...you will not be disappointed!

The main reason we rent is cost savings!

2016 rack rates for Jambo House standard view studio are $478 per night. A 10 night trip is $4,780.00, and that is just for the room!! Renting points is going to cost us $1,821 for the room, and that includes paypal fee. That is a savings of nearly $3,000.00 on the room off of rack rates. Even if you could get a 30% savings off the room rate if a discount comes out it is still a savings of over $1,500.00. No, the plans are not flexible, but the guy we rent from has a very fair cancellation policy and only has us put a 1/3 down to secure the reservation! I call that a win!

 

[ffdjs]

Hi there,

I posted this question in another thread, but I was wondering who you rent points from. I am considering renting points and think it might be the same person you use but wanted an honest reference.

Thanks!

 

[katriscari]

Hi there,

I posted this question in another thread, but I was wondering who you rent points from. I am considering renting points and think it might be the same person you use but wanted an honest reference.

Thanks!

His name is Glenn.....I've used him twice already and have already booked 10 nights for 2017

 

[ffdjs]

Thank you!
I was considering him and wanted to make sure he was legit. I appreciate your help.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[AnnaGiselle]

May 2014 was also the first time I had been in a long time (since 2006!) and now I've been three more times since and planning three more trips with Annual Passes! We went early May and I totally agree - not too hot and the crowds really didn't seem as bad as they have the other times I went. We also stayed All Star Sports that trip! Best wishes on your baby - looks like your due super soon!

 

[jmccoy18]

Hi! Following your PTR! It looks like your due date is tomorrow!!!! I will be praying for a safe delivery and healthy baby and mama!!!

 

[katriscari]

I've been MIA for a while! Baby Bryson was born June 23, 2016 at 5:28am. He was 6 lbs 9oz and 19.25 inches long. He is 3 weeks old today! He is such a good baby & is just perfect!


Mommy, baby & big brother!

Proud daddy!

 

[katriscari]

We've also been very active getting out & about! My 7 year old son saw these cute shirts at Target this past week, and I could not resist!! When I have a trip planned I shop year round for it. I never know if I will be able to find what I need closer to the day we leave, so I find it is less stressful to collect things as I see them Plus, who doesn't love shopping for Disney! This little guy has 296 days to grow into these t-shirts!!

 

[jmccoy18]

Congrats on the birth of your baby! He is so precious! I'm glad everyone is doing well. Those 12m shirts look so big on him, but in a wink of an eye he will fit into them.

 

[katriscari]

Congrats on the birth of your baby! He is so precious! I'm glad everyone is doing well. Those 12m shirts look so big on him, but in a wink of an eye he will fit into them.

Thank you!! All is well! Baby is over 5 weeks, and I am anxiously waiting to plan more of our trip!

 

[katriscari]

Here is our countdown! I found this idea online somewhere, and it is so much easier than a lot of other countdowns. Just a printed photo, a frame, and a dry erase marker! We are SLOWLY moving in the right direction!

 

[katriscari]

For our last trip we got monogram initials for our bands. Next time I am totally doing this! Seems like such an easy, cute thing to do!

 

[katriscari]

Found some great deals at Kohl's a few weeks ago too! They always have cute Disney shirts. With 30% OFF and $10 in free birthday money these were only just over $6 each! 2 for me & 2 for my husband. I MAKE him dress the part on vacation LOL

 

[jmccoy18]

I love that countdown! I might have to make one of my own like that. It is way easier than doing a chain or a chalkboard!

 

[katriscari]

I love that countdown! I might have to make one of my own like that. It is way easier than doing a chain or a chalkboard!

I've done the darn chain! NEVER AGAIN! Closer to our trip I let my son put a Disney sticker over the day on our calendar that hangs on the wall, but we only do that about 30 days before our trip. That is when he knows it is getting close. I book so far in advance that the countdown is kind of lost on him until much closer

 

[katriscari]

I figured I would start toying around with searching for airfare, since I know some of the carriers are already out for May. Within the last year we've had cuts around the Cleveland area. Southwest cut a lot of their non-stops to MCO out of our little airport which is the carrier we loved to use. They now have a Saturday nonstop into April, but the prices for a one way flight are close to $200 some Saturdays and hover around $158 one way most days. For the 3 of us and a lap child that is a large chunk for a one way flight. Plus, we would have to pay 11 days of parking if we flew out of that airport, which would total about $100-$120. When we would arrive back home on Tuesday there are only one stop flights running through Atlanta, and I do not want to deal with stops with a 9 month old. Again, May will not even be out until November for Southwest. Our only other options are flights with stops (Jet Blue and the like), discount carriers, driving about 2.5 hours to another airport to fly Southwest nonstop (which my husband is firmly against) and United. I almost choked on my coffee when I saw the cost of a United non stop flight. $400 plus bags. Right. That is NOT happening. Maybe for Europe lol! I've never flown a discount carrier, and I've heard horror stories with all of them. A lot of the issues seem to come with being uninformed & not doing the proper research regarding bags, etc. After talking with my husband and lots of people who have flown them who I actually know in real life, we ultimately decided to give Spirit airlines a try for May. For $564.97 round trip on Spirit--that includes our 3 checked bags each way, the spirit $9 club (because it saves me $) and trip insurance for the way down. Plus I booked one ways, so my credit card will cover at least one way. We will see how it goes. It's a 10 night trip. We have nowhere to be. Nonstop flights, departing CLE at 810am. Coming back we leave Orlando at 1145 ish. Close Airport to our home too means no parking fees because we can get dropped off and picked up without totally annoying someone with a lengthy drive I also thought that I would see how this one goes because when we uprgrade to APS this trip I would be looking for really cheap airfare to take some weekend trips too! I am hoping we have a positive experience! Only 248 days to go until our trip!

 

[katriscari]

Slightly glad I did not wait for Southwest fares to be released before booking our flights. They are disappointing so far out of our 2 airports that are close. They are also expensive and have stops. Not to mention, I could only book the flight down right now which gives me major anxiety

 

[jmccoy18]

I hope you have a good experience with Spirit. My sister and bil flew that to Orlando and had a horrible time with them. Flights were canceled and they were given greyhound bus vouchers...

 

[MamaJessie]

Joining in. Congrats on your little one!