The grandkids are finally going - for the first time.

[tazdev3225]

I debated doing a pre TR. OK I have debated whether or not I even want to do a TR after this trip takes place. I have decided that since I have been spending a lot of time reading about other peoples trips I would do one any way. After all if I had not done a TR several years ago I would not have made some fabulous friends here.

My rambling is over for the moment. Can I survive Disney with another daughter? - the original title. Why this title? It's very simple I went with my mom a few years ago and barely survived. We still argue about aspects of that trip today. I went with my youngest DD last year and at one point I called my mom to cry on her shoulder because I wasn't sure I would last through the trip. DD and I were disagreeing about everything. So that brings us to this trip and my middle child - DD #1. And the reason for the new title - I am hoping it will attract more readers

I came to love Disney fairly late in life. OK don't get me wrong. I remember watching the original Mickey Mouse Club on a small B&W televison. I remember Annette and Cubby, I don't remember any one else but I was very young, maybe 4 or 5. I watched the Wonderful World of Disney in technicolor - in B&W. My dad would not buy a color TV until I was in my teens. I watched Davy Crockett because I had brothers. I knew Disney.

Disney World opened when I was in my teens. My family did not vacation so there was never any hope of going. In the late 70's my brother and I took a trip to Florida. I was in college and my parents actually allowed the trip knowing the first stop would be in St Petersburg to visit my "boyfriend" who had moved there with his family. We would only be there for 3 days until we took Greyhound to the east coast and down to Miami. We stopped in Orlando to switch buses and there were Disney World posters. I wished we had time to go and see what it was all about but alas the bus was waiting to whisk us away.

I met my DH, got married and had kids so the thought of Disney went away. Then one day my mother called me. OK she called me all of the time but this was a magical call. My baby brother, he's only 4 years older than my son so he really is my baby brother, brought home some paperwork from his school. She was interested and thought I might be also. His school was sponsoring a trip to Florida. Not just Florida but Disney World and Sea World. I was interested. I stayed up late to wait for DH to come home from work. We discussed the details and we were in. It was to great a deal to pass up. Now granted this was 24 years ago but the price was under $2000 for 5 of us. It included all meals, admission to Disney and Sea World, a rental car, air fare and the hotel. I think the total days for the trip were 6 or 7. It also gave us the opportunity to travel to West Palm Beach on a free day to visit my aunt and her family. Dad hadn't seen his sister in over 10 years so it meant a lot to him.

That trip started the love affair.
Here's a pic of my girls

and my son and the youngest DD

The low light of the trip happened to DD#1. The whole trip she cared about one thing - seeing Winnie the Pooh. As we were leaving on our last day to head to the airport this was our view

Pooh was in the middle of that crowd. My time obsessed parents would not let me get any closer for fear that 3 hours wasn't enough time to get to the airport, return the rental cars and check-in. Right this was pre-9/11. We spent 2 hours listening to a sobbing 3 1/2 year old. It meant only one thing - we HAD to return to Disney.

We did return several more times over the years and I always left with one thought - I can't wait until all of the kids and someday their kids can go down together and experience the magic. My kids grew up and had kids of their own so I waited. Then one day about 3 years ago my DS approached me. He was getting married and they wanted to go to WDW the following year with his boys for a belated honeymoon. Did I want to go too? Silly question I started making plans in my head right there. Then he posed another question - would his sisters want to go? I almost cried. My dream was taking shape. I called the girls immediately. Talk it over with your partners and get back to me. They were in.

Then came the crash. DS backed out. His wife was going back to school and they couldn't afford the trip since she was also quitting her job. I tried to be brave. I almost pulled it off. The girls were still going.

THEN - DD#1 called. "Mom, we have a problem!" NO!!!!! They were out, but just for a year. They had just bought a house and they really needed to do some things to the house. DD#2 was still in and we went last year. We planned and talked and planned. We got to Disney and we fought and argued and fought. She wanted to sleep in, she wanted to PH, she wanted to go to the water parks. OK sleep in you have a 4 year old, I get that. We decided no PH's and no water parks now you are mad at me. Eventually we talked and she realized we had discussed some of these things. We survived and are still friends.

So that brings us to this trip and the reason for the title. DD#1 still wanted to go but they had a pipe burst that caused some damage to the house. Insurance paid for some of it but they had a huge deductible. DH and I talked. We will loan you the money so the kids can go. Her oldest is almost 8. How many times can you promise her that we are going to Disney and back out? I saw it as my DD would lose credibility as a parent. DH agreed so - Can I survive Disney with another DD?

Our cast of characters:

Me -Mom, Lorrie, Grumpy, MeMo, Grandmom -I will answer to them all. I am the Disney obsessed person in the family. We all have one. My favorite character is Grumpy, favorite park - all, favorite ride -IASW. I am also the family photographer

DH: Jim, Dad, Poppy - He allows my obsession and secretly I think he is obsessed too. His favorite character - Donald Duck, and he does a great Donald voice. Favorite Park - not sure he has one, he goes with the flow. Favorite ride - anything fast and roller coaster like.

DGS #1 - Jay, J J, James - he answers to all. This will be his 5th trip. He turns 14 on our last day at Disney. He is not your average teenage boy. He had to come with us because his cousins are going for the 1st time. He is really a great kid. His favorite rides - anything fast and roller coaster like. His favorite restaurant - the Coral Reef and we will have his birthday dinner there. He does not like characters at the moment but will be easily "forced" into pics with them. Other than that he is a lot like Poppy- goes with the flow.
Here we are last year

Then there is DD's family

DD - Jen or Mom. She has been to Disney a few times but her last trip was in 2003 before kids. Her favorite character has always been -Pooh. She has only been to AK once and doesn't remember it. She is fairly easy going and has no real favorites since it has been so long since she has been to Disney.

DSIL - Mike or Daddy. They are not married yet but have been together for 12 years, have 3 kids together and bought a house together. SIL is easier than whatever he is. He has been to Disney once when he was about 8. He HATED it!. His only memory of the trip was the airport confiscating his POC gun. I plan to change his opinion.
DD and DSIL

DGD #1 - Crystal or Princess. She turns 8 three days before we leave. Her favorite character is - all of the princesses.

DGS - Michael or Mikey. He will be 6 next month. His favorite characters at the moment are Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He also likes Buzz Lightyear.

DGD#2 - Ella. Our littlest princess. She is 3 and a daredevil. She likes Belle and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates but she loves Minnie Mouse!
Mikey and Ella

Last year Mickey came to the grand opening of a Disney Store so they got to meet him. That is my youngest DD and DGS with DD and her kids.

So there you have the Why and the cast of characters. Up next will be the when and where. If you pop in to read please say Hi! Lurkers are welcome but I would love to make some new friends.

 

[tazdev3225]

OK I know people are reading. Say HI! I don't bite. Seriously I would love to hear from you all.

The When: I knew we had this trip planned and really wanted to go in May. It's warm but not crazy hot. OK, don't ask my mother. We went in May 2 years ago and she swore we had gone to the sun. My aunt, who lives 30 minutes from my happy place, joined us and had to leave. It was TOO hot. I wanted to see the Flower and Garden show and maybe Davy Jones in concert. Well that was shot down.

Then I suggested right after Thanksgiving. The weather is great and the crowds aren't really bad. I also want to go back for the Christmas decorations. My SIL would like that it isn't hot. Yep, shot down again. The kids are not being taken out of school.

We are going in August. It will be HOT! OK heat doesn't bother me. When in August. We have a few birthdays that month. Not the beginning of the month. That's OK I have spent my birthday in WDW. It can't be the end of the month as DSIL has to be home for monthly inventory.
Let's wait and see if free dining will be offered and what dates. So we waited and then there were rumors. One day I came home from watching the kids and there was a miracle in the mail. I had a Pin Code. Excitement had me getting giddy. I called the number for Disney. I asked about the code. Well it is a room discount BUT - I waited, this code also includes Free Dining, just QS but free dining. I could also use it on up to 3 rooms. The dates were perfect so I booked it immediately.

After all of this when are we going - August 19th until August 25th. It will be 4 days after my DGD turns 8 and my DGS will spend his 14th birthday in Disney. Success! We will celebrate my birthday a little late, DGD's and DGS's birthdays.

Where: I had thought of going to a mod resort but the kids all picked - All Star Movies. I don't have a real problem with it. Plus it is cheaper and we are trying to save a few dollars. We booked a preferred room and I am going to request the Toy Story building when I make the final payments. The only request I really need is connected rooms as one of DD's kids will have to be in a room with me.

How are we getting there? A very good question. There are 8 of us. I researched airfare. That was how I felt as I priced it. We have flown Southwest the last few trips. They have changed. Now we can't get a nonstop flight or a later flight home. So I priced a couple of other airlines. the breakdown
Southwest: $3225
USAir: $3109 plus an additional $400 at least for luggage
Airtran: $5083 plus an additional $400 at least for luggage

OK flying is out. Let's look at the auto train.
8 passengers, 2 vehicles= $2365

We are driving. Then gas prices started to go up, and UP!
We need to take 2 cars. I drove last year and the cost of gas wasn't outrageous- about $3.60 a gallon average. Taking my gas mileage average and using a $5 a gallon estimate I will still save about $2000. Driving it is.

Some plans coming next.

 

[tazdev3225]

My original title was "can I survive another daughter". There were reasons for it. Over the years I have taken several trips to Disney. They have not gone as planned usually. A trip down memory lane

June 1988: This was the trip that introduced my family to Disney. We had no idea what to expect. We stayed off site at a Ramada. I don't know if more than 2 parks existed. We saw MK and EPCOT. My parents ran the show. We did see MK - mostly It's a Small World and whatever interested my brother.

EPCOT was the Living Seas. I know we did a few other things but we mostly did the Living Seas. We did visit the World Showcase. I remember that as my youngest decided it was the day she needed a nap and screamed during the Voices of Liberty.

We missed out on Pooh. It was a fun trip but I knew there had to be more.

August 1992: The year of the 20th anniversary celebration.

My kids have some interesting names for this trip. It usually goes by the trip that ****** went on. My DD was hit by a car the previous year. I had a baby sitter for my kids that was wonderful, I thought. She became a part of our trip. To this day my DH and I don't know how. We did decide it would be helpful as my youngest DD was in a full arm heavy plaster cast. She had a broken wrist and we knew that she would be a help with some things. Wrong! The ******stands for fat cow or fatso as the kids started calling her. I know thats wrong of me but it was nicer than some of the other names they came up with. I came close to stabbing her with a fork.

We stayed off site again at another Ramada. We refer to it as the Norman Bates Ramada. The pool was green, a lovely shade of olive green. Yeah we didn't swim much. The highlight of the hotel was that the kids ate free. We went back every night for dinner.

We did see Minnie Moo that trip. We also saw a lot of characters - including Pooh. The baby sitter tried to take over. She was ordering the kids around and I saw a really ugly side to her. We saw more of the parks that year and MGM was open. My DD was chosen to take place in the show at Japan

This was before Miyuki.

The babysitter lost a cheap phone out of her muu muu on Maelstrom and wasted an hour searching for it. Then she bought a new one in the parks. We were staying off site and she spent $50 on a camera she could have gotten for $10. She also didn't bring much money to spend so I wound up feeding her. Thankfully the hotel was mostly a buffet. She could Eat! By the end of the trip my DH were fighting, the kids were upset and I wanted to leave her in the middle of a swamp for the gators.

We did get some slight revenge. We bought the kids balloons as we left the park to go home. We flew. Balloons do not like to fly. When we took off they POPPED! One, then another one and then the final one - Boom, Boom, BOOOOM. She thought the plane exploded and we were going to crash. I still get a chuckle out of the memory.

Any way I decided we had to go back and try again. We did.

August 1992 - the year of this

I must have liked it because I took a lot of pictures of it.

This was the trip of the panic attacks. We drove. Not fun with a teenager, an almost teenager and my mother. We hit the Delaware border and my son got sick. He can claim he has been sick in every state on the east coast. My DH thought it was viral and my mom thought he was faking it. My girls listened to Hanson and Mmm Bop all the way down. SIXTEEN hours of Mmm Bop.

We stayed at another Ramada. I kept trying to find the first one that we really liked. My son was sick the whole trip. He was diagnosed with mild agoraphobia later that year. He really tried but he really had a hard time. My mom does not believe there was anything wrong with him to this day - my DH babied him. Of course he also babied my youngest DD and ignored the middle child -her favorite. Guess who was stuck in the middle? DD made up for it by insisting that she sprained her ankle and needed a wheelchair. She did still have troubles with her leg from when she was hit by a car and we expected this but boy did my mom baby her. Thats my mom and DD in the wheelchair

A rare pic - me and my girls on the trip and it was my birthday

We actually had a fairly good time when you took the minor issues out of the trip. We went to Universal and my youngest started this pose for everyone there

We drove down to Palm Beach to visit my aunt and cousins.

We were willing to give this another shot.

Then came my trip of a lifetime. My aunt was turning 50. She wanted to celebrate in Disney. Her girlfriend had left her did I want to go? I talked to DH and I was in. My aunt made all of the plans I just went along with what she wanted. Then she called me to tell me things had changed. What? Her girlfriend came back and was going on the trip. Did I mind? I like her girlfriend so I didn't care. The best part - I became the third person in the room. My costs went way down.

October 2001 - That's right the birthday trip was one month after 9/11. My kids did not want me to go. They were terrified. I went for several reasons.
1) It's Disney
2) It's paid for
3) I needed to show them that we can't live our life in fear
4) It's Disney and I am staying at the Grand Floridian!

I fell in love all over again. I realized that I had been missing so much staying off site. The down side to the trip - my aunt and her girlfriend are sticks in the mud. We went to the park and an hour later they wanted to leave. I did a lot of touring on my own.

EPCOT looked like this

I experienced my first F&W festival and my first MNSSHP. I had meals at TS restaurants. I met Grumpy

They were celebrating

I knew that I had to come back with the family and stay on property. So we did

August 2003 - This was my oldest DGS's first trip. I wanted it to be perfect for him. Right, it would have been if I left his father home.

We stayed at ASMo's. We needed to go value as my kids were paying for themselves and had to economize. It was fine. They fell in love with the property and my DGS thought it was the best thing he had ever seen. He never wanted to go home. He swam underwater for the first time in the Mighty Duck pool. There are so many happy memories of him.

Unfortunately his dad and step-mom drove me crazy. My DS was on vacation. That meant sleeping til 1 every day. We just left him and told him where we were going when we couldn't get him out of bed. When we did get to the parks our routine was: Go on a ride, find a smoking spot, go in a shop, find a smoking spot, go on a ride. Then came the debate of whether or not my DIL should go on a ride since she was pregnant. UM NO! Test Track, BTMRR, and all of the similar rides say DO NOT RIDE IF PREGNANT. She rode. Then she had issues taht could only be cured by AC and cigarettes1

DGS didn't notice or care. He was having so much fun with or without his father. He had to buy one souvenir - for his little girlfriend. She still has it. He got her a little Piglet necklace.

DGS on his first trip

We knew we were creating a Disney fan. Several years later I heard about Disney at Christmas. I had to check it out. So DH and I planned to go. DGS found out and was upset that we weren't taking him. We asked his mom and dad if we could take him. They were both OK with it even though he would miss a few days of school. I knew when report cards were and planned for that week knowing he wouldn't miss much.

Then disaster struck. My son and his ex-GF had some issues. She responded by keeping DGS from my son for 3 months. We went to court and she was found in contempt so visitation started again. The trip was already paid for. Our lawyer had a temporary custody document issued for us so that Jay could go on the trip.

December 2006 - We stayed at the ASMo's again. Jay was very moody when we left. I was really worried that he would be miserable because of all that had happened.

Then we walked into the MK. He saw Pinocchio and he smiled. His eyes lit up and he broke out into the biggest grin. He was in DIsney. The magic touched him and he was a different child. I almost cried. My aunt was at Disney the same time so we met up with her and her girlfriend a few times at Jay's request. We did the MVMCP for the first time - in a monsoon. We had the DP for the first time. It was worth it then - appetizers and tips were included. We ate at the Coral Reef twice on that trip because Jay loved it so much.

It was the best trip I had ever been on. I finally witnessed the magic of Disney. Jay loved the characters. My DH and I were so happy to be able to give him this trip.
Jay

Two years later my DH and I decided we wanted to celebrate our anniversary in Disney. Jay though that was wrong so he went with us again. We were able to work out the trip so that he missed one day of school.

October 2008 - We stayed at ASMo's again. We had the DP for free this time. We ate at all of Jay's favorite places. We did MNSSHP in the rain again. This became a recurring theme on our trips. We did some of the F&W festival.

Jay got stung by a bee and he still thinks I am crazy. I raced him to the First Aid station. I am allergic, my mom is allergic, his aunts are allergic - in my mind it stood to reason that he would be too. He's not. I had found the DIS by now and knew about Beverly.

He didn't like it.

Minnie liked him

It was a great trip. It was his last for a couple of years.

DH and I went in Dec. 2009 and stayed in our first moderate resort - CBR. We loved it. We celebrated our anniversary alone - finally. We did the MVMCP in the rain. We saw story tellers in the rain. Basically everything was in the rain. It was actually warmer and dryer at home than in Disney.

I noticed a bounceback offer so I planned my next trip for

May 2010 - I went with my mom. My dad's sister had moved to about 20 miles away so she joined us for a couple of days. My mom complained. It's hot, why are you taking a picture of that, it's hot. You get the idea. It's 3 years later and she still says it was hot and I took too many pictures.

Here's my mom, aunt and I

I got them with Beverly. Seriously my aunt has lived in Florida for the last 35years or so and had never tried Beverly. OK she almost never went to WDW. I don't belong to this family.

We did the tea at the Grand Floridian and that was definitely a highlight of the trip. Mom is never going back.

October 2010 - Just DH and I. I needed it. We went for dinner. Seriously. I made friends with some people and we met in WDW for dinner. We also went to MNSSHP and for the first time it didn't rain. It was a fun trip.

We went in Aug 2011 with my youngest DD and her family. My DGS is now a teenager and tries to act cool but he still had fun.Sadly he is as tall as the characters now

I did one other trip in October 2011 with a friend. It was a lot of fun and reminded me that there is still so much to see and do.

I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Feel free to comment.

 

[tazdev3225]

If you read my last post about previous trips you know I have had some bad ones. I have learned one lesson go with the flow - don't plan. That was my mistake on earlier trips. I planned everything down to the second.

Of course some things have to be planned. We are doing the QSDP but do want to do a couple of TS meals. They are:

Ohana for breakfast. This will be on Tuesday and then it is probably going to be an EPCOT day.

Crystal Palace at 8:15 AM so that the kids can see MK bepofre a lot of people are there. Then we will stay in the MK for the day.

Coral Reef on our last day for dinner. This is AJay's 14th birthday and his absolute favorite restaurant. I have been given strict orders that I am NOT allowed to order a cake. He won't even wear his birthday button. He's a teenager what can I so?

We also have plans for our first day. After much debate it has to be the MK. My SIL's aunt is giving the kids a gift card so that the girls can do the Bippidi Boppity Boutique and Michael can get a Pirate make-over. I am not happy about this.

I guess because I never had these things when my kids were little I think they are a little silly. It is August. It will be HOT! The girls can't wait. they have princess dresses. I'm not paying for it but I really hope it isn't a mistake.

Mikey has some issues and when I showed him what the pirate make-over is he freaked out. He was not doing it. Then they came out with a Jake make-over. He was excited. "ME MO I can be Jake!" He is excited about that as long as they do not put any face paint on him. I have been out ranked by the kids.

So for now that is our set plans. Of course if my SIL's aunt doesn't give them the gift card I will have to rethink these plans. I am not putting out $500 for all of this.