Preplanning or Getting 14 Lammies to WDW - 24 Jun-6 Jul 03

[ToriLammy]

Well, here it goes. Don't think I'll get any awards or honorable mentions from Lt Hambone but I do have some interesting things to report on, we rented a house, we were a large group (14) and we had my handicapped daughter with us and my MIL who used an ECV with us. Age group ranged from 2 to 76! Hope my report helps someone with their planning.

Disney Trip - Jun 23 - Jul 6 2003

Cast of Characters:
Family 1
Tori (Planner and Disney Fanatic) - 1 previous trip - 43
Dave (DH) - 1 prev trip - 43
David (son) - 1 prev trip - 18 - Graduate
Jackie (dau) - 1 prev trip - 17 -
Laura (Niece) - Never been - 17 - Graduate (to avoid confusion with SIL will be referred to as LT) (Honorary Lammy)

Family 2
Laura - SIL - (Can’t remember ever going, been to Disneyland Paris) - 38
(Her Hubby - DH’s brother is an Army Major in Iraq - Major John)
Chris- 9
Steven - 5
Daniel - 2

Family 3
Roz - SIL (DH’s sister) - 2 prev trips - 41
Paul - BIL - 40 - 2 prev trips
Nick - 8 - 2 prev trips
Lauren - 4 - 1 prev trip at 9 months old - turning 5 during trip
Evelyn - MIL - 76- 1 prev trip

Accommodations -

Family 1 - Jun 24th - Jun 28th Contemporary Resort (SOG)
Families 1,2,3 - Jun 28th to Jul 6th - 6-bedroom rental home in Oak Island Cove (for pictures go to: http://www.dot-totally.co.uk/onetor..._Oak_Island_Cove_-_6_bedroom_-_4_bathroom.htm ) By the way, they offer a $25 Referral fee so if you decide to use his company please mention my name (Lamoureux), who knows if I get enough I maybe I can do a return trip

Methods of Travel -
Family 1 - Van (drive from OKC) (Niece flew from ID)
Family 2 - Van (drive from Fort Campbell)
Family 3 - Fly from CT, Rental Car


Pre-planning

This trip was originally supposed to happen in Dec 2001. Had reservations for Shades of Green for Laura’s family (Family 2) and us for ten days before Christmas. Then one day in Sep 01 while on the phone with Major John I mention how MIL is turning 75 on next birthday in Jan 2002 - oh no…that’s right after our trip to Disney. DH is military too and while they have both projected leave (vacation time) for Disney trip neither can be gone longer than 2 weeks. Call and try to convince MIL to come to Disney -- no go -- has to be home with her 3 sisters for Christmas -- won’t even consider it. Okay, no problem, well actually I debated for days and DH even said he’d do whatever I wanted but in the end we cancel Disney trip and plan on going home to CT for Mom’s birthday. Have guys change projected leave so we’ll be home for Christmas (first Christmas all together since John and Laura got married in 93) and Mom’s birthday (Jan 3). Get off the phone with Major John and call Roz to start planning big party for Mom’s 75th. It was a great trip and the party turned out really nice but I was still thinking -- we could be at Disney

Fast forward to Aug 2002 - Talking to SIL Laura and mention we should try our Disney trip again. She agrees but Christmas is not a good time so we decide to do it after kids are out of school. Great idea - David (DS) is graduating from High School and Jackie is turning 17 on Jun 17th so we can celebrate both at Disney. Call and make reservations for Jun 10-21st at Shades of Green. Shades of Green is closed for renovation but they are using North Garden Wing at the Contemporary - Great I’ve always wanted to stay at a monorail resort! Call Niece (LT) in Idaho who is also graduating in Jun 03 and invite her to go…tell her all expenses on us as graduation present except airfare from ID and any spending money she wants to bring. Give her almost a year to save. She agrees and is very excited. My sister and her DH actually end up paying LT’s airfare (I found a great deal on Orbitz.com for them - $258 round trip). LT joined us on a family vacation back in 2000, we flew her from ID to OK and then drove to Texas (where Major John and Laura lived). Mom, Roz and family also flew in from CT so she knows everyone except Daniel.

While talking with SIL Laura one day she says she invited SIL Roz and family to join us. Huh - this was not in the plan…Not really sure what happened but next thing I’m on the phone with Roz trying to coordinate trip. Her son doesn’t get out of school until Jun 20th - wait a minute - we’re leaving Disney then. Okay, for the sake of family unity I start looking at alternatives. The bonus was that my MIL would now be coming since she lives with Roz. Now I’ve got a problem -- what to do with 3 families for 10 days at Disney - call SOG again to see if I can change dates and get another room. No but they can put me on the waiting list. By this time SIL Laura is starting to question the cost of room says she and Major John are considering trying to stay at Air Force base in Tampa and drive to Disney each day. Okay, that is just not going to work - at all! I really could care less what Major John and Laura do but they have three sons who have never been and I have big plans for them - they need to have as much park time as they can handle and driving an hour each day to and from the parks will severely hamper that time. So I start looking at other options, I decide on a vacation rental house. Spend hours looking at houses online (there are some really nice ones out there). Finally decide to make reservation for 6-bedroom house at Elite Homes. Next problem, I make reservations for 10 nights, it was what we originally agreed upon. Both SILs have changed their minds; they only want to stay for 7 days. Change reservation to 8 days, sort of a compromise. In the meantime, I change reservations at SOG, my family and niece will arrive 4 days before everyone else. New dates of the vacation for us are 24 Jun - 6 Jul (12 days), 28 Jun - 6 Jul (8) for the others. Cost of house is roughly $600 per family for 8 nights or $75 a night - have convinced Major John and Laura this will actually save them money and wear and tear on their van. They agree - thank goodness.

It is now Jan 2003 so I start sending SILs info on Disney tickets and ideas for what to do. I’ve pretty much figured out what “we” are doing - 3 day passes for Universal/IOA and 7 day park hoppers for WDW. That pretty much covers all our time. It’s too early for the other 2 families to really give Disney too much thought so they say “later”. In the meantime there is talk about a war…my DH is pretty safe from deploying because of the job he has. Major John on the other hand is very hot for deploying for the type of job he has (Commander, Helicopter Medivac unit at Fort Campbell). Call SIL Laura and talk for long time about possibilities - she says she’s going to WDW even if Major John deploys. We pray that it doesn’t happen and if it does it’s over quickly. Major John deploys in March.

During this time I keep obsessing about the house. I keep looking on line and contacting owners, companies etc. Find a great house in Oak Island Cove that is cheaper than the one I reserved from Elite. Another bonus, we know exactly what the house looks like and where it is. This is kind of important to me because Jackie is handicapped. She has Cerebral Palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair. I need to be sure the house we rent has at least 1 bedroom and full bath downstairs. While Elite put “Handicapped Accessible” on the forms there was no way they could guarantee which home we’d have (they assign their homes like a hotel assigns rooms). Decide to go with the Oak Island home - Cost per family now $477 for 8 nights for $59 and change per night. SIL Laura really happy

May 2003 - Disney and Universal both announce Military Salute programs. While we are very disappointed that Major John is still somewhere in Iraq with little chance of being home in time, this is great news for the rest of us. It does however change all my plans. Back to the drawing board and DIS board The military salute programs include a free ticket for the military member (DH) and up to 5 five-day pass for family members. We are now going to only do 2-3 days at Universal/IOA and 5 days at WDW. We are at WDW for 13 days - 11 if you don’t count coming and going days so now we have 3 “off” days. (In the end I was grateful for the off days).

June 2003 - We’re almost ready. I’ve got everything done I need to do - just three priority seatings (CRT, Ohana and The Ice Cream Social)…now the phone calls start from my two SILs with questions. Roz called more than Laura, Laura has said time and time again that she’s putting herself and 3 boys in my hands -- I like that. Call MIL to find out if she reserved her ECV - not yet…tell her to get busy. She called me about a week later to say that she finally did it -- good.

Jun 20-23rd - Our departure day is Monday Jun 23rd. Spent most of the weekend packing. Got all our clothes in one large suitcase and 2 small bags. I didn’t bring much because we will have access to a washer and dryer once we get to the house. DH packs the van (our 1997 Ford Econoline 350 van - appropriately named the Mammoth). Our plan is to drive straight thru from Oklahoma City to WDW. We did this on our last trip to Disney in 99 and when we went home for Mom’s birthday in CT in 2001. It works really well for us. We plan on leaving around 9AM and arrive at 9AM on Tuesday 24 Jun. My niece is flying in on the 24th and arrives at 3:15PM so that gives us plenty of time to ensure we’re there to meet her flight.


Days 1 & 2

Day 3 - IOA - Jun 25th

Days 4 & 5 - Universal, Blizzard Beach and E-Night

Day 6 - Moving and Families 2 & 3 Arrive - Jun 28, 03

Day 7 - Animal Kingdom and Epcot

Days 8 & 9 - Shopping at Belz, Magic Kingdom

Days 10 & 11 - MGM and an Off Day

Days 12,13 and 14 - Epcot, Trying to Kill MIL and depature

 

[Dixielady908]

Wow trying to coordinate everything....what a hard job.
but it sounds like everything is working out....

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for posting!!!!!

 

[Krissalee]

A lot of work coordinating such a big trip! I'm sure it was worth it, though!

 

[tmfranlk]

What a great trip, Tori. I was especially happy to read about the call from Major John. It sounds like you did a wonderful job of planning for your group. I hope I can do half as good a job for my family. (We will have 12 people - 52, 50, 38, 33, 28, 25, 23, 23, 20, 8, 2 and 1.) If you have a chance would you mind pm-ing me and letting me know how you liked the rental house. How was the driving everyday?

I'm glad everyone had such a great trip!!!