Save your change kids, we are going back to WDW!!

[disneydreamer1970]

Hi, everyone. I have always thought about putting together a trip report and decided that this time I am going to do it. So here I am, a year from our trip and I'm going to document all of our (or my) trip planning.

I will do my best to make this enjoyable for everyone, and will make updates as I have them...so here goes...

Cast:

Trish (me) - I have OCD when it comes to planning our Disney vacations, and I'm also addicted to these boards. It drives my husband crazy but he knows in the long run it is worth it..as he tells everyone that he knows are going to WDW that they should speak to me.

Ken (DH) - He is a full-time firefighter and is currently enrolled in an accelerated Paramedic class. He enjoys our trips to WDW and just goes with the flow and lets me do all the planning.

Tyler (DS 16) - He is now a volunteer firefighter for two towns and just recently became state certified as a Firefighter I and II and a Haz-Mat Technician! All at the age of 16!! He is a junior in high school and plans on going into the Air Force after graduation for their firefighter program and wants to some day be a firefighter in New York City....Manhattan to be exact. We are very proud of him! He could take Disney or leave it, but knows how important it is to me to get down there with he and his siblings before he graduates. Of course, he always has a great time while there.

Payton (DD 6) - She is a true drama queen in every sense and loves and appreciates Disney as much as I do. I was lucky enough to surprise her last December with a mommy/daugter trip to WDW for 6 days and I loved every second of that trip with her....well all except for the huge melt down that she had in MGM one day (sorry to anyone that had to witness that!) but once she had a 4 hour nap she was as good as gold!!

Caleb (DS 1) - He is our miracle baby!! Born 6 weeks premature, he is growing like crazy and is a great baby. He is very easy going and doesn't mind when I dress him in his new Donald Duck Halloween costume to show him off. (Pictures of this will follow soon). I can't wait to take him to WDW for the first time!!

Next installment: How this trip came to be....

Trish

 

[disneydreamer1970]

Ken and I had planned on taking a Firefighters Cruise on Carnival cruise line in November with firefighters from all over the county. When the opportunity came along for Ken to take the accellerated paramedic course, we of course had to cancel. It is a wonderful opportunity for him and I fully support everything that he does. While discussing cancelling that vacation I said to Ken..."Let's plan a trip to WDW with all of the kids before Tyler goes off into the Air Force" He reluctantly agrees telling me that he is "Disneyed out". Of course I don't understand that especially since the last time he was there was in January of 2006 for our adult only trip for my birthday and our anniversary.

So off I go, on the boards researching where we want to stay and we decide to stay at POP Century. Ken really likes it there (because he thinks he is saving money) Payton loves it too, so I call Disney and make reservations for Halloween of 2008.

Later that day, Ken said to me "Let's go down to the Dollar Tree and get the kids new piggy banks to save their change in for the trip". Wait is he starting to get into this trip?? Tyler overhears this conversation and said "I don't want a piggy bank!!" He thinks that he is too old for them, and loves to have change lying around in his room. Ken and I leave Tyler with his brother and sister and head to Dollar Tree which is only about a mile away from here...There we pick up 3 banks. Caleb has a really nice bank that we got at his baby shower, so we get one for Payton, one for ourselves and one for Tyler. Ken and I will put $1 each day into each of the kids banks and save the money so that the kids each have their own spending money. All of our change will go into our bank. Tyler does not know that we got one for him and will surprise him with the money that has been saved before we go. Payton knows exactly where we have hidden the banks and is constantly on the lookout for change for her piggy...Gosh I love her!!

While we are at the Dollar Tree, I see some really cool Tinkerbelle stickers and pick those up to put away to give to DD when we leave for our trip...You will see that there will be a trend about me picking up things to put away for the kids goodie bags...I am always on the lookout!! Ken thinks that I am nuts but goes with it anyway. I also have purchased some Disney coloring books (even found a Villain one for me!) and a Mickey Mouse tee-shirt for the baby from The Disney Store.

Next up - Honey, can we change resorts?

Trish

 

[disneydreamer1970]

So after researching these boards and thinking about POP Century, I would really like to stay somewhere different this time. We have stayed at POP, POR, CBR and AKL. Ken and I both agree that AKL is our favorite resort but cannot justify the difference in cost for a place to lay down our heads. We are up and out early and stay out late. So I look at him and say "Honey, can we change resorts?" He rolls his eyes at me and says "Where do you want to stay, Princess, I really like POP, it is a great place to stay?" I look at him lovingly and say "I would really like to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter." Ken doesn't seem thrilled but says "Do I have a choice in the matter, you are going to do what you want anyway?"

Later that night we have my parents over to visit and I ask my mom if she can bring her pictures of POFQ with her...I am being very sneaky and want Ken to take a look at them. I am justifying the change because of the extra space in the room, the refridgerator and the fact that it will be a quieter resort, especially for the baby. I want him to be able to relax when we return from the parks. Payton takes one look at the pool slide and says "I want to stay there!" At least it was easy to sell the change to her.

I called the next day and switched our resort to POFQ. Since then I have been obsessing over finding pictures of the resort and researching everything there is to know.

Now comes the next change...after taking a look at Tyler's school schedule this year and figuring out what will be going on next year, it appears that the dates we have picked will conflict with the end of quarter stuff for him. I don't want to cause problems especially since he will be a senior in High School. I talk to Ken and we decide to go earlier in September. I call Disney and change our reservationts to September 19th to the 28th. We should still be able to attend MNSSHP so I am happy with this move. Tyler has decided that he does not want to go for the whole time because of school so Ken and I have talked and will fly him down late Wednesday evening so that he only misses two days of school. When has my baby grown up?? Tyler is very happy with that idea, but is a little nervous about flying himself. We will put him on a non-stop flight so that all he has to do is get to DME for the ride to the resort. I'm sure he will be fine, even though I will be a complete nervouse wreck that day.

Of course in researching September I have also learned about a little thing called a "Love Bugs"! Payton has a huge bug phobia so I am going to need to work on this one with her. As I said before, she is quite the drama queen.

We are now praying for free dining to be offered next September!! When I called Disney Reservations to change the dates, the CM that I spoke with said that it appears that they will be offering it, but I know that I should not plan on it, just in case. I am going to plan our ADR's as if we are getting the DDP and have been questioning everyone as to where they want to eat. Our must eats are:

Chef Mickey's
Le Cellier
50's Prime Time Cafe
Liberty Tree Tavern

I would love to take Payton to eat in the castle...maybe this time we will.

We plan on keeping Tyler on the reservation for the whole trip, because if free dining is offered we will have the extra credits to use...Did I mention that Payton loves to eat?!

Here you have it so far...We are going from September 19th to the 28th and are staying at POFQ. Hopefully, this will not change, but you never know...

Trish

 

[disneydreamer1970]

Can someone move this to the pre-trippie board....in all of my excitement I started it in the wrong place...

Thank you....Trish

 

[OhMari]

I am going to move you to our pre-trip board.
Thanks for sharing your plans with us.
Marisa