The Evans' Take on the World-The Do-Over Trip (pics addded)

[TeaForTulips]

subbing!

ive enjoyed your ptr so far! im excited for your trip! everythings sounds great! im sure this trip will certainly make up for what happened last time. i look forward to reading more!

 

[an_evans]

And now we are at less then 60 days... less then 2 months!

This is the point where I start double and triple thinking things.

Flying vs. Driving
We have driven and flown. We honestly prefer driving with the four children. OUur children are great travelers. It takes about 6 hours longer to drive then fly. Between arriving ubber-early (by the insistence of hubby), the layover,the endless rounds of taking of four children shoes off to go through security, collecting the baggage, etc.....it takes 12 hours. 6 extra hours and an 800 dollars extra in our pockets makes the decision easy...... At least for a normal person!

I love to fly and it really feels special because we fly so rarely. I am trying to remember how tortuous having a mad toddler on my lap for a 2 hour flight was. It's better for us to drive.

The Plan: We plan to leave around 4 am on Saturday morning and drive to Pensacola. Google says it will be about 12 hours. My husband will drive faster and we will stop often so I figure it will probably come in around .... well 12 hours. We have always stopped in Louisianan. Driving through Texas is like driving through Florida...it goes on forever! Another early morning should put us in Orlando around lunch.

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This reminds us me of a bittersweet memory from our last trip. Our pool villa was about a hundred miles into Orlando in the pitch black construction zone. At least it felt that way on our way there. We expected to be in around 7 and grab a fast food dinner. The road just kept going and going..... I am an emotional wreck from leaving my husband behind in the hospital, i have been in the car with my mother and three children and two sisters for endless hours, and am six months pregnant. It's now quickly approaching 9pm. From the back seat come as little voice "Mama, nobody gave us any dinner...."

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I am also having a little buyer's remorse about staying on property. Jason is really insistent on staying on-property. He like to immerse in the magic. I like the dining plan. This will also be the last trip we can stay in one room. WE are actually really pushing it this trip. Port Orleans will provide a place to sleep and take a nap but it will be very cozy....and not really in a positive way! We plan to be in the parks a lot and will be riding the bus to Magic Kingdom to avoid the tram, the boat, and the walk. Our next trip will be close to stroller-free and that will be more manageable.

I have to say with all that in mind.... I still want to lounge by my private pool in the afternoon and hot tub with my hubby while the kids sleep peacefully in their own bedrooms! Who am I kidding? They would either be in there with us or we'd be too exhausted to make it out to the pool! But a girl can dream...right?

So that's the obsession of the day!

 

[an_evans]

THe two oldest girls at Cinderella's Royal table with the fairy godmother.

And another favorite and our reason for our 1900 Park Fare Dinner. We were collecting autographs behind the castle during Cinderellabration and one of the step-sisters (listening to the audio cues) throws her arm into the air just in time for the fireworks. The girls were amazed!

 

[irene_dsc]

I have to admit, I am envious of having good car travelers. A few hours in the car is pushing it for our family! Personally, I like road trips, too. Maybe when the kids are older...

 

[an_evans]

I always get myself in a buying frenzy before each trip. I spend time on the boards and before I know it my list of things to spend money on before we go gets out of control. My kids need these shoes, this stroller, that water bottle, I need to pre-buy souvenirs, make 100 dollars worth of matching t-shirts and make them $25 dollar autograph books...... all in the name of saving money.

I AM NOT DOING IT THIS TRIP! I am spending my Disney World money....at Disney World!

That said, I am itching to do something, anything. Maybe we start our countdown chain or something.....

 

[an_evans]

Well today is the day we pay off our room and base tickets. We will be upgrading to the dining plan and 7 day tickets when our income tax refund is deposited.

I feel great about this trip! We canceled a September free dining trip last year and I just have a peace about this trip. Sure there are other things we could spend money on or or even save it....but it comes down to that are kids are only young once and our family has made a ton of sacrifices this last 18 months. We started a company last year and gave up a position that came with discretionary income, a company car, private school, and most of all security. We moved to a smaller house, I went back to work, and we have lived near the poverty line to invest in our company. Things are moving along nicely and we are finally have some breathing room. We managed to make a small profit last year...our first year despite an expensive law suit.... and we feel like celebrating!

So I am excited to say "yes" to my kids after 18 months of "we can't right now". I am excited to take them shopping for new bathing suits and and a few incidentals for our trip. I am excited to go out to dinner and lunch for 7 days and never once have to look over the menu all the while doing the math in my head. It's going to be a great trip!

 

[TeaForTulips]

Im sure it will be a great trip for you guys!

I complete understand about spending before the trip begins... I was already getting wrapped up in that myself, but after reading your post I have stopped. It was a very good point you made and I agree! Thanks!

 

[an_evans]

I have been reading trip reports in my spare (and not so spare moments). The excitement is starting to well up in me and I find that if I think about it too much it brings tears to my eyes. My class is starting to wonder why Mrs. evans alternates between giant grins and weepy eyes!

Last night at dinner our just-turned-4 year old thanked God for our trip to Disney Word during the blessing. It was a great moment!

 

[an_evans]

Not much new going on around here. We start our coutdown chain on the 30 day mark.

We went shopping for bathing suits for the kids this weekend!

 

[DWFan4Life]

I just finished reading your PTR, good start. I hope you will have a great time, fum and better than your last trip. Looking forward for more info from you.

Have a nice and safe trip coming.

 

[an_evans]

We are about 3 weeks out and starting to get excited and nervous ! How can you plan for so long and then realize three weeks out you still have a ton to do!?!

I printed out a great packing list from http://www.themouseforless.com/ . My plan for this weekend is to collect all the appropriate kids clothes and make sure they are clean and all in one place. The kids wear uniforms to school so with two weekend between this one and our departure they won't miss them!

Our package info is set to arrive today. Our travel agent expressed it two days ago. I have seen pictures of the new packets and can't wait. Something about recieving those luggage tags really says.... "We Are On Our Way!"

We have been fairly regular in Family Movie Night to countdown the weeks.

We have enjoyed Mulan, Enchanted, 3 Musketeers, The Rescuers, and tonight we are doing Oliver and Company. The girls had a slumber party last weekend so we have Swiss Family Robinson waiting. I am thinking Sunday afternoon might feature a pile of us on the couch, a big bowl of popcorn, and a little tree house adventure. It is required after all, to properly Disney-educate before a trip!

I have a little shopping left to do. I want to get crocs for the kids and me and I also need a bathing suit. We need new headphones for the dvd player in the car. We wanted to get the kids a new DS game each for the road.

My mom has been using our garage to store somethings and will have them out on the 28th. With her stuff out of the way, we can actually see what we have and there is a lot of junk. All of Kaya's baby equipment is out there. I hear a garage sale calling our name. We aren't usually garage sale people but the extra cash could mean a few extras for our trip!

Our To Do List- this weekend:
Laundry and Pack kids clothes
Drag out suitcases
Order crocs
make list have to dos
download ride max

 

[an_evans]

I keep having dreams (nightmares, really) about getting there and being unorganized. Like really lost..... I need to look for a hotel for the road trip.....

 

[an_evans]

I downloaded ridemax and it has taken off so much stress. I keep having these nightmares that we are standing around wasting time in Disney world. If we were keeping track of family conflict- arguing over who's turn it is is to decide where we are eating would top the chart!

We have our ADR's for our table services but hadn't really nailed down counter service. I am abandoning the Tusker House breakfast mid-morning as I wasn't married to the idea and seeing how it will affect our wait times convinced me to let it go.

How is Yek and Yeti Counter Service?

So this is what our day at Animal Kingdom looks like now:

Kilimanjaro Safaris
Free Time
Finding Nemo, the Musical Free Time
Lunch at Yak and Yeti Restaurant
Free Time
Kali River Rapids
Festival of the Lion King Show (3:00 PM performance)
Free Time
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade
Free Time
Dinner at Flame Tree Barbeque Restaurant
Free Time
TriceraTop Spin​

There is free-time built in for autographs and popsicles. I am not convinced we will do Kali River Rapids as our predicted wait time is 71 minutes!

 

[an_evans]

We plan to arrive at the hotel around two and head over to Magic Kingdom by 4 pm. In our family meeting last night, we agreed to pick a couple of rides we couldn't wait to get on and we would do them that evening.

Here is my take on spontaneity!

Pirates of the Caribbean - Daddy & E's pick
Free Time
Dinner at Pecos Bill Café
Free Time
Mickey's PhilharMagic- Mama & A's pick
it's a small world- J & K's pick
Wishes Fireworks (9:00 PM performance)​

 

[an_evans]

Our first full day will be at DS. Daddy's birthday falls here and this was his pick. This park seems like one of the least stressful parks for me probably because the shows give lot of off your feet time and there isn't a million things to do. Although when I look at this list- I see a full day. We loved the old parade and are keeping our fingers crossed for the block party. There is no fantasmic that night so I am hoping it won't be packed!
Here's our list of must do's!

Star Tours
Free Time
Jedi Training Academy Show
Muppet Vision 3-D
Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant
Free Time
Indiana Jones Stunt Show
Free Time
Block Party Bash Parade
Free Time
High School Musical 3 Show
Free Time
Playhouse Disney Show
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Toy Story Mania (use FASTPASS)
Tower of Terror (use FASTPASS)​

 

[an_evans]

We have only one full day at Magic Kingdom. We have two half days that will spent doing personal favorites or ride-agains but this is our main day!

Dumbo, the Flying Elephant
Haunted Mansion
Mad Tea Party
Goofy's Barnstormer
Tomorrowland Speedway
Free Time
Lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café
Nap at hotel
Peter Pan's Flight (use FASTPASS)
Splash Mountain (use FASTPASS)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (use FASTPASS)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Aladdin's Magic Carpets
Swiss Family Treehouse
Buzz Lightyear (use FASTPASS)
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
Chef Mickey's Dinner
Wishes Fireworks (From Contemporary)​

 

[an_evans]

Last night we had Hawaiian night! We made Hawaiian pizza and terriyaki beef skewers. I made tropical smoothies and we sipped them out of coconut cups! I had never actually seen Lilo & Stitch. It was really cute.....

Today's Agenda is to pick up the little things we need for the trip and get the oil changed. We need swim diapers, sun screen, soap and shampoo.

I started paying the children with Disney dollars for doing extra cleaning. J is extremely upset that there is nothing left to clean this morning! I never thought that would happen!

 

[an_evans]

I am in the stage of planning where I have been planning for so long I don't really believe it is going to happen. I am seriously in disbelief that we are goign to Disney world in 9 days! Everything's payed for.... shopped for.. and planned out.

I have everything we need with exception of swim diapers and shoes for me. I will probably pick up a package of socks for each kiddo....simply because I hate matching socks (to pack) and I know they are in need of some.

A few treasures I picked up this weekend at walmart. 7 disney tees for $49. I am getting the kids trip bags ready. SO far I have:

Highlites magazines
Crayons
Spiral Notebooks
Stickers Galore
Mini-Fuzzy Posters (Disney)
Pipe Cleaners
Markers
Ranger Rick & My Big Backyard Mags

 

[an_evans]

We are a family of six. We have three daughters and a son and are big Disney fans. I hope you enjoy our trip report as I have enjoyed reading so many.

The Back Story​

Our first trip to Disney as a family was 4 years ago. It was given to us a s a surprise bonus from my husbands employer. We had a few weeks to plan and although we had dreamed of taking our kids to Disney for awhile, we believed it was out of the realm of our possibilities and ended up with little time to anticipate.
Our next trip two years ago gave us plenty of time to plan, a little experience to base our decisions on, and turned out to be quite the opposite that we expected. We had revealed the surprise on Christmas morning. Our families excitement was so great that they planned to join us! I made and unmade reservations more time s then I could count. Eventually our trip morphed into a multigenerational pool villa trip. I say trip because it was far from a vacation. I realized on this trip despite my strong desire to help people plan a fabulous Disney vacation- I never wanted to experience it with them again.
One week before we were set to leave, Jason my husband developed a massive blood infection. He was admitted to the hospital and began multiple rounds of powerful antibiotics. Everyday we expected him to be released. We made contingency plans that if he wasn’t able to leave the day we had planned, he would fly down and meet us. Despite our family’s trauma, our extended family had locked in vacation plans, prepaid for a non-refundable vacation home, and were to far financially (and emotionally) invested to cancel. We held on firmly to our dream!
Six months pregnant I traipsed through the world with my chin up. We had our good moments, but because Jason was not released until 3 days into our trip and was far too weak to tackle such an active vacation, I spent the week as a single parent. Alaina spent most of the week battling a major ear infection that would turn into a month long illness. The old proverbial saying goes that absence makes the heart grow fonder proved to be true. Although Jason’s job left me to parent our threes kiddos alone much of the time, I wasn’t prepared for how lonely this trip would be. I was reminded of how well we work together and how much we really need him.
Two months later I would give birth to our fourth child, Kaya Faith. Kaya was born premature and required a month in NICU. It was an experience that would change who we were as people and parents. While it was an emotional roller coaster, there were these moments that I will be grateful eternally. Had she been born at home as we planned and joined our family with ease, we would not have spent hours and days holding vigil by her bed. As I our rocked and held her for hours, I realized that this was gift I would not have given her if I was at home with her. There would have dishes, and laundry, and homework, and play dates to attend. As Jason and I spent hours every evening with her isolette between us, I knew that I would have missed watching my husband fall in love with his daughter and me falling deeper in love with him. Our older kids were farmed out to friends and family and eagerly awaited the reuniting of their family and a chance to finally meet the baby they already loved.

 

[an_evans]

That fall God placed in our hearts a dream of starting our own business. Jason left the job that kept him away for us most of the week to become a work at home dad. I found a full-time photography position and we switched roles for a season. This season required many sacrifices including having a home of our own. In March, instead of taking our now annual Disney trip we looked forward to moving out of our family’s home and into a place of own. After running a business and raising four children out of two borrowed bedroom, the only castle we were dreaming of was a home of our own.
We booked a trip in September during free dining. We knew the healing power a week away could provide and were really hoping to be able to pull it off. Just a few weeks into our new home, my mom’s life began to spiral into crisis. Her and her two daughters ages 9 & 12 were facing homelessness. We invited them to stay ion our home while she got back on our feet. Summer energy cost and the price of adding three additional members to our family made a Disney trip out of reach. With much solidarity, we cancelled our trip.
As the weeks led up to Christmas, we realized that our children were in need of nothing. Even though it had been 18 months of sacrifice and many “not right nows”, our children still had everything they needed and much of what they wanted. We decided to surprise them with a Christmas trip. With spring break a few months away and a tax refund on the horizon, we decided to go for it!
Jason’s birthday would fall over our trip and with the sacrifice our family had made over the last 18 months, the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign could not have been more fitting.
The big reveal came on Christmas morning. We spend the wee hours of the morning with his parents and came to our personal celebration. We watched the Christmas Disney World Parade snuggled up on the couch. The parade was met with squeals and screams and much joy! Our baby, now almost two had been thoroughly coached and recognized nearly every character. Our girls shared memories from previous trips and my husband and I exchanged excited glances. After the parade Jason said we were going to watch a new movie- a Christmas gift. We snuggled down on the coach in familiar positions. The movie began as many of our favorites, with Tinkerbelle flying over the castle. The next scene shows Peter Pan and Wendy flying to Neverland. The kids are convinced it is Return to Neverland until they here Daddy’s voice over the movie. He proceeds to tell them they are going to Disney World in less then 100 hundred days!