My DH and I are planning our third trip to WDW. We went for the first time in May 2009 (CBR) and loved it so much we went back in September 2010 (POFQ), and now we are planning our third trip for June 2012. This will be a special trip because we are taking our niece (8) and our two nephews (10 and 14) on their first trip to WDW.
Before I get into all of the trip details, let me explain why this is such an important trip for us. All three kids are my sister's children. In December 2007 she became very ill and passed away in November 2008. After her death, our oldest nephew had to go live with his father. Not only were the kids having to deal with their mother's death but they also had to be separated from each other. This was extremely tough on all of them. Right before she died, I promised my sister that I would look after the kids, the oldest especially. Let's just say that his living situation was not ideal. After several tough years, my husband and I got custody of our oldest nephew. He now lives with us and we are trying to undo some of the damage that was done while he was with his father. This trip is in many ways a celebration of us having him back and also a chance for the kids to be together and to just truly have fun. I had always wanted to go to WDW with my sister and I'm so sad that she is not here to enjoy this time together. However, we will also be at WDW on what would have been my sister's birthday. We plan to take the kids out for a special dinner to celebrate this day. Although she won't be there physically, I know she will be there in spirit.
In planning this trip, we obviously want it to be very special but at the same time we don't want to break the bank either. So, I've been looking for many ways to make it as cost effective as possible. Here are the plans we have made so far:
Lodging - this was the subject of a great debate in our household. DH and I own a timeshare (not DVC) and so I wanted to use a trade in to book an offsite condo. DH insisted that we wouldn't have that true Disney feeling if we stayed offsite. After much thought, we did opt for the timeshare exchange. I booked a 3 bedroom condo at Grand Beach. It got great review and looks very nice. It also appears to be very close to Disney and from what I've read it will be easy to find our way around. What finally won him over was that it would give us more space to spread out. The master bedroom has a jacuzzi tub (which will help my poor aching feet a lot). Plus, we only had to pay $179 for the exchange fee. Not to shabby!
Airfare- Although we could drive (it would be about 12 hours), we know these kids well enough to know that they would drive us crazy in a car for that long. The youngest starts with the "are we there yet" about 20 minutes into every trip. Plus, DH drives for a living and likes his vacations to also be a break from being on the road for long periods. So, flying it is. I have a hard time with my ears when I fly (mostly when the plane begins to descend) so I prefer to find non-stop flights to avoid the altitude changes. So, we are always willing to travel a couple of hours to a bigger airport. I saw where Southwest was offering 50,000 rapid reward points if you signed up for their Visa card. After a quick search of their flight options, I found one that would work for us. Flights were a about $225/person round trip. With using my points, we ended up paying right at $450 out of pocket for the flights. (With saving that huge, I might spring for the early bird check in, just so that I don't have to worry about checking in right at the 24 hour mark. I want to make sure we don't have problems finding seats together).
Rental Car- Boy, has this one been tricky. I have never rented a car in my life so it took a little bit to figure out the ins and outs of finding a good deal. I currently have a Ford Escape booked through Budget for right at $200 for the week (this includes taxes and fees). I think this is a good deal but will continue looking!
Park Tickets- I discovered the joy of the YES program individual enrollment classes. Thankfully, classes will be offered the week we are there. With the discount, we purchased 6 day park hopper tickets for just $964. This is a great deal to us. With out this program, we were going to go with 5 day base tickets. So we will get extra time and flexibility and still save money.
Meals- Although we are staying in a timeshare we don't plan to eat a lot of meals there. We will probably have breakfast there each morning, but we'll probably eat at the parks a lot. We will take some snacks and water with us to the parks each day. We plan to do mainly quick service dining. We aren't used to having kids with us so we didn't want to tie ourselves down too much with a lot of ADR's (especially with the new rules about cancellations). I will be using my Disney Visa rewards plus other gift cards that I've purchased to pay for dining.
Touring plans- we will have 6 available park days:
Sunday: Since we will be catching the tail end of Star Wars weekends, our touring will begin at DHS so that the boys can do their Star Wars "thing". I imagine us girls will be busy entertaining ourselves. My niece loves to draw, so I'm hoping to do several of the animation classes with her.
Monday: this is still open for debate. Was originally thinking Animal Kingdom but then saw it was early EMH that day. Original thought was after long day on Sunday and an early YES class on Tuesday that Animal Kingdom would be good b/c it forces us out of the parks by 7:00. This way we all get settled early an will be refreshed.
Tuesday- YES classes in the AM at Epcot. Epcot also has EMH so not sure how busy it will be that afternoon. We will play the rest of the day by ear. We've heard that Test Track may be closed while we are there (read it on the blog, but don't see it on the WDW park calendar though). Not sure how this will effect wait times. DH is just dying for the kids to do the Kim Possible missions. If too crowded, me might hop on over to another park or head to downtown disney.
Wednesday- Magic Kingdom- Finally- I guess we are going with the save the best for last mentality. Plan to enjoy the park all day (or until kids get tired).
Thursday and Friday- open for whatever during the day. Thursday night will be having our special dinner to celebrate their Mom's birthday. Not sure yet where will eat. I must admit that right now, I have a couple of ADR's. I plan to cancel them in plenty of time though! One option is Yachtsman Steakhouse. Its DH's favorite. DNep(14) saw the menu and wants the huge porterhouse. I'm a little iffy on this one. Not sure if this will be too grown up for them and what we are "celebrating". It would be nice though to be able to walk around the Boardwalk afterwards and catch Illuminations that night. Was also thinking of Whispering Canyon at Wilderness lodge. I've never eaten there but from what I've read, it can be a pretty fun experience of the kids. Also, the menu looks great. I think that this setting might be more appropriate for us. (Their Mom was a very fun person!). So, we are still debating.
So, there you have it. Our trip in a nutshell. If you read through all of this, I appreciate you sticking with me and please feel free to offer any advice you have on travelling with kids or on how to make this an even more special/magical trip!
Before I get into all of the trip details, let me explain why this is such an important trip for us. All three kids are my sister's children. In December 2007 she became very ill and passed away in November 2008. After her death, our oldest nephew had to go live with his father. Not only were the kids having to deal with their mother's death but they also had to be separated from each other. This was extremely tough on all of them. Right before she died, I promised my sister that I would look after the kids, the oldest especially. Let's just say that his living situation was not ideal. After several tough years, my husband and I got custody of our oldest nephew. He now lives with us and we are trying to undo some of the damage that was done while he was with his father. This trip is in many ways a celebration of us having him back and also a chance for the kids to be together and to just truly have fun. I had always wanted to go to WDW with my sister and I'm so sad that she is not here to enjoy this time together. However, we will also be at WDW on what would have been my sister's birthday. We plan to take the kids out for a special dinner to celebrate this day. Although she won't be there physically, I know she will be there in spirit.
In planning this trip, we obviously want it to be very special but at the same time we don't want to break the bank either. So, I've been looking for many ways to make it as cost effective as possible. Here are the plans we have made so far:
Lodging - this was the subject of a great debate in our household. DH and I own a timeshare (not DVC) and so I wanted to use a trade in to book an offsite condo. DH insisted that we wouldn't have that true Disney feeling if we stayed offsite. After much thought, we did opt for the timeshare exchange. I booked a 3 bedroom condo at Grand Beach. It got great review and looks very nice. It also appears to be very close to Disney and from what I've read it will be easy to find our way around. What finally won him over was that it would give us more space to spread out. The master bedroom has a jacuzzi tub (which will help my poor aching feet a lot). Plus, we only had to pay $179 for the exchange fee. Not to shabby!
Airfare- Although we could drive (it would be about 12 hours), we know these kids well enough to know that they would drive us crazy in a car for that long. The youngest starts with the "are we there yet" about 20 minutes into every trip. Plus, DH drives for a living and likes his vacations to also be a break from being on the road for long periods. So, flying it is. I have a hard time with my ears when I fly (mostly when the plane begins to descend) so I prefer to find non-stop flights to avoid the altitude changes. So, we are always willing to travel a couple of hours to a bigger airport. I saw where Southwest was offering 50,000 rapid reward points if you signed up for their Visa card. After a quick search of their flight options, I found one that would work for us. Flights were a about $225/person round trip. With using my points, we ended up paying right at $450 out of pocket for the flights. (With saving that huge, I might spring for the early bird check in, just so that I don't have to worry about checking in right at the 24 hour mark. I want to make sure we don't have problems finding seats together).
Rental Car- Boy, has this one been tricky. I have never rented a car in my life so it took a little bit to figure out the ins and outs of finding a good deal. I currently have a Ford Escape booked through Budget for right at $200 for the week (this includes taxes and fees). I think this is a good deal but will continue looking!
Park Tickets- I discovered the joy of the YES program individual enrollment classes. Thankfully, classes will be offered the week we are there. With the discount, we purchased 6 day park hopper tickets for just $964. This is a great deal to us. With out this program, we were going to go with 5 day base tickets. So we will get extra time and flexibility and still save money.
Meals- Although we are staying in a timeshare we don't plan to eat a lot of meals there. We will probably have breakfast there each morning, but we'll probably eat at the parks a lot. We will take some snacks and water with us to the parks each day. We plan to do mainly quick service dining. We aren't used to having kids with us so we didn't want to tie ourselves down too much with a lot of ADR's (especially with the new rules about cancellations). I will be using my Disney Visa rewards plus other gift cards that I've purchased to pay for dining.
Touring plans- we will have 6 available park days:
Sunday: Since we will be catching the tail end of Star Wars weekends, our touring will begin at DHS so that the boys can do their Star Wars "thing". I imagine us girls will be busy entertaining ourselves. My niece loves to draw, so I'm hoping to do several of the animation classes with her.
Monday: this is still open for debate. Was originally thinking Animal Kingdom but then saw it was early EMH that day. Original thought was after long day on Sunday and an early YES class on Tuesday that Animal Kingdom would be good b/c it forces us out of the parks by 7:00. This way we all get settled early an will be refreshed.
Tuesday- YES classes in the AM at Epcot. Epcot also has EMH so not sure how busy it will be that afternoon. We will play the rest of the day by ear. We've heard that Test Track may be closed while we are there (read it on the blog, but don't see it on the WDW park calendar though). Not sure how this will effect wait times. DH is just dying for the kids to do the Kim Possible missions. If too crowded, me might hop on over to another park or head to downtown disney.
Wednesday- Magic Kingdom- Finally- I guess we are going with the save the best for last mentality. Plan to enjoy the park all day (or until kids get tired).
Thursday and Friday- open for whatever during the day. Thursday night will be having our special dinner to celebrate their Mom's birthday. Not sure yet where will eat. I must admit that right now, I have a couple of ADR's. I plan to cancel them in plenty of time though! One option is Yachtsman Steakhouse. Its DH's favorite. DNep(14) saw the menu and wants the huge porterhouse. I'm a little iffy on this one. Not sure if this will be too grown up for them and what we are "celebrating". It would be nice though to be able to walk around the Boardwalk afterwards and catch Illuminations that night. Was also thinking of Whispering Canyon at Wilderness lodge. I've never eaten there but from what I've read, it can be a pretty fun experience of the kids. Also, the menu looks great. I think that this setting might be more appropriate for us. (Their Mom was a very fun person!). So, we are still debating.
So, there you have it. Our trip in a nutshell. If you read through all of this, I appreciate you sticking with me and please feel free to offer any advice you have on travelling with kids or on how to make this an even more special/magical trip!
