Surprising the Kids with a NYE Trip! Jan '16 PTR (Update 12/29 We're off! See ya in 10 days!)

[JoshAndEvsMom]

YAY!!!



I'm so glad that you confirmed your resort - and I'm excited it's at Animal Kingdom Lodge! As you know, I LOVED our stay at Jambo House! I think you'll love the resort!

(And honestly, I never thought the bus rides were that bad. As a plus, the buses stop at Kidani Village first, so you'll always have a seat on your way to a park! )

Thanks!! I'm practically jumping out of my skin, I'm so excited.

I'm glad to know you thought the buses were okay! Cool that Kidani is first too!

 

[princessbelle2015]

Joining in!

So happy you are staying at AKL with savannah view.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Joining in!

So happy you are staying at AKL with savannah view.

Hi princessbelle! Thank you so much for joining in! I'm completely beside myself that this is finally booked. It feels like FOREVER ago that I put in my request and I'm pinching myself that this part of our trip is bought & paid for. NO turning back now!!!

 

[NJlauren]

Congrats on getting AKL!! I can't wait to hear how it is, it looks so beautiful!!!

 

[skier_pete]

ALL RIGHT!!! That's fantastic!

Let me tell you, we were in the same boat as you 5 years ago. Our 2010 trip (link in my signature) I surprised my family by renting DVC points at AKL. This was our first time staying at a Deluxe resort. We stayed at Jambo and I was so impressed. When I decided to buy DVC, our stay there was a big influence on us purchasing at AKV.

I even chose AKV over BWV, which are pretty similarly priced on the resale market, but went with AKV for a few reasons, but really because it is so lovely. For one, I was worried staying there that watching the animals would get old/and it never did.

The other thing is that the bus service really isn't so bad. The nice part of it is that the buses only make two stops, and they are never really crowded. The ride to AK is SOOO short, but the ride to most other locations really aren't that bad. The only BAD ride is to MK, which is actually probably the one people go to the most, but still only 30 minutes.

The rooms in Kidani are a little bigger than Jambo, and as I said before, you can get lower floor rooms through DVC and it really gets the animals closer to you. (We were on the 5th floor in Jambo - only 5th and 6th of Jambo are DVC - and that was my biggest negative was it seemed we were very far from the animals.)

The biggest negative of Kidani IMO is that there is no QS dining on site, you have to go over to Jambo if you want to get some food. It's a pretty short walk (depending on where in the building your room is) but still if you want to grab a sandwhich a bit of a pain.

The other thing that I knew about but didn't really think much of until we were there was that DVC doesn't get housekeeping every day. You get a re-fresh on your 4th day (after 3 nights) and again at the 8th day if you are there that long, but it feels very different. Still worth the cost savings.

But overall, it's a wonderful resort. You'll have a great time!

P.S. I didn't realize your first choice was BWV. Yeah, you weren't going to get over NYE there. (You could've split stay, as there is availability from Jan 1st on)

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Congrats on getting AKL!! I can't wait to hear how it is, it looks so beautiful!!!

Thank you!! I've never seen the resort in person before, just in pictures and video so I can't wait to soak in all the detail. I'm THINKING that they'll also still have their massive Christmas tree up in the main lobby!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

ALL RIGHT!!! That's fantastic!

Let me tell you, we were in the same boat as you 5 years ago. Our 2010 trip (link in my signature) I surprised my family by renting DVC points at AKL. This was our first time staying at a Deluxe resort. We stayed at Jambo and I was so impressed. When I decided to buy DVC, our stay there was a big influence on us purchasing at AKV.

I even chose AKV over BWV, which are pretty similarly priced on the resale market, but went with AKV for a few reasons, but really because it is so lovely. For one, I was worried staying there that watching the animals would get old/and it never did.

The other thing is that the bus service really isn't so bad. The nice part of it is that the buses only make two stops, and they are never really crowded. The ride to AK is SOOO short, but the ride to most other locations really aren't that bad. The only BAD ride is to MK, which is actually probably the one people go to the most, but still only 30 minutes.

The rooms in Kidani are a little bigger than Jambo, and as I said before, you can get lower floor rooms through DVC and it really gets the animals closer to you. (We were on the 5th floor in Jambo - only 5th and 6th of Jambo are DVC - and that was my biggest negative was it seemed we were very far from the animals.)

The biggest negative of Kidani IMO is that there is no QS dining on site, you have to go over to Jambo if you want to get some food. It's a pretty short walk (depending on where in the building your room is) but still if you want to grab a sandwhich a bit of a pain.

The other thing that I knew about but didn't really think much of until we were there was that DVC doesn't get housekeeping every day. You get a re-fresh on your 4th day (after 3 nights) and again at the 8th day if you are there that long, but it feels very different. Still worth the cost savings.

But overall, it's a wonderful resort. You'll have a great time!

P.S. I didn't realize your first choice was BWV. Yeah, you weren't going to get over NYE there. (You could've split stay, as there is availability from Jan 1st on)

Thank you!! I popped over to your 2010 TR. What a cool view you had! I'm not too worried about the daily housekeeping. I usually arrange everything "just so" and get annoyed when it gets all moved around anyway. I remember on our last trip at CBR Mousekeeping would make the beds so incredibly tight that I'd have to take them apart every night and remake them! However, when you talked about how at POR they would arrange your DD's stuffed animals and left towel Mickeys - I TOTALLY remembered that from when I was a kid... way back when it was called Dixie Landings. We got some of that on our last couple trips and I WILL miss that personal touch for sure. I know the issue is probably long forgotten but I just about had a heart attack when you talked about your DD's stuffed animal getting picked up with the laundry, never to be returned! Ev has an Abbie Cadaby doll that she takes EVERYWHERE. This thing is about the ugliest, rattiest thing you ever saw but if it ever got lost.... I don't even want to think about that.

Yes, BWV was our number one choice... as was everyone else! Yah. We pretty much knew we weren't going to get it but we had to ask.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Funny thing about looking through old photos... you tend to find more! And since it IS Thursday, here's a little TBT from 2001 Disneyland Paris! I spent a semester of college studying in France with 13 other young women and a few of our professors. We traveled all over the country. We spent a month in the Alsace-Lorraine region, a month and a half in Paris, a week-long bus trip to Normandy/Brittany, then another 3 weeks in Nice. It was the trip of a lifetime!

I know I didn't appreciate Disneyland Paris like I should have. Looking at other people's photos now, I see that its such a gorgeous park! When we were there it was completely dead. No crowds whatsoever! For some reason, that made it seem not very "Disney-like" to me. Plus it was cold and Its kind of hard to associate a Disney park with feeling cold when you've only ever been in April or July!

I remember doing the Indiana Jones roller coaster and hating it.... and I LOVE roller coasters! Space Mountain was awesome. The food was meh... Paris (and practically everywhere in France) is full of great food by comparison. Other than that I don't remember much about it! I DO remember chatting with this adorable little Irish girl and her mom. The little girl was probably about 7 or 8 and everything was "brilliant!!" She kept bragging about how good her American accent was but when we finally talked her into showing us, it sounded like she was quacking like a duck! Funny to know that's what we sounded like to her ears. I also remember getting lost on the Metro coming home and meeting an American who was in Paris training to be a chef. I wonder if he ever made it in the restaurant biz???

Anyhow... on with the pics. I'll only torment you with 4.

Here's us at the front gates looking pretty normal.


...And in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle still looking rather sane.


Oh... here we go! This one is more telling.


Why, Prince Phillip! We shouldn't!!... Okay, we should.


Anyone else been to one of the foreign parks??

 

[skier_pete]

I know the issue is probably long forgotten but I just about had a heart attack when you talked about your DD's stuffed animal getting picked up with the laundry, never to be returned! Ev has an Abbie Cadaby doll that she takes EVERYWHERE. This thing is about the ugliest, rattiest thing you ever saw but if it ever got lost.... I don't even want to think about that.

Yes, BWV was our number one choice... as was everyone else! Yah. We pretty much knew we weren't going to get it but we had to ask.

We got her another one and pretended that they returned it! So yeah, it's long forgotten. We've since been VERY careful about always collecting her stuffed animals and putting them away before the maid comes. (In that case, we didn't even realize she was coming that day! WE had just had the 4-day service, but forgot that we actually had two separate bookings, so they considered it the start of a new stay.)

Now that I think about it, I remember being disappointed in the quality of service there at AKL. That particular incident was a really big part of it though, because I think that was the rare time that Disney was not responsive at all to an issue which was a pretty big deal to a child. To me I wonder if the lack of service was a DVC thing. Our one experience so far at SSR had really excellent customer service, so that may still be up in the air.

BWV is super tough for Food and Wine, and marathons, and big holidays like that. It actually isn't that hard the rest of the year. We could have easily got in there in August/September. We just decided we definitely wanted to try beach club while DD was still young enough to really enjoy the pool.

 

[tarak]

Joining in! I'm so glad you got your resort settled. We love AKL and rented points to stay there the last two big family trips (meaning my husband comes, because he can only handle WDW every two years or so). Next family trip, our youngest will be three, so we'll officially be a party of six, which makes our plans trickier. I think AKV is fabulous for a family with young kids (mine range in age from 3 to 12). I really prefer the pool at Kidani Village for the young ones. The kids splash area is fantastic and it just seems more doable in terms of keeping an eye on everyone. I admit, the lack of QS at Kidani can be annoying (at least for my kids, because we made them walk over there - faster than taking the bus). Our first stay at Kidani, we were on the Pembe savannah and waaaay far from everything. I swear, that walk at the end of the day took forever. Our last trip, we were right by the Timon elevator (I'm almost positive that was the one, but I'll check). It spat you out really close to the bus stop. All the elevators are named after characters from the Lion King. Rafiki is on the other side of the lobby closer to the pool. I know one of the other elevators is Pumba. I think that's on the Pembe savannah (maybe because that savannah has the red river hogs?) But if you're by the Timon elevator, you're close to the lobby, close to transportation, and not so far from the pool that it was a terrible walk to get there. And you're close to Jambo House if you just want to walk over. The days we went to MK, we got there at RD, stayed for several hours, then went back to the resort for the rest of the day. We'd swim, look at the animals, the kids would participate in the activities there. With a number of the activities, the kids get a bead for each activity and they string it on a necklace for them. My kids honestly had just as much fun doing that as they had at the parks. I've found the staff there so incredibly friendly and always willing to talk about where they come.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

We got her another one and pretended that they returned it! So yeah, it's long forgotten. We've since been VERY careful about always collecting her stuffed animals and putting them away before the maid comes. (In that case, we didn't even realize she was coming that day! WE had just had the 4-day service, but forgot that we actually had two separate bookings, so they considered it the start of a new stay.)

Now that I think about it, I remember being disappointed in the quality of service there at AKL. That particular incident was a really big part of it though, because I think that was the rare time that Disney was not responsive at all to an issue which was a pretty big deal to a child. To me I wonder if the lack of service was a DVC thing. Our one experience so far at SSR had really excellent customer service, so that may still be up in the air.

BWV is super tough for Food and Wine, and marathons, and big holidays like that. It actually isn't that hard the rest of the year. We could have easily got in there in August/September. We just decided we definitely wanted to try beach club while DD was still young enough to really enjoy the pool.

I hope your issue was just a snapshot in time and not the "norm". Anyhow, I'm really going to make sure we keep the kids' stuffies in a obvious place!!

I know what you mean about BWV. It looks SOOO nice but we want to try other resorts while the kids are young. BC looks amazing! Is your DD excited about Stormalong Bay?

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Joining in! I'm so glad you got your resort settled. We love AKL and rented points to stay there the last two big family trips (meaning my husband comes, because he can only handle WDW every two years or so). Next family trip, our youngest will be three, so we'll officially be a party of six, which makes our plans trickier. I think AKV is fabulous for a family with young kids (mine range in age from 3 to 12). I really prefer the pool at Kidani Village for the young ones. The kids splash area is fantastic and it just seems more doable in terms of keeping an eye on everyone. I admit, the lack of QS at Kidani can be annoying (at least for my kids, because we made them walk over there - faster than taking the bus). Our first stay at Kidani, we were on the Pembe savannah and waaaay far from everything. I swear, that walk at the end of the day took forever. Our last trip, we were right by the Timon elevator (I'm almost positive that was the one, but I'll check). It spat you out really close to the bus stop. All the elevators are named after characters from the Lion King. Rafiki is on the other side of the lobby closer to the pool. I know one of the other elevators is Pumba. I think that's on the Pembe savannah (maybe because that savannah has the red river hogs?) But if you're by the Timon elevator, you're close to the lobby, close to transportation, and not so far from the pool that it was a terrible walk to get there. And you're close to Jambo House if you just want to walk over. The days we went to MK, we got there at RD, stayed for several hours, then went back to the resort for the rest of the day. We'd swim, look at the animals, the kids would participate in the activities there. With a number of the activities, the kids get a bead for each activity and they string it on a necklace for them. My kids honestly had just as much fun doing that as they had at the parks. I've found the staff there so incredibly friendly and always willing to talk about where they come.

Tara!! So glad to see you here! Great tips on Kidani! Thank you!!

I didn't know about the activites at the resort. My kiddos would totally dig collecting beads! Well.... they are pretty much obsessed with collecting ANYTHING in general... rocks, bottle caps, crap toys... Anyhow the bead necklace sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to explore AKL. We really want to spend more time there and take advantage of that gorgeous resort! (Have I mentioned lately how excited I am for giraffes?? Lol!)

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

This week I took a break from planning our family vacation and put on my WBDTA hat (That's Wanna Be Disney Travel Agent, if you didn't know ) to help Eric get the ball roling on his HS Band trip. Wow! Have you ever planned a Disney trip for 200+ people?

There's all these components that all need to fit together like a puzzle and they all need to happen semi-simultaneously. First, they need a room reservation - which aren't available to book yet. Then they need to book the DTD stage for the kids to do a concert - which requires an application/approval process - which needs to happen by the end of the month because the stage is booking quickly with other school/dance/music groups. This part is crucial because if they do a concert its considered "educational" and Disney gives us huge discounts. If they don't do a concert its considered a "field trip" and does not come with discounts. We aren't worried about being approved. These kids are amazing! Most of the time I forget I'm listening to high school students and just listen in awe. And I don't usually have the patience for concerts of any kind! (I know... how did I end up marrying a musician? ) Along with the concert we're scheduling a workshop for the band/orchestra kids and another one for the colorguard kids. These workshops are really, really cool. Disney does a fantastic job giving the kids a world class experience with fantastic instruction.

So after the room reservation an the music program acceptance, we have plans to do a catered dinner for the kids. In 2011 we had around 60 kids, 8 chaperones and 3 staff members so we got the Fantasmic Patio and had this great dinner while we watched the show. It was such a highlight of our trip that we wanted to repeat it! However, this time we have 180 students so far, and the number of chaperones & staff has yet to be determined! Mostly because there's a particular ratio we're going for and more and more kids are confirming that they're going!... The point of this lengthly explanation is that we're way too big for the Fantasmic Patio so we're looking at doing our dinner on Ile de France for Illuminations! But... we can't hold the space without a room reservation... which aren't available to book yet... and can't be confirmed until our application is in so we can get the education discount.

The next wrench in the chain is flights. Because we're so large we probably won't be able to all fly in/out on the same day which will also affect our room reservation. I assume we'll be able to make changes once we get flights confirmed but it also means we'll probably have to add a day to the beginning and one to the end of the contract.

So far our group sales lady, Gail and our youth catering guy, Rick have been great. I worked with Rick last time and can't say enough great things about him. He was awesome and really went out of his way for us. I'm looking forward to working with this team for the next year!

The other great news is that I GET TO GO!!! We're leaving our kids behind and "adopting" 180 teens for a week! I'm seriously so excited to hang out with them and hopefully hubby & I will get a few hours to ourselves in Disney Even if we don't it will be such a different trip without "little" kids (shhhhh... don't tell Josh I called him little!)

In other news, we're headded to Seattle to visit my family for a couple days so when I get back, I'll do a mini TR if anyone is interested! I ADORE Seattle, my hometown. Its absolutely the most beautiful city in the world on a nice day. And if you happen to be there on a day when the mountain is out... pure delight! We're hoping to do the Woodland Park Zoo or the Pacific Science Center. It will depend on if its raining or not. Also hoping to hit up Bellevue Square to browse the Disney Store, Lego Store and Lush. I am obsessed with Lush so there's a couple things I want to stock up on!! Kids want to see if the Disney Store has any Tsum Tsums; I'll probably check out the t-shirt sitch & see if there are any good Mickey ones for our trip. I want to get us all Mickey shirts to wear one day, like all in the same color, but not totally matchy-matchy. I would love coordinating our outfits but I CANT do matchy-matchy. Yeeeesh.

Speaking of good shopping - did anyone see the cute Cinderella shirts for adults at Kohls? They're adorable! I really want one but I can't decide which one I like better!!

Okay, enough rambling for tonight. What kinds of shopping do you do for your trips?

 

[NJlauren]

This week I took a break from planning our family vacation and put on my WBDTA hat (That's Wanna Be Disney Travel Agent, if you didn't know ) to help Eric get the ball roling on his HS Band trip. Wow! Have you ever planned a Disney trip for 200+ people?

There's all these components that all need to fit together like a puzzle and they all need to happen semi-simultaneously. First, they need a room reservation - which aren't available to book yet. Then they need to book the DTD stage for the kids to do a concert - which requires an application/approval process - which needs to happen by the end of the month because the stage is booking quickly with other school/dance/music groups. This part is crucial because if they do a concert its considered "educational" and Disney gives us huge discounts. If they don't do a concert its considered a "field trip" and does not come with discounts. We aren't worried about being approved. These kids are amazing! Most of the time I forget I'm listening to high school students and just listen in awe. And I don't usually have the patience for concerts of any kind! (I know... how did I end up marrying a musician? ) Along with the concert we're scheduling a workshop for the band/orchestra kids and another one for the colorguard kids. These workshops are really, really cool. Disney does a fantastic job giving the kids a world class experience with fantastic instruction.

So after the room reservation an the music program acceptance, we have plans to do a catered dinner for the kids. In 2011 we had around 60 kids, 8 chaperones and 3 staff members so we got the Fantasmic Patio and had this great dinner while we watched the show. It was such a highlight of our trip that we wanted to repeat it! However, this time we have 180 students so far, and the number of chaperones & staff has yet to be determined! Mostly because there's a particular ratio we're going for and more and more kids are confirming that they're going!... The point of this lengthly explanation is that we're way too big for the Fantasmic Patio so we're looking at doing our dinner on Ile de France for Illuminations! But... we can't hold the space without a room reservation... which aren't available to book yet... and can't be confirmed until our application is in so we can get the education discount.

The next wrench in the chain is flights. Because we're so large we probably won't be able to all fly in/out on the same day which will also affect our room reservation. I assume we'll be able to make changes once we get flights confirmed but it also means we'll probably have to add a day to the beginning and one to the end of the contract.

So far our group sales lady, Gail and our youth catering guy, Rick have been great. I worked with Rick last time and can't say enough great things about him. He was awesome and really went out of his way for us. I'm looking forward to working with this team for the next year!

The other great news is that I GET TO GO!!! We're leaving our kids behind and "adopting" 180 teens for a week! I'm seriously so excited to hang out with them and hopefully hubby & I will get a few hours to ourselves in Disney Even if we don't it will be such a different trip without "little" kids (shhhhh... don't tell Josh I called him little!)

In other news, we're headded to Seattle to visit my family for a couple days so when I get back, I'll do a mini TR if anyone is interested! I ADORE Seattle, my hometown. Its absolutely the most beautiful city in the world on a nice day. And if you happen to be there on a day when the mountain is out... pure delight! We're hoping to do the Woodland Park Zoo or the Pacific Science Center. It will depend on if its raining or not. Also hoping to hit up Bellevue Square to browse the Disney Store, Lego Store and Lush. I am obsessed with Lush so there's a couple things I want to stock up on!! Kids want to see if the Disney Store has any Tsum Tsums; I'll probably check out the t-shirt sitch & see if there are any good Mickey ones for our trip. I want to get us all Mickey shirts to wear one day, like all in the same color, but not totally matchy-matchy. I would love coordinating our outfits but I CANT do matchy-matchy. Yeeeesh.

Speaking of good shopping - did anyone see the cute Cinderella shirts for adults at Kohls? They're adorable! I really want one but I can't decide which one I like better!!

Okay, enough rambling for tonight. What kinds of shopping do you do for your trips?

Oh my! Planning a school trip like that would either make me extremely excited or stress me out to much I'm not sure which one!

I got a whole bunch of cute outfits for my daughter for this trip, mostly cute items for etsy. If I asked my husband to match he would kill me, I mentioned it in a joking way to feel him out and no such luck. I'll be skipping that this trip! I need to get myself some things for this upcoming trip I may get an outfit or two but will probably go with plan tshirts and shorts. However I am going to check out Khols right now!

 

[skier_pete]

I hope your issue was just a snapshot in time and not the "norm". Anyhow, I'm really going to make sure we keep the kids' stuffies in a obvious place!!

I know what you mean about BWV. It looks SOOO nice but we want to try other resorts while the kids are young. BC looks amazing! Is your DD excited about Stormalong Bay?

Yeah, hopefully it was a one-time thing. I consider that maybe they don't treat DVC members as well as "paying" customers, but haven't seen evidence of this since. It was mostly around that one incident, though.

DD is very excited about Stormalong Bay, but so are we!

Reading your update about the high school kids, that would be pretty daunting to try and corral that many teenagers!

One thought that occurred to me on the flights - did you look at all into getting a charter flight? With 200 kids, you could well get a charter that might actually be less expensive than buying individual tickets. I honestly know very little about charters, so I can't even tell you how to look into it, but it might be an option you could look into with the local airlines/airport.

 

[tarak]

This week I took a break from planning our family vacation and put on my WBDTA hat (That's Wanna Be Disney Travel Agent, if you didn't know ) to help Eric get the ball roling on his HS Band trip. Wow! Have you ever planned a Disney trip for 200+ people?

There's all these components that all need to fit together like a puzzle and they all need to happen semi-simultaneously. First, they need a room reservation - which aren't available to book yet. Then they need to book the DTD stage for the kids to do a concert - which requires an application/approval process - which needs to happen by the end of the month because the stage is booking quickly with other school/dance/music groups. This part is crucial because if they do a concert its considered "educational" and Disney gives us huge discounts. If they don't do a concert its considered a "field trip" and does not come with discounts. We aren't worried about being approved. These kids are amazing! Most of the time I forget I'm listening to high school students and just listen in awe. And I don't usually have the patience for concerts of any kind! (I know... how did I end up marrying a musician? ) Along with the concert we're scheduling a workshop for the band/orchestra kids and another one for the colorguard kids. These workshops are really, really cool. Disney does a fantastic job giving the kids a world class experience with fantastic instruction.

So after the room reservation an the music program acceptance, we have plans to do a catered dinner for the kids. In 2011 we had around 60 kids, 8 chaperones and 3 staff members so we got the Fantasmic Patio and had this great dinner while we watched the show. It was such a highlight of our trip that we wanted to repeat it! However, this time we have 180 students so far, and the number of chaperones & staff has yet to be determined! Mostly because there's a particular ratio we're going for and more and more kids are confirming that they're going!... The point of this lengthly explanation is that we're way too big for the Fantasmic Patio so we're looking at doing our dinner on Ile de France for Illuminations! But... we can't hold the space without a room reservation... which aren't available to book yet... and can't be confirmed until our application is in so we can get the education discount.

The next wrench in the chain is flights. Because we're so large we probably won't be able to all fly in/out on the same day which will also affect our room reservation. I assume we'll be able to make changes once we get flights confirmed but it also means we'll probably have to add a day to the beginning and one to the end of the contract.

So far our group sales lady, Gail and our youth catering guy, Rick have been great. I worked with Rick last time and can't say enough great things about him. He was awesome and really went out of his way for us. I'm looking forward to working with this team for the next year!

The other great news is that I GET TO GO!!! We're leaving our kids behind and "adopting" 180 teens for a week! I'm seriously so excited to hang out with them and hopefully hubby & I will get a few hours to ourselves in Disney Even if we don't it will be such a different trip without "little" kids (shhhhh... don't tell Josh I called him little!)

In other news, we're headded to Seattle to visit my family for a couple days so when I get back, I'll do a mini TR if anyone is interested! I ADORE Seattle, my hometown. Its absolutely the most beautiful city in the world on a nice day. And if you happen to be there on a day when the mountain is out... pure delight! We're hoping to do the Woodland Park Zoo or the Pacific Science Center. It will depend on if its raining or not. Also hoping to hit up Bellevue Square to browse the Disney Store, Lego Store and Lush. I am obsessed with Lush so there's a couple things I want to stock up on!! Kids want to see if the Disney Store has any Tsum Tsums; I'll probably check out the t-shirt sitch & see if there are any good Mickey ones for our trip. I want to get us all Mickey shirts to wear one day, like all in the same color, but not totally matchy-matchy. I would love coordinating our outfits but I CANT do matchy-matchy. Yeeeesh.

Speaking of good shopping - did anyone see the cute Cinderella shirts for adults at Kohls? They're adorable! I really want one but I can't decide which one I like better!!

Okay, enough rambling for tonight. What kinds of shopping do you do for your trips?

Oh my. Planning a trip for that many teens makes my head hurt. I'm stressed enough trying to figure out how to make a toddler, tween, and newly-minted adult happy.

I love Lush! A store just opened in the mall in Lancaster, which was pretty shocking, to be honest. We usually bring our our empty lush tubs in a carry-on and pick up a free face mask or two at the lush in MCO. My oldest daughter loves Basin at DTD because the bath bombs are marginally cheaper there. She's already planned how to spend her birthday money there. I'm honestly hoping to avoid a trip to DTD and have pointed out there is a basin at the GF.

As for shopping, I think I fuss more over clothes than anything else. Having been there in August, I know I need to either pack two outfits for each day or plan to do laundry mid-week. We've made a fair number of tie-dyed Mickey t-shirts. The kids enjoy those, but I don't make them wear the shirts the same day. The older kids, especially, would just declare what a goober I am. We've been often enough that I tend to put aside what we already have (the cards they've collected playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, autograph books). Have your kids done any pin trading? Or collected any of the vinylmation? Mine always liked the idea of pin trading, but then didn't want to carry around those heavy lanyards. The vinylmation, though... I look at the Disney Store site from time to time and have picked up some of the sale items (the wrestler line was particularly silly). There aren't many stores that trade (one is Villains in Vogue at HS). But it is fun. And my kids were usually happy with what they got (you pick a "door" and get the vinylmation behind it - you can keep the one you brought if you don't like the surprise selection).

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Planning a trip for 200 people?! Good luck on all of the components (booking the concert, the rooms, the meal, the flights, etc.). It sounds like a lot of moving pieces, but I'm sure you'll get it all figured out!

I've never been to Seattle (or Washington state, for that matter). I have been to Oregon which is BEAUTIFUL, so I'm sure Washington is just as nice.

I LOVE Lush! Anika introduced me to that store and now I can't stay away! I'm not as Lush-crazy as Anika, but I have quite a few things (hand cream, body scrub, buffy bar... )

I think if I made Anika wear a matching shirt she'd disown me. There will never be any matching outfits seen in our trip reports!

 

[sullymom]

Folllowing along. We just decided that since we will be visiting family in Florida over Christmas that we will also surprise the kids with a trip. Our dates are very similar. Now we just need to plan. I couldn't imagine planning for 200!!!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Yeah, hopefully it was a one-time thing. I consider that maybe they don't treat DVC members as well as "paying" customers, but haven't seen evidence of this since. It was mostly around that one incident, though.

DD is very excited about Stormalong Bay, but so are we!

Reading your update about the high school kids, that would be pretty daunting to try and corral that many teenagers!

One thought that occurred to me on the flights - did you look at all into getting a charter flight? With 200 kids, you could well get a charter that might actually be less expensive than buying individual tickets. I honestly know very little about charters, so I can't even tell you how to look into it, but it might be an option you could look into with the local airlines/airport.

That many teenagers IS pretty daunting to corral! That's one reason why we like Disney World over Disneyland, (even though Disneyland is much, MUCH closer), because its so contained there's nowhere for them to really go! I mean, we all know how huge the place is but its not as urban as Disneyland. Eric's got this whole hyper-organized check-in system so each and every kid is accounted for at least twice a day. They're super serious about it!

Interesting thought on a charter flight!! I mentioned it to my husband and I think we're at least going to look into it. Never really thought about that before!!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Oh my. Planning a trip for that many teens makes my head hurt. I'm stressed enough trying to figure out how to make a toddler, tween, and newly-minted adult happy.

I love Lush! A store just opened in the mall in Lancaster, which was pretty shocking, to be honest. We usually bring our our empty lush tubs in a carry-on and pick up a free face mask or two at the lush in MCO. My oldest daughter loves Basin at DTD because the bath bombs are marginally cheaper there. She's already planned how to spend her birthday money there. I'm honestly hoping to avoid a trip to DTD and have pointed out there is a basin at the GF.

As for shopping, I think I fuss more over clothes than anything else. Having been there in August, I know I need to either pack two outfits for each day or plan to do laundry mid-week. We've made a fair number of tie-dyed Mickey t-shirts. The kids enjoy those, but I don't make them wear the shirts the same day. The older kids, especially, would just declare what a goober I am. We've been often enough that I tend to put aside what we already have (the cards they've collected playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, autograph books). Have your kids done any pin trading? Or collected any of the vinylmation? Mine always liked the idea of pin trading, but then didn't want to carry around those heavy lanyards. The vinylmation, though... I look at the Disney Store site from time to time and have picked up some of the sale items (the wrestler line was particularly silly). There aren't many stores that trade (one is Villains in Vogue at HS). But it is fun. And my kids were usually happy with what they got (you pick a "door" and get the vinylmation behind it - you can keep the one you brought if you don't like the surprise selection).

I guess the great thing about planning a trip for so many people is that I don't have to worry if I'm making them happy! Which is totally something I stress about when I'm planning for my family and especially extended family. I just plan the trip and it's up to them to have fun! lol!

Isn't Lush the greatest?! I have to be completely honest... its been a while since I've been able to buy anything from Lush so I didn't even know about the return 5 tubs, get a mask thing. So cool!! I'm so doing that!!

I'm not completely sold on the pin trading thing.... just more stuff for my kids to "collect" They DO have a couple Vinylmation though and are totally into the trading thing. That actually sounds like a lot of fun!