darkcrystal
This land was green and good, until the crystal cr
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2008
- Messages
- 71
Hi all!
I know it's crazy to start planning for a trip that's nine months away.. and heck, at this point I don't even know if we're truly going yet! But so long as all the cards fall into place, my family and I are planning a trip to The World for the last two weeks of August.
Background:
My family consists of myself, DH, and his two little girls. My older stepdaughter, R, is turning 10 this August! My younger stepdaughter, B, is 6 now and will be 7 by the time we go.
Oh, and for the record, I'm nowhere near as "wicked" as the infamous Miss Cammie
I'm a long time lurker, gathering bits and pieces of information and plotting and scheming how to get us to The World!!
The plan is to be in WDW for R's 10th birthday. The details/finagling/politicking of the dates has yet to be worked out, but at the moment we're planning on August 15th through August 30th. I KNOW, that's crazy talk, right??
We are extremely fortunate to have a place to stay in one of the condo/townhouse communities just outside of WDW, thanks to my parents. 
We're still debating whether or not to fly or drive. Our last trip, we drove because flying just wasn't in the budget. Going down was fine... but even with an overnight stop on the way home, coming back was a bear. A grumpy bear who must have just had some dental work done. But flying + rental car for two+ weeks = $$$$$$$ Money that I'd rather have to do things at WDW (and elsewhere) rather than spending it on overpriced airfare and transportation! But I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for airfare deals, particularly out of Chicago or Rockford, because we get free parking flying out of either of those locations My parents love Disney as much, if not more, than we do. 
Both my husband and I have had rocky financial pasts (the less said about that, the better) but we've since moved on to a better place. I recently started a second job cashiering at a local convenience store/gas station, with the intent of dropping my paycheck in a separate savings account. By the time August rolls around, we should have about $5K in there Plus our intent is to put any windfall money we may get between then and now in there (birthday gifts, tax returns, if/when there's another stimulus-type thingie) A trip with no bills when we get home? What a novel concept!! 
We're contemplating doing the following (outside of the four parks, of course!)
BBB for the girls (probably on R's birthday)
Blizzard Beach
DisneyQuest
The Kitchen Sink! Though the lack of ADR thing at Beaches and Cream kinda scares me
The Fantasmic dinner package (we'll have park hoppers, so we can plan around the nights Fantasmic is running)
Since we're staying off property and thus will have our own transportation, we're also discussing going to Universal and/or Sea World. Both R and B love animals, especially dolphins, but I also think they'd enjoy Universal as well. Though I just read that the new roller coaster at Sea World isn't Pooh Friendly... so we'll see about that one. We're also going to take a day and drive to the beach, to let the girls play in the ocean.
The one thing I left off the contemplating list is the Pirate and Princess party... I know they had it in August two years ago, but given the way it looks like things are going for the winter/spring parties, I'm not holding out a lot of hope
But who knows, maybe we'll get lucky. 
Dining I would LOVE to hit, though I don't realistically see it ALL happening! Though I do intend to get Park Hoppers...
CRT for lunch, probably on R's birthday
The luau at the Polynesian
The newly updated Teppan Edo
Restaurant Marrakesh
T-Rex! The girls are dinosaur-obsessed, particularly with T-Rexes.
Yak and Yeti
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Coral Reef
Garden Grill
50s Prime Time Cafe
San Angelo Inn (yes I know it gets mixed reviews)
Tony's (ditto)
Le Cellier
I'm sure I'll fill in more here...overall we eat pretty frugally during the rest of the year (with some splurges, I admit!) so when we go on vacation we make sure to have a large eating out budget.
I just hope this trip is worth giving up 95% of my other days off... I wonder how long I'll make it before I crack!!
I know it's crazy to start planning for a trip that's nine months away.. and heck, at this point I don't even know if we're truly going yet! But so long as all the cards fall into place, my family and I are planning a trip to The World for the last two weeks of August.
Background:
My family consists of myself, DH, and his two little girls. My older stepdaughter, R, is turning 10 this August! My younger stepdaughter, B, is 6 now and will be 7 by the time we go.
Oh, and for the record, I'm nowhere near as "wicked" as the infamous Miss Cammie
I'm a long time lurker, gathering bits and pieces of information and plotting and scheming how to get us to The World!!The plan is to be in WDW for R's 10th birthday. The details/finagling/politicking of the dates has yet to be worked out, but at the moment we're planning on August 15th through August 30th. I KNOW, that's crazy talk, right??
We are extremely fortunate to have a place to stay in one of the condo/townhouse communities just outside of WDW, thanks to my parents. We're still debating whether or not to fly or drive. Our last trip, we drove because flying just wasn't in the budget. Going down was fine... but even with an overnight stop on the way home, coming back was a bear. A grumpy bear who must have just had some dental work done. But flying + rental car for two+ weeks = $$$$$$$ Money that I'd rather have to do things at WDW (and elsewhere) rather than spending it on overpriced airfare and transportation! But I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for airfare deals, particularly out of Chicago or Rockford, because we get free parking flying out of either of those locations
My parents love Disney as much, if not more, than we do. Both my husband and I have had rocky financial pasts (the less said about that, the better) but we've since moved on to a better place. I recently started a second job cashiering at a local convenience store/gas station, with the intent of dropping my paycheck in a separate savings account. By the time August rolls around, we should have about $5K in there
Plus our intent is to put any windfall money we may get between then and now in there (birthday gifts, tax returns, if/when there's another stimulus-type thingie) A trip with no bills when we get home? What a novel concept!! We're contemplating doing the following (outside of the four parks, of course!)
BBB for the girls (probably on R's birthday)
Blizzard Beach
DisneyQuest
The Kitchen Sink! Though the lack of ADR thing at Beaches and Cream kinda scares me
The Fantasmic dinner package (we'll have park hoppers, so we can plan around the nights Fantasmic is running)
Since we're staying off property and thus will have our own transportation, we're also discussing going to Universal and/or Sea World. Both R and B love animals, especially dolphins, but I also think they'd enjoy Universal as well. Though I just read that the new roller coaster at Sea World isn't Pooh Friendly... so we'll see about that one. We're also going to take a day and drive to the beach, to let the girls play in the ocean.
The one thing I left off the contemplating list is the Pirate and Princess party... I know they had it in August two years ago, but given the way it looks like things are going for the winter/spring parties, I'm not holding out a lot of hope
But who knows, maybe we'll get lucky. Dining I would LOVE to hit, though I don't realistically see it ALL happening! Though I do intend to get Park Hoppers...
CRT for lunch, probably on R's birthday
The luau at the Polynesian
The newly updated Teppan Edo
Restaurant Marrakesh
T-Rex! The girls are dinosaur-obsessed, particularly with T-Rexes.
Yak and Yeti
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Coral Reef
Garden Grill
50s Prime Time Cafe
San Angelo Inn (yes I know it gets mixed reviews)
Tony's (ditto)
Le Cellier
I'm sure I'll fill in more here...overall we eat pretty frugally during the rest of the year (with some splurges, I admit!) so when we go on vacation we make sure to have a large eating out budget.
I just hope this trip is worth giving up 95% of my other days off... I wonder how long I'll make it before I crack!!
