Pre-Trip!

[kristenhh]

Cast:
Me, 35, last trip to WDW 15 years ago for Honeymoon
DH, 37, also present on Honeymoon
DD12, 1st Timer!
DD10, 1st Timer!
DS6, 1st Timer!
DS4, 1st Timer!
Mom, 64, hasn’t been to WDW for 17 years
Friend to Mom, 63, 1st Timer!

Introduction:
After a Honeymoon trip to WDW in 1991 staying at the Contemporary, we have been longing to go back and take the kids. However, living on the opposite coast and the cost has prevented us. Enter one mom who decided to sell her house and live with us. What is something fun she could do with her new found savings? How about a family trip to Disney World? She agreed.

May 2005
I began investigating vacation prices and we decided to go between Thanksgiving vacation and Christmas vacation and just pull the kids out of school. My research showed that this was a less crowded time and the weather should be decent.

Having 4 kids means we needed 3 rooms total, so we were looking for a bargain. We settled on All Star Movies, because the boys, age 4 & 6, will get a huge kick out of it. We also decided to try the Disney Dining Option so that most of the meals would be covered with the whole package and we wouldn’t wince while we were there at the cost of food. I was also excited to learn that Magical Express would be operating which hopefully will save us time and will definitely save money.

 

[kristenhh]

June 2005
I got a used copy of the “Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2004”. Sure it was a little outdated, but it was $1.84 and I will buy the 2006 version when it comes out! Reading it just gets me so excited for the trip!

July 2005
I convinced my mom, that since we would already be in Florida, she ought to take a cruise after our WDW trip. She convinced her friend, to go on the cruise as well, and then we convinced her to do the WDW part as well. Now we are up to 8 people!

After searching everyday for good air fares, I finally found some on Southwest that were close to what we wanted so we went for it The only thing we don’t like, is that it stops twice on the way to Orlando, but what can you do? Our original goal was $250 per person, including all taxes and fees, and we got tickets for about $265 each. At least the tickets are bought

August 2005
I have been doing research like crazy to come up with the best way to utilize our Disney Dining Option. I have looked at menus, reviews, official charts, you name it, and after crunching everything in a spread sheet, I think we are ready. We have to make Priority Seating reservations on September 1st, so we want to be ready! We will discover on the trip how much money it saves – I am guessing quite a lot, especially because I am not paying! I hope they don’t change the Dining Option before we get there.

We have also been going back and forth on whether to rent a car or not. We can get one at the transportation center at WDW, which would make some trips faster and enable us to go to the store and church on Sunday. However, a party of 8 cannot fit in a normal mini van, which is a pretty good deal ($239 for a week) I found that Alamo rents an 8 passenger van, but they want $100 more for the week. I reserved both and I will wrestle with it

 

[kristenhh]

September 2005
Hooray for Mousesavers! They announced a new discounted package deal that was released at the end of September. I called in the morning it was available and by dropping the Water Park Plus option, we were able to switch to the Caribbean Beach Resort for only $33 more – for all three rooms Bigger rooms, pools with slides and free refrigerators here we come

We got all of our Priority Seating reservations made. DH can’t believe that we have decided exactly where we are going to eat 3 months in advance!

October 2005
The trip is all paid for! Happy Dance! We also go the “Free” luggage tags in the mail. I am waiting for the ME package, and I hope they haven’t messed it up – they never show the correct information on the Disneyworld website.

I am finalizing packing lists and bidding on game boys for the flight!

November 2005
Today there are only 9 days left until our fabulous trip. I am kind of in freak mode about getting everything ready and we are praying that no one gets sick! I got our ME packet, which was of course, all wrong, and didn’t even include me. Hopefully my phone call straightened it out.

Stay tuned for the REAL trip report!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

nice start
cant wait to hear more