SuddenlyObsessed
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2012
- Messages
- 38
Hi! I am a first time poster, but have been lurking these Disney Trip Reports for a few weeks. First off, I must say that you all ROCK and have made me pretty obsessed with Disney World from reading these trip reports.
A few disclaimers before I start.
I really am unsure yet how to post pics, put a countdown ticker on my posts or anything fancy like that yet. I am willing to learn though! I may put in those smiley face thingies from time to time, because I see they are directly to my right and fairly easy to use
See? I think I did it?
Anyway, let me introduce myself (without pics for the time being).
I am Jackie, we will call myself MommyJ. My son is 7, his name also starts with J so we will call him J7. However, he is turning 8 right before our June Disney trip, so I guess I will change his name to J8 for my actualy trip report?
My Disney experience:
1) first time when I was young, my only memory of it is going on Space Mountain but my little sister was a baby, so I may have been around 7.
2) second time when I was about 13, with my mom and my sister. We stayed off site somewhere pretty far away I think and I only remember one day in MK and one day in Epcot. I remember it was end of August, very hot, and I specifically remember touring the WS at Epcot, seeing Figment, having breakfast in Cinderellas castle, doing Thunder Mountain, IASW and the Haunted Mansion. That's about it. I'm not complaining--my mom was a single parent and it was a miracle she was able to pull off a trip to Disney at all.
That second trip was about 24 years ago. I am 38 now.
I should mention at this point that I am now a single mother myself, as of about 2-3 years ago. I have always wanted to bring J7 to Disney, but wanted to do it when he was old enough to really appreciate it. Which brings me to:
3) On a whim, I decided to bring J7 (then J6) to Disney by myself last year. However, I was a complete and utter idiot about the whole thing. Now, something about my personality--I am a definite Type A planner but also have a spontaneous streak. So, spontaneously, I decided to book a trip to Disney for NEW YEAR'S EVE AND NEW YEAR'S DAY (holds head in shame)
This was in 2010 (going into 2011). I actually did no research about the crowds and remembered my ex husband telling me he went to Disney every year with his family growing up in the week between Christmas and New Year's and the place was empty. Was he lying or has this changed in the past 20 years?
So as a mini trip report of that trip, I decided it would be a good idea to do 3 Disney parks on New Year's Eve day and Universal on New Year's day (only because I had to see the Harry Potter stuff). We were only going for 3 nights and staying off site.
We stayed at the Marriott World nearby and it was actually a great deal and a very nice place.
Disney was a disaster, as I'm sure you can imagine. Arrived at the MK that morning, and made it on exactly 4 rides between 9-1. Went on Peter Pan, IASW (which J7 hated), POTC (a success) and the Haunted Mansion (another success). That's it. All J7 wanted to do was Space Mountain (because his Dad told him how cool it was) but me, not researching or planning anything, didn't make it over there until close to 1. Do I even have to tell you what the wait was? And although I knew about FP, I didn't want to do that because my plan was to book out of there to Epcot and HS that day as well.
I'm sure you are all doing that by now!
I heard by about that time that MK was closed to new guests and SO WAS EPCOT! So, I headed out to HS.
We had more success there. It was crowded but not as bad as MK. Of course, no Toy Story. We did do Great Movie Ride and he loved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Then I made a big mistake. To make up for not getting on Space Mountain, I decided to get in line for Rockin Roller Coaster. It was 2 hours. J7 was ready to kill me by the time we got through it. And he hated it. He barely made the height cut off and he was just too young for the upside down and fast speeds and I knew nothing about it going in, so didn't warn him. Nice waste of 2 hours of precious park time. We did however see Fantasmic which was great and looking forward to that again.
And that was it. That was our time in the Disney parks.
New Year's day we did Universal (just the Islands of Adventure side) and got on most rides there because I paid for the FP thingy. But that FP doesn't work for the Harry Potter ride, so we stood in line for that for almost 2 hours (first thing in the morning!) and J7 hated that ride too. Again, too fast for him and again, the problem was, I didn't know what to expect so didn't warn him. I just assumed that if my son was tall enough to go on these rides, then they couldn't possibly be too fast or scary for him! But we had a great time at that park, just because we went on many many rides.
But it wasn't Disney.
And I wanted to experience, and have him experience Disney. It was a big fail
Which brings us up to the present. I suddenly decided a few weeks ago, to book a trip to Disney for him and me. A REAL Disney trip.
I was ready to spend a lot of money to do it. And I wanted to spend a week there. I really wanted to go with my sister and her 3 year old daughter too, but that did not pan out. But I am actually fine with that--while it would help to have another pair of adult hands around and would have been fun for the cousins to be together, I think J7 and I will get through the parks a lot better ourselves, most likely. No stollers, longer hours...
So, I was NOT going to make the same mistakes I did last time. My Type A personality kicked in, and I began researching. Amost obsessively.
Now the major problem is that I just will not take him out of school for a week or even more than a couple of days. So I was stuck with crowds no matter when I went. After doing my research, I decided Feb and April breaks were worse than the summer as far as crowds, (but also learned that xmas week was the absolute worse! Who knew
)
J7 goes to camp in the summer for 8 weeks, but there was one week in June between school and camp, and 2 weeks at the end of August to choose from.
Although end of August is probably better crowd-wise, I chose the end of June week. Firstly, because J7 turns J8 on June 11, so I could make this a birthday trip. Secondly, because maybe the weather won't be quite so hot and humid in June as it is in late August. And finally, I just couldn't wait until August. June was long enough.
So, the dates were chosen: June 23-June 30, 2012.
The where: Wilderness Lodge.
I decided right away that I was doing an on-site resort this time. As you can see from my history above, this will be my first time doing so. I am beyond excited. I toyed around for a while between the moderates and deluxe resorts. I am going in peak season so everything was so expensive. Wilderness Lodge was just within my price range to squeek in a deluxe, and I decided to go for it. It looks beautiful from what I've seen and most reviews seem pretty good. I really wanted Contemporary or Poly but maybe next time if I ever can swing an off-season trip (already thinking about trying for November--more on this later!)
In my next post I will fill you in on the obsessive ADR switching, what I've decided on and more details about my new obsession of planning Disney trips! You in the DIS community, particularly the trip reports, have become my entertainment lately, and I have quickly come to love Disney through you guys without ever really experiencing it the right way before! So thanks! And thanks for reading!
A few disclaimers before I start.
I really am unsure yet how to post pics, put a countdown ticker on my posts or anything fancy like that yet. I am willing to learn though! I may put in those smiley face thingies from time to time, because I see they are directly to my right and fairly easy to use
See? I think I did it?
Anyway, let me introduce myself (without pics for the time being).
I am Jackie, we will call myself MommyJ. My son is 7, his name also starts with J so we will call him J7. However, he is turning 8 right before our June Disney trip, so I guess I will change his name to J8 for my actualy trip report?
My Disney experience:
1) first time when I was young, my only memory of it is going on Space Mountain but my little sister was a baby, so I may have been around 7.
2) second time when I was about 13, with my mom and my sister. We stayed off site somewhere pretty far away I think and I only remember one day in MK and one day in Epcot. I remember it was end of August, very hot, and I specifically remember touring the WS at Epcot, seeing Figment, having breakfast in Cinderellas castle, doing Thunder Mountain, IASW and the Haunted Mansion. That's about it. I'm not complaining--my mom was a single parent and it was a miracle she was able to pull off a trip to Disney at all.
That second trip was about 24 years ago. I am 38 now.
I should mention at this point that I am now a single mother myself, as of about 2-3 years ago. I have always wanted to bring J7 to Disney, but wanted to do it when he was old enough to really appreciate it. Which brings me to:
3) On a whim, I decided to bring J7 (then J6) to Disney by myself last year. However, I was a complete and utter idiot about the whole thing. Now, something about my personality--I am a definite Type A planner but also have a spontaneous streak. So, spontaneously, I decided to book a trip to Disney for NEW YEAR'S EVE AND NEW YEAR'S DAY (holds head in shame)
This was in 2010 (going into 2011). I actually did no research about the crowds and remembered my ex husband telling me he went to Disney every year with his family growing up in the week between Christmas and New Year's and the place was empty. Was he lying or has this changed in the past 20 years?
So as a mini trip report of that trip, I decided it would be a good idea to do 3 Disney parks on New Year's Eve day and Universal on New Year's day (only because I had to see the Harry Potter stuff). We were only going for 3 nights and staying off site.
We stayed at the Marriott World nearby and it was actually a great deal and a very nice place.
Disney was a disaster, as I'm sure you can imagine. Arrived at the MK that morning, and made it on exactly 4 rides between 9-1. Went on Peter Pan, IASW (which J7 hated), POTC (a success) and the Haunted Mansion (another success). That's it. All J7 wanted to do was Space Mountain (because his Dad told him how cool it was) but me, not researching or planning anything, didn't make it over there until close to 1. Do I even have to tell you what the wait was? And although I knew about FP, I didn't want to do that because my plan was to book out of there to Epcot and HS that day as well.
I'm sure you are all doing that by now!
I heard by about that time that MK was closed to new guests and SO WAS EPCOT! So, I headed out to HS.
We had more success there. It was crowded but not as bad as MK. Of course, no Toy Story. We did do Great Movie Ride and he loved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Then I made a big mistake. To make up for not getting on Space Mountain, I decided to get in line for Rockin Roller Coaster. It was 2 hours. J7 was ready to kill me by the time we got through it. And he hated it. He barely made the height cut off and he was just too young for the upside down and fast speeds and I knew nothing about it going in, so didn't warn him. Nice waste of 2 hours of precious park time. We did however see Fantasmic which was great and looking forward to that again.
And that was it. That was our time in the Disney parks.
New Year's day we did Universal (just the Islands of Adventure side) and got on most rides there because I paid for the FP thingy. But that FP doesn't work for the Harry Potter ride, so we stood in line for that for almost 2 hours (first thing in the morning!) and J7 hated that ride too. Again, too fast for him and again, the problem was, I didn't know what to expect so didn't warn him. I just assumed that if my son was tall enough to go on these rides, then they couldn't possibly be too fast or scary for him! But we had a great time at that park, just because we went on many many rides.
But it wasn't Disney.
And I wanted to experience, and have him experience Disney. It was a big fail
Which brings us up to the present. I suddenly decided a few weeks ago, to book a trip to Disney for him and me. A REAL Disney trip.
I was ready to spend a lot of money to do it. And I wanted to spend a week there. I really wanted to go with my sister and her 3 year old daughter too, but that did not pan out. But I am actually fine with that--while it would help to have another pair of adult hands around and would have been fun for the cousins to be together, I think J7 and I will get through the parks a lot better ourselves, most likely. No stollers, longer hours...
So, I was NOT going to make the same mistakes I did last time. My Type A personality kicked in, and I began researching. Amost obsessively.
Now the major problem is that I just will not take him out of school for a week or even more than a couple of days. So I was stuck with crowds no matter when I went. After doing my research, I decided Feb and April breaks were worse than the summer as far as crowds, (but also learned that xmas week was the absolute worse! Who knew
)J7 goes to camp in the summer for 8 weeks, but there was one week in June between school and camp, and 2 weeks at the end of August to choose from.
Although end of August is probably better crowd-wise, I chose the end of June week. Firstly, because J7 turns J8 on June 11, so I could make this a birthday trip. Secondly, because maybe the weather won't be quite so hot and humid in June as it is in late August
. And finally, I just couldn't wait until August. June was long enough. So, the dates were chosen: June 23-June 30, 2012.
The where: Wilderness Lodge.
I decided right away that I was doing an on-site resort this time. As you can see from my history above, this will be my first time doing so. I am beyond excited. I toyed around for a while between the moderates and deluxe resorts. I am going in peak season so everything was so expensive. Wilderness Lodge was just within my price range to squeek in a deluxe, and I decided to go for it. It looks beautiful from what I've seen and most reviews seem pretty good. I really wanted Contemporary or Poly but maybe next time if I ever can swing an off-season trip (already thinking about trying for November--more on this later!)
In my next post I will fill you in on the obsessive ADR switching, what I've decided on and more details about my new obsession of planning Disney trips! You in the DIS community, particularly the trip reports, have become my entertainment lately, and I have quickly come to love Disney through you guys without ever really experiencing it the right way before! So thanks! And thanks for reading!
