The "How did I pull this one out of my hat?" TR - NEW! Updated 9/24

[cjhinch]

Ok, first a little background. I have been a loyal reader of the TR thread for many years now, but I have never had the courage to do one myself. So, we will start out small with the PTR, see how that goes, and maybe....just maybe....I will give you guys the real thing when the trip is over!

My family has been to WDW a grand total of 3 times now. My first trip was the same as my boys first trip, and that was in August of 2002. I have to say that I was HOOKED! We went back for my DD's 2nd birthday in Sept. 2005, and again for her 4th birthday in Sept. 2007 (just in case you guys can't add 2 + 2 ) I was really disappointed in our trip last year because my little shrimp of a daughter wasn't quite 40" yet! How sad for a 4 year old, who LOVES rides, and she couldn't ride anything "exciting". she handled it pretty well, but it bothered me. It also bothered me that my second DS was finally tall enough to ride Rock N Roller Coaster, and it was closed for refurbs last Sept! Another bummer!

So, FF to this summer. We are trying to figure out where to go on vacation, and I know where I want to go, I want to visit the mouse again! He thinks I am crazy! See, we are planning a HUGE trip for next spring with his entire family (brother, wife, 2 kids, wifes parents as well, sister, husband, 2 kids, mom, Dad and us) a total of 17 people will be heading down together! I know this trip is going to be fun, but it just won't be like a trip with just our family.

So, I keep dropping hints, not so subtly either. He keeps getting on me to find us a place for vacation. More specifically, he wants to go to the beach. We go to Hilton Head Island almost every summer, and we are looking for somewhere different. I just can't seem to stay away from the DIS long enough to look for a place to stay. A vacation anywhere else seems totally anticlimactic to me! But eventually I cave, and we are heading to Hilton Head (again) the week of July 26.

Then, he mistakenly reminds me that he has another week off at the end of August! Hmmm, that is when they are offering free dining!! Now we are getting somewhere! I start checking rates, and if we drive instead of fly, we can maybe pull this off! I casually mention to him that we can go for $XXXX, what does he think of that? He gets an odd look on his face.....he seems interested! I tell him it includes free dining.....he is even more interested! I tell him we can stay for free at my uncles condo in Savannah on our way down and back.....more interested. I tell him that we could celebrate our middle sons 9th birthday while we are there....even more interested! I think I have just about got him hooked!

A couple nights later, I was looking for rooms, and I realized that they were going fast for free dining, so I just went ahead and booked it! Then I slunk in the living room to tell dh that I had already booked the room. He wasn't mad! I was pretty sure we were heading to Disney, and I couldn't be happier.

Next, now here is the bad news........

 

[cjhinch]

Before we go on, I thought I would introduce my family! I always like reading the reports with pictures the best!

Me - I am a 36 year old "domestic goddess" as they say. In a previous life, I was a CPA, I have no idea what I was thinking when I chose that as a career!! I honestly don't know how I would find the time to work, and I really respect those who have to work AND take care of their home and family!

DH - He is a 38 year old GRUMP! No, not really, he has his moments, but all in all he is a wonderful husband and father. Sometimes he just needs to be reminded that he is being a grump. He doesn't love Disney as much as I do, but he definitely agrees it is the happiest place on earth! He is not quite sold on going every year, but he hasn't turned me down yet!

DS1 - He is a 10 year old sweetie pie. Definitely one you would call a teddy bear. I keep waiting on the day when he will be "too cool" to like Disney and the characters, but that day hasn't come yet. He is into sports and video games (what 10 year old isn't), and those two things keep his life pretty busy! I am enjoying watching him grow up...it is just happening too fast!

DS2 - He will be turning 9 on this trip, and that in itself blows my mind! He is my little brainiac, he always has something to say to surprise us! He has been asking all summer to go back to Disney....little does he know about this surprise trip we are planning! His summer will be filled with baseball, so our trip will be here before he knows it!

DD - Last but not least, our little Princess. She 4, and has already gotten to celebrate 2 of her 4 birthdays at The World! She is definitely a lover of Disney and we are so excited she will be tall enough for the rides this time!
Here is a picture of her with my DH:

So, there is my "cast of characters" if you will. Why does everyone use that title? I can't come up with anything more original either, so I guess that is why!

 

[cjhinch]

Ok, back to the planning!!

Here is where things went a little wrong.

I had booked us a room online at POR because I was afraid that I was going to miss out and all the rooms would be booked. I called the next day to add the free dining, I didn't think it would be a problem. Wrong....problem!! I had waited too long, and all of the rooms that had been allocted for the free dining promotion had been booked already! There were no Value rooms left and no Moderate rooms left at all! I asked him to check the Deluxes, and at first he said they had AKL, Poly and GF. First he checked AKL, oops, no luck, they were all gone as well! So, on to check the Poly, he quoted me a price...$1275 more than we were paying for POR. I figured the GF would be even worse, but he quoted me only $1000 more! I told him to go ahead and change the reservation.....for now.

Now we have a decision to make. It would actually be a little cheaper to book POR and pay for the dining plan, BUT we absolutely LOVED staying at the GF last time, so the price difference just might be worth it! As of right now, we are still keeping the GF ressie. I am going to call every other day or so to see if anything opens up at a Moderate....you never know right?

 

[cjhinch]

I have called back a couple of times, and we just can't seem to find another room available for free dining that is striking our fancy. Why didn't I just go ahead and book for free dining when it first was offered, THEN did the convincing? That'll teach me! Maybe it is just meant to be for us to stay at the GF again this time. It will definitely make this short trip easier to navigate. There is nothing better than hopping on the monorail and being at MK in less than 3 minutes!

I may keep trying though, if a trundle room at POR would open up, that would save us quite a bit of $$, which would definitely be worth it!

Now, that I have my dates in order, it is off to TGM for me to figure out which days to visit which parks! Here are our tentative plans:

Sunday, August 24 - Arrival Day!! Arrive at the GF, drop off our luggage and head straight over to HS . This will be our only day at this park, and with a later arrival, we are going to have to be smart with the fastpasses. I just hope they aren't all gone for Toy Story Mania! That would be bad!! Hopefully we can see the parade and Fantasmic! this time as well.....we missed both of those last trip!

Monday, August 25 - Epcot in the morning, lunch in Norway (with the princesses!). We will stay here until we get tired, then head back to the hotel. Last year we made the mistake of making this a day long excursion, from rope drop to Illuminations, and that wasn't the best plan. We had quite a few breakdowns.....mostly from dh!

This evening, we will attempt the MK for Spectro. This is the only evening during our trip that they are having the parade! Honestly, if the kids would rather skip the parade and squeeze in a few rides, I am fine with that as well. Then we will watch Wishes!!

Tuesday, August 26 - We will start off today in the MK, and hopefully.....for the first time EVER.....we will be there for the opening performance! Last year, we were standing out there waiting for the boat to take us from GF to MK, and we didn't realize that the boat didn't start operating quite that early in the morning......so we missed the opening! We will go until we are worn out, then head back to the hotel for some pool time/relaxation time. The plans for this evening are up in the air right now. I kind of like that, we can either head back to MK, go to Epcot, or maybe hit DTD. We will see what strikes us at the moment!

Wednesday, August 27 - Per my schedule, this is another Magic Kingdom morning! I don't know how this happened!! I can easily see my DD and I heading over there early today, and the boys meeting up with us later. That makes for a nice alone time with me and my princess! This evening we have planned to go back to Epcot, can't miss Illuminations!

Thursday, August 28 - Our last day I hate last days! This is planned to be our Animal Kingdom day. Since we are driving this year, our last day isnt' dictated by that mean old Magical Express bus, so this will be a nice change! Plus, we are only driving about 5 hours back to Savannah tonight, so we can pretty much stay as long as we want! We will Commando tour this park until we are ready to say goodbye. I hate even thinking about it!

Well, those are the plans so far. Next, we have to decide where to eat! Can't just let the free dining plan go to waste, now can we??

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am here and reading -- I think it is terrific so far!!!

Grand Floridian -- sigh!!! That would be awesome!!!

Your family is absolutely adorable!!!

I know, only too well about grumpy husbands and Disney -- at least, they are still tagging along!

Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[kadesha]

Hi! Reading here!!

Your little girl is adorable! And I have a grumpy Disney DH too!

You will love the opening show at MK. I'll never forget the way my kids faces lit up the first time we saw it!

We're also looking forward to lunch with the princesses in Norway! It'll be our first time doing that meal!

 

[cjhinch]

Well, here we are with a completely out of the blue trip booked to Disney. I haven't even broken the news to my MIL yet. I know she will have a fit. For some reason, she will think that by going this summer, it is going to ruin our HUGE family trip next May. In my opinion, this is going to SAVE our trip next May. Let me explain.

Of the 4 million (OK, only 17 ) people going with us next year, I think only a handful have ever been to Disney World. They are NOT going to understand the planning it is going to take to pull this thing off! We have a BIL who is scared to death to get on a plane, and a SIL who is unwilling to drive just so he can be there and relax! We have a nephew who can throw the loudest, most obnoxious fits you have ever seen! We have a FIL who absolutely hates being in crowds and waiting in lines, and would much rather be on the golf course! The list could go on.

My point is, if we take this trip just on our own, we will feel like we can go with the flow more on the next trip! At least that is what I keep telling myself. I will definitely be willing to try at least.

Lastly, I am struggling with this whole "Surprise the kids" idea. Let's take a trip down memory lane to the last time I tried to surprise the kids.

It was September of 2005. I had always told dh that the perfect time to visit WDW would be when Marshall U. (our alma mater) had a football game against University of Central Florida. Oh, I should also tell you that this year was our 10 year wedding anniversary, and we were looking to plan a trip for that.

So, the football schedules came out, and MU was playing UCF on September 24! Oh, and look here, we just got a postcard in the mail saying that Disney is offering Free Dining (for the first time!) during that time! Oh, and guess what else, our darling DD would be turning 2 on Sept. 25.

Out the window went our plans to visit the Bahamas or the like for our anniversary, we would be visiting The World! And we wanted to make it surprise.

We told the kids we were just going down for the weekend to watch the football game (the boys were 7 and 6 at the time, and loving the football games). They were excited! But I was also excited, and couldn't stop talking to my friends about the real reason for our trip. Our oldest got wind of the talk, and asked me, point blank if we were going to Disney.....and I had to lie to his face I felt so bad, but I didn't know what to do!

So, we go down to the game, and after the game I can't hold it in any longer. I pull out the video camera, and casually just ask the boys if they would rather go to Disney for a few days instead of going home! They were just like, "yeah, right, whatever Mom" I had to say it again, "No, seriously, we are going to Disney right now!" DS2 lets out a little "yay", but DS1 is still not believing me. He is getting MAD because he thinks I am just teasing him.....I had just LIED to him 3 days ago and said that we would NOT be going to Disney this trip! We got in the van, and he is really losing it now, crying, saying that we were lying to him, etc. It was awful! He didn't calm down until we pulled into the POP parking lot!

Needless to say, DH is not a fan of the surprise anymore! I have pulled up all the Disney Surprise videos on You Tube, and they make it look like so much fun! But there are still a few on there that didn't work out so well either.

So, now I am totally not sold on the surprise this time either. Especially after reading Charleston Princesses PTR and seeing how much fun her kids had planning with her! I don't know what to do. I will go over my options in the next installment, and then maybe someone will have some good advice for me!

 

[cjhinch]

I am here and reading -- I think it is terrific so far!!!

Grand Floridian -- sigh!!! That would be awesome!!!

Your family is absolutely adorable!!!

I know, only too well about grumpy husbands and Disney -- at least, they are still tagging along!

Can't wait to read more!!!

I'm so glad that someone is! I was just about ready to give up!
I have to admit, I feel a bit spoiled with staying at the GF again, but with booking so late, that was about all they had! Dh loves it there, so that helped seal the deal for him!

Hi! Reading here!!

Your little girl is adorable! And I have a grumpy Disney DH too!

You will love the opening show at MK. I'll never forget the way my kids faces lit up the first time we saw it!

We're also looking forward to lunch with the princesses in Norway! It'll be our first time doing that meal!

Welcome! I will be following along with your planning as well! I just can't seem to get enough!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hi! Another reader signing on! I think you're off to a great start. I'm glad you're writing a report - I love living vicariously through these. What a cute family you have!! Lucky DD - 2 of 4 b-days in WDW?? Wow. Totally agree on your strategy for a immediate family only trip before a 17 person extravaganza. Sounds like a lot of different personalities, likes & dislikes to balance... but then again it is the happiest place on earth! You'll have to be sure to write a trip report for that one too.

 

[thewesterberg]

HI! There's someone else hear reading and enjoying it! I know what you mean about feeling lonely at first on your PTR! Once people started replying to mine, it built up my confidence!!

Wednesday, August 27 - Per my schedule, this is another Magic Kingdom morning!

This is our plan too! Maybe we'll see you around!

I have to admit, I feel a bit spoiled with staying at the GF again, but with booking so late, that was about all they had! Dh loves it there, so that helped seal the deal for him!

Sounds like a good investment if it keeps your DH happy!

 

[JaxJags08]

Hi! I'm subbing in - I just saw you on Charleston Princess' TR. Great job so far!

Your family is so cute!

Grand Floridian seems awesome! We are a value resort family, but maybe one day we will break down and stay at a monorail resort.

 

[cjhinch]

Hi! Another reader signing on! I think you're off to a great start. I'm glad you're writing a report - I love living vicariously through these. What a cute family you have!! Lucky DD - 2 of 4 b-days in WDW?? Wow. Totally agree on your strategy for a immediate family only trip before a 17 person extravaganza. Sounds like a lot of different personalities, likes & dislikes to balance... but then again it is the happiest place on earth! You'll have to be sure to write a trip report for that one too.

Yay! Another reader! Now I feel like I am writing this for someone other than me and the crickets! It is pretty crazy that she has gotten to spend 2 birthdays at Disney, but they both were trips that weren't planned around her birthday, it just worked out that way! The first is described below, and the second was last year when we were there for a conference for dh, it just happened to be over her birthday! Oh, wow, a trip report on the 17 person trip, that will be a good one!

 

[cjhinch]

HI! There's someone else hear reading and enjoying it! I know what you mean about feeling lonely at first on your PTR! Once people started replying to mine, it built up my confidence!!


This is our plan too! Maybe we'll see you around!


Sounds like a good investment if it keeps your DH happy!

I am so glad you are reading! After 4 years + of being on this board, I am no longer invisibile! I will be on the lookout for you! It would be so cool to run into a fellow DISer!

Hi! I'm subbing in - I just saw you on Charleston Princess' TR. Great job so far!

Your family is so cute!

Grand Floridian seems awesome! We are a value resort family, but maybe one day we will break down and stay at a monorail resort.

Thanks for joining in, and thanks for saying my family is cute. I think they are....but you know...they ARE my kids! Our first experience at the GF was our last trip, which was a conference dh had at the GF, so we got a good rate. Let me tell you, it definitely spoils you! But I am an economical girl....I would be at a value resort if there were any available! Hey, the cheaper the room, the longer I can stay!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Looks like you picked the right TR to pimp your PTR on......I came over from Charleston Princess's. Great start to your report!

Who's in charge of organizing the 17 ppl group trip? Bless you for being able to go with all those different people....I wouldn't be able to do it....I would feel like I was missing so much so I understand your reasoning for this summer's trip.

I think I agree with you about surprising the kids....I think it might work for certain kids and younger kids. It's a big trip just to spring on kids....we mentally prepare for it so why shouldn't they? Let us know how that turns out.

Looking forward to more

 

[Charleston Princess]

17 people!!?? Yikes! That will be quite an interesting TR when the time comes!

I have never been able to keep a surprise from the kids -- I always want them to be as enthusiastic as I am while we countdown!

On the flip side, I read all these great stories about surprising the kids and that sounds like fun too! Decisions, decisions!

 

[tigertamm]

Just looking at your report and comments. You remind me of myself. Your husband will learn to like Disney more after each trip. Mine did and my girls never outgrew it, though I used that excuse for several years to convince my husband "it may be our last chance." We finally joined the DVC last year with the intentions of going at least every other year as a family and I plan on bringing my nieces/nephews as well. Ya'll are precious. Have fun and enjoy the Disney Magic! It just keeps getting better and better.

 

[thewesterberg]

On the flip side, I read all these great stories about surprising the kids and that sounds like fun too! Decisions, decisions!

That whole surprise thing is a tricky little bugger... we're giving it a whirl with our DS5 at the end of August. We went last September (which he knew about the moment we booked) and we've talking about Disney and asking him his opinions on things at home because he thinks we're discussing a trip that's 2 years away, so that's made it a TON easier. I couldn't imagine not being able to make any plans in front of him! I just hope and pray that it doesn't backfire on us and he's truly excited to go!!

 

[nts4wdw]

Okay, you got another reader!

We have surprised our children in the past and there are pros and cons. For me, I liked sharing the planning process with them and I am so scatterbrained I would slip up and tell!! Of course, when they are small, a surprise trip does take away that "How much longer until we go, Mommy?!?"

 

[kadesha]

Oh wow! I am sorry you surprise wasn't as magical as you'd hoped it would be! At the kids your age are, I think it'd be fun either way, surprising them or letting them plan!! At least you've still got a good bit of time to figure it out!!

 

[mayan mama]

I'm reading...don't stop! We're going on our first trip this Sept., I love to see how the planning process is done. Silly me when I made our ressies I had NO clue just how involved it would end up being.......I however am not complaining I'm loving my new obsession!

You have a precious family and I can't wait to read more! By the way, what time would we have to leave POR in order to make it to MK for the opening? I think my little ones, and me would love to see that!