The Disney Trip 7 Years In The Making

[FlaGrl38]

I am going to preface my PTR by begging you to bare with me, because 1) I have never done this before, and 2) I am battling a severe head cold. That being said, this should be quite amusing.

Allow me to introduce you to the family. There's Bernie. He's my boyfriend, father of my kids, best friend, and voice of reason when I start to get a little crazy.

(he's obsessed with fishing, which is okay...that's an awesome redfish...but I digress...)

Then there's me. I go by many names but the ones I answer to the most are: Brittany, Mom, Mommy, and Super Woman.

THEN there's the 2 main reasons we are going on this trip in the first place. They are Christopher and Austin and they are the reasons we are kept on our toes. Every. Single. Day.

Ok..so...7 years. I have lived in Florida (within two hours of Disney) pretty much my entire life. I have been to Disney multiple times as an adult, but usually just for a day or two. Bernie has been a handful of times as well, however we have only gone together ONCE (shameful...I know.) Every single year when we get our taxes back (well, usually BEFORE we get our taxes back) we always say that we are going to take a family trip to Disney, and every year, life gets in the way (bills, school, lack of money, pregnancy...you get the idea). After a somewhat turbulent year we decided that no matter what, THIS YEAR WE WERE GOING!

 

[luckylady]

Two hours! I would say yes hang your head, but I also know very well how life gets in the way with youg ones and the dreaded work. Can't wait to see allyouu have planned.

 

[jc040404]

I'm in! Your little ones are just adorable! Glad you were finally able to make the trip.

 

[FlaGrl38]

Thank you!! I'm glad to see I have some followers!

So I left off announcing that we had finally decided that we were going to do this..no matter what. I had started pricing out trips a couple of months ago but we had a lot of options to factor in. We had to pick a time when Christopher was out of school, and we knew we wanted to go sooner rather than later. (It seems like in our family, when we plan trips far out in advance, things always seem to get in the way and plans fall through). So we looked at Christopher's school schedule and we figured that his spring break would be the best time to go. Unfortunately, everyone else in North America has the same idea so the ENTIRE time that we want to be there, Fl Residents have black out dates.

Realizing that we wouldn't be able to get the Fl Resident discount, we decided that we would have to stay at a cheaper hotel, but we also knew that we wanted to stay on property so we started looking at the Value Resorts. We really really really really REALLY wanted to stay in the Cars family suites at AOA (both of the boys are obsessed), but it was just too much money and the Little Mermaid rooms just looked too girly. We looked around at the other value resorts and the All Star Sports seemed to have the best value, so that's what we booked!

Since we were staying on property and buying our tickets we were eligible for the Magic Your Way Package, however we knew that we wanted to add a dining plan as well, so after MORE pricing out, we decided that we would pick the Deluxe Dining Plan! I think it will work out well because our kids eat A LOT. I factored in what we would pay for food without it, even if we ate breakfast at the hotel....we would still save money on the dining plan. So, since we picked the deluxe dining plan, we were able to take the next step in our plans which was.....ADR's!!!!!

 

[Tiggeye]

I'm in! Your kids are the same age that our kids were when we started going to Disney! They are now 22 and 26. We go at least 2 times a year if not more.

 

[SusieBea]

I'm in, too!

 

[FlaGrl38]

welcome! It's nice to see that I'm not completely failing at this! LOL. I have spent most of the day in bed battling this cold TRYING to get better for the work week. I just keep telling myself "If I get my sickness out of the way now, I will be healthy for Disney!!" Happy thoughts...happy thoughts....happy thoughts.

ANYWAY, up to this point we have battled with the black out dates, downgraded our hotel options, and picked a dining plan. That brings us to my personal favorite...ADR's!! I should point out that I have a love/hate relationship with food. I love it, but HATE that I love it. I have been dieting hard core since the new year and have managed to drop close to 15 lbs. I started picking out restaurants that I thought might have "healthy" options, but then realized, NO...this trip is for everyone and I would MUCH rather suffer the consequences of eating not so healthy food while at the same time watching my kids meet Characters and having a blast, than munch on salads and know that we weren't getting the full experience. That being said, I started searching the website for Character Dining Reservations with the Deluxe Dining Plan. Since we did this so close to the actual trip date, the pickings were pretty slim (as in....no Character dinners anywhere). We did, however manage to get an ADR at Ohana for breakfast our first morning there, an ADR @ Hollywood and Vine for lunch our second day there, and an ADR @ Cape May Café on our third morning there. I feel like it will give us a good variety of Characters that they will get to meet.

Speaking of Characters, I am SO excited for me....I mean....the KIDS...to meet them. I wanted to make sure that we got autograph books for both of them, but when I started looking at the autograph books out there, I was disappointed. So...I decided maybe I'll make my own autograph/ scrap book for the trip. However, I quickly realized that even though it was a great idea in theory, with my schedule it wouldn't get done in time, I would wind up racing through it, and it would turn out looking like ....well...you know. I remember that I had read on one of the boards here about the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters and how one member had the characters autograph in there (I am SO sorry that I can't remember who posted that on here) SO, I purchased 2 copies and we will have the characters sign on their page in there!

I don't know if I have mentioned it so far in this trip report, but this trip is a complete surprise for both of the boys. Neither of them have any of idea that we are going. My oldest thinks that Disney consists of the castle...and that's it. I wanted to do something special to celebrate their first trip, and I looked online at the welcome baskets, but they are kind of on the expensive side. So...I started thinking "what if I make my own?" That one innocent thought has led me to every store you can think of hunting down Disney items. I swear, I have developed a 6th sense when it comes to finding anything Disney related. I have collected: shirts, tote bags, flip flops, pillow pals, wash cloths, coloring books, puzzles, glow sticks, books, etc..." we are going to put everything in the tote bags we found and somehow (not quite sure how yet...) we are going to have them on the bed when the boys walk in the room. Hopefully I will take wonderful pictures of the excited faces...however we won't be getting there until about 9:30pm so I have a feeling they will mostly be passed out. Oh well, it will still be exciting for me!!!

 

[Marsheliz]

OMG, 2 hours away from Disney and have never been?? I would take trips to MK once a month if I lived 2 hours away, well maybe not really but you know what I mean...

The boys are soooo cute! I have two boys too so I understand what it's like having two of em!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I hope the boys were so excited when they found out they were going to Disney! Looking forward to following along.

 

[FlaGrl38]

Hi all!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post something on here.....my ENTIRE family has been battling this cold / flu bug that's been going around. I guess I should be happy that its THIS week, and not NEXT week that we're all sick...but 4 people, all with fevers, aches, stuffy noses....oy vey.

SO, with that being said: I HAVE 5 DAYS LEFT!!!! I finally got around to getting the rest (hah) of my shopping done. The kids are all set (well, as set as they're going to be...I never did find a super cool Disney suit case for all of their stuff). I just have to finish the gigantic task of laundry and packing, and then I am ALL ready to go! Of course, I just have to survive 5 pesky days of work

The best part about all of this (other than the obvious) is that my kids still have NO idea!! He He He He....I literally do not know how I am going to get through until Friday.

 

[FlaGrl38]

We leave TOMORROW!!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

 

[fairy8i8]

We leave TOMORROW!!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

Have a great trip! I am so excited to see how your boys like Disney! Thanks for the tip about the Encyclopedia of Characters! I didn't even know it existed! I am hoping to go this Fall and have a little boy myself, so I am interested to see what yours like about the experience. And EAT THE FOOD! Enjoy every second of the deluxe dining plan and diet when you get home! You can always have a salad as an appetizer