Planning the Unplanned Trip

[HHMcG]

I haven't done much on the Disney front lately. I've been busy preparing for a presentation. It is 'extra' work that I was doing for a friend but I do get paid a bit for it (extra Disney $). Well, I did the presentation last night, so my time should free up a bit.

I realized yesterday that I forgot to order our Disney tickets. I had planned to do it early this month. I need to get them here before Thanksgiving so I can make our fp+ ressies. So I had to pay for expedited shipping. I'm trying to keep this as low budget as possible, so those extra $10 are annoying me. I ordered tickets through The Official Ticket Center. They worked out to be the cheapest for the tickets we need.

DH and I are planning another Disney conversation for tomorrow night. So we will prioritize all the fastpass+ we want. That should get me back into the Disney groove.

 

[HHMcG]

I also need to vent a bit. Skip ahead if you don't want to hear my petty rant. You've been warned.

The past two winters we have gone on a ski trip to Vermont. This is DH's thing, he loves skiing, I do not. It is expensive and the kids miss school. So DH and I decided to skip this year. DH and the kids really do like skiing, so we weren't going to eliminate it. Just stay locally and do it cheaper. My parents live near the Poconos (PA skiing) so we could visit them more and get a free place to stay. I figured we would do a couple weekends.
Then FIL decided he wants to come on the skiing trip this year and DH didn't bother to tell him we AREN'T GOING this year. SIL and family like to ski too and she is all for trip. Finally DH told his family it isn't in the budget for us this year. But FIL offered to 'help us out'. The budget is half the problem, the other issue is the kids are already missing school for Disney they can't miss for skiing. And also I know how FIL's 'helping out' works - he gives us a small percentage of the cost and thinks he's given us the world. It is very sweet of him but it is a trip I don't even want to do and we weren't planning on doing.
I suggested we put it off until next year. But DH is giving me the 'what if this is my Dad's last chance' sob story. Which has me real fired up. FIL is perfectly healthy for a 75 year old. We went thru this with MIL. She was very sick for 4 years and we had to do every holiday or occasion to accommodate her, understandably. Well, now my father is not well. We visit them often but those added weekend trips to ski would have been a bonus. I've decided I'm going to play the guilt card. IL family trip to Vermont will have to wait until 2016, end of story! I feel an argument with DH coming on.

 

[HHMcG]

Our Disney tickets have arrived!!! Well, they are at the post office. I need to sign for them so I’ll go tomorrow since I’m off. Friday night/Saturday morning at midnight is 60 days. Only thing that has me nervous is that we will be traveling to my parents that day. Their wifi better be working well.

DH and I had the conversation about fastpasses. Here is what we decided:

EPCOT (1/29) –
Soarin’
Spaceship Earth
Mission Space or Turtle Talk (I think I’ll get MS in case the big kids want to try it. I can hopefully switch to TT day of if the kids don’t want to.

MK (1/30) –
SDMT
BTMRR
Space Mountain (3) / Peter Pan (2)

AK (1/31) -
Safari
Primeval Whirl (3) / Nemo Show ? (2)
Expedition Everest (3) (the big kids haven’t done before, not sure if they will want to try) / Meet Characters ? (2)

HS (2/1) -
TSMM
Star Tours
Tower of Terror (going to get the pass for all 5 but I’m not sure who will want to do it besides DH & DD)

MK (2/2)-
SDMT
Splash Mt ? (scheduled to reopen from rehab day before)
Tomorrowland Speedway

The only one I expect to have a hard time with is SDMT. I’m thankful it’s our last day, so I’ll start there and work backwards.

 

[HHMcG]

We also decided on Magic Band colors. Everyone is getting a different color from last time, mainly because I wanted a new color.
DH
ME
DD
DS(1)
DS(2)

 

[HHMcG]

I’ve been all caught up in Christmas / New Year madness. Well, today kids went back to school and I’m back in the office and it is ONLY 23 DAYS UNTIL DISNEY WORLD!!!!!

Our Magic Bands arrived last week. I seemed to remember that they were shipped in the Incredibles box. But thankfully I was wrong and there was a plain brown box around them when DS grabbed the mail. The kids still have no idea about the trip. I have no plans to tell them until day of, so unless DH speaks up about it (unlikely) that is what’s happening.
I did let it slip to one friend that we are heading to Orlando soon. She is headed to Universal next week on a last minute trip and I just blurted out about our trip.
But other than that I haven’t even been tempted to talk about it. Last night I did have a chat with DH about the trip. Just boring details like how many suitcases and whether to pack food or ship it.

I also went ahead and made an ADR at Sci Fi Dine In for our HS day. None were showing up for dinner and only one for lunch so I thought I should snag it. Can always cancel if we don’t want it.


I think I mentioned earlier, how this is a budget trip and I was trying to save extra $ to pay for at least 25% of the budget. I’m proud to say I’ve saved 32% of the budget. On top of that I got a sizable raise at work and DH came into a good bit of money winning his fantasy football league. This trip is completely paid off along with $600 in gift cards for meals and gifts. I’m so excited.


This coming weekend is DD’s birthday. So next week I’ll probably start packing. I need to do it when I’m off and the kids are at school. Also it’s freezing here so the kids won’t miss anything I start to pack.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Looks like I've missed a few updates! Let's catch up shall we?

Yay for paying off your trip with money to spare!

How exciting that you are so close!

Fun Choices for the Magic bands! good thing that the kids didn't know what they were!

How did the FP+ reservations go? Did you get what you wanted?

Sorry to hear about the In Laws Drama Lamas. That stuff can be hard I know.

 

[HHMcG]

How did the FP+ reservations go? Did you get what you wanted?

Yep. I got all my fp+ choices. We didn't want A&E so really SDMT was the only iffy one.
I keep thinking I should go back and fine tune the timing of the fastpasses. But that may just be too much planning for me for this 'relaxed' trip. They are all in the late morning - early afternoon time frame so we should be able to make them work.

 

[HHMcG]

Made our fastpass for lunch at BOG today. That will be on our last park day. I went ahead and picked meals for everyone. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Kids are picky so there are only so many choices they'll eat. They had DH's fav - roast beef sand with horseradish. I just got a soup (and dessert). I figured I didn't know how hungry everyone would be - if they aren't I'll just eat their left overs, if they are hungry we'll have granola bars and stuff for me. We usually have so much food.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Sounds like a plan! DH and I often share meals in WDW

 

[disney-inspired]

Your trip is right around the corner! Yay!
I have quite a was until mine but I think I've found every penny that I could pinch when looking for deals

My BIL is active military so that ticket and hotel discount is wonderful! They are driving down so they don't even have to worry about airfare. Meanwhile, I have to fly to GA if I want to drive down...I'm still wondering if I should just fly down to Orlando instead but I think I would miss the whole family bonding thing. My niece will be 18 months when we go.

 

[HHMcG]

I just visited MDE just to see my count down.
My Plans - Only 16 Days To Go

 

[HHMcG]

This weekend was DD's birthday. Lots of fun family time.
So now the next big thing to concentrate on is DISNEY WORLD! I picked up a few travel necessities and just ordered DD a tee shirt. I wasn't going to do any new tees for this trip but the boys all have new Star Wars tees and then I got one, so I had to find one for DD. I still have the matching tees we made for last trip. They will all still fit so we will reuse those. I am planning on starting to pack this Thursday (I'm off, kids in school) but I also want to visit my friend and her new baby.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I just visited MDE just to see my count down.
My Plans - Only 16 Days To Go

Getting SO close!!!! Happy Packing!

 

[HHMcG]

So we leave in 2 days!!!
The last week sped by and now I'm feeling a bit panicked.
We are in NJ and expecting 8"-18" of snow in the next 24hrs depending on which report you look at. Kids had early dismissal today and I'm pretty sure no school tomorrow. Which means no work for me. Bummed that I won't get in my weekly hours before we leave. Oh well that is what vacation time is for. Also bummed that the kids will miss school for snow then for vacation. I know everyone is missing school on the snow days but my guilt is feeling a bit worse with so many days off in 1 week. And finally no work for me means no time to organize my thoughts and one last check of information before we leave. I'm so much less distracted at work. (wonder why )

I guess I shouldnt complain too much at least we arent suppose to leave in the middle of the storm. I am assuming schools will be open wednseday and no problems at the airport by wednseday night.

 

[HHMcG]

We've also had to tell a few people about the trip. I told my mom this weekend. We told a few people at work and one of the kids coaches. Still haven't told the kids. It was weird to finally tell people and talk about the trip. I've actually enjoyed that it has been our own private secret. And now I feel like people are invading it.
I have the reveal all planned out in my head. Pick the kids up from school Wednesday and tell them 'we are taking a long weekend trip, it's Mommy's trip so we better be on good behavior. And oh yeah we are going to Disney.. ' We'll see how it actually goes.

 

[vleeth]

How exciting! I'm sure you'll pull off getting everything together, even with the kids home.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Good luck getting final details done with the kiddies around!

Better you then me dealing with all that snow! At least you are getting out of dodge soon!