insoin
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- Joined
- May 6, 2007
- Messages
- 1,064
The Incredible Shrinking Family Vacation in Summer
Intro
Hi and welcome to my PTR for what is the family vacation that I got put in charge of planning. This is my first PTR so hopefully things will go well for this, if not, well at least it is fun trying to keep this all organized.
Why Shrinking??? Well funny you asked, let me tell you about that part. Oh wait, lets go on a tangent first and give you some historic background on me and all that fun stuff
I am Scott; Im a 35 year old male, living with my wonderful partner Wes. Yes you may have guessed it, by partner and the name, we are a gay couple. I just wanted to get that out of the way upfront so you would know. It will be the only time I mention this, but I wanted everyone to be aware of that little fact. I say I happen to be a guy that is gay, not a gay guy (in my mind there is a difference between those two). Being gay is part of me but it does not define me. OK OK Im off the soapbox now.
So, back to the background on me and my Disney obsession as I like to call it. 
My first trip to Disney never happened, how so, well at the ripe old age of two months, I was left at home with the grandparents while my family took a vacation to Walt Disney World back in the summer of 1972. I have never forgiven my parents for this
(ok kidding, I have, heck I dont even know about it. If mom had only kept her mouth shut and not told me). But as a kid I made three trips that I remember and one I was too young to really recall. My family had an RV so we always stayed at Ft. Wilderness. I have a horrible memory so this is what I recall, I was about 8, 11, and 15 for the times I do remember, and 4ish for the one I dont. I will not go into all of the details of those trips because frankly, I dont really remember much about them other that I loved Disney and always wanted to go back. I made one trip when I was 19 years old. My father and I took a Dad/Son trip down there at my request. My mother had just passed away a few months before the trip, and I wanted to go and spend some time with my Dad. That is my most memorable trip ever. My father and I were never that close, but when he said he would go with me, it meant everything to me. I feel that was the start of Dad and me becoming closer in our relationship. Oh the days of being able to go to Disney with only three months notice, and just walk into any restaurant you wanted to. No need for ADR, no DIS, no touring plans, etc
Little did I know that that would be my last trip for 15 years! I always wanted to go back, but I either didnt have the money, or could never find anyone that loved Disney as much as I did. I didnt know about the DIS back then or you can rest assured I would have been on here and looking for someone to go with. So my first trip back to the World was September 2007. I took my dear friend Monica with me. She has had a rough patch of life of late, and I wanted to show her how much of a friend she was, and I called her one day while she was at work, and I asked her to go to WDW with me. We had a great time, I will cherish that time with her.
Well at that trip I get the bounce back offer for next September with free dining. I called Wes (who has only been once in his life at 6, and does not understand Disney is a Life, not an obsession)
and asked him if he would like to come down next year for that. He said yes, so my excitement was on. 
I was so happy that we were gonna take a vacation down here. Booking that trip would start the ball rolling on everything that I am about to tell you and boy has it been a strange ride so far and I still have three months before I go
.The start of a family vacation
OK so how did that one trip turn into a family vacation in the summer and how did it become shrinking. Well let me tell you how it started and then the shrinking part. I of course, told everyone in my family that I was going to Disney last year. They were all jealous and wanted to go, but oh well, not my problem. So when I get back and I talk to Wes about our vacation for September 08, I tell him that I would love to take my brother (William) kids (John 13, and Sara 8) sometime. They are still young enough to enjoy it, but not to young that I couldnt handle them. My brother never seemed to love Disney much, and I just knew he would never take his kids down there. So that got me thinking, would it be fair to my sisters children who are all grown? No, but hey, I couldnt afford to take myself when they were younger, let alone them.
Now before I can even get my thinking cap on of how to get my brothers kids down there with me, my sister (Marla) and her daughter (Amie) come over to my house to see the photos, and get the souvenirs I got for them. It is there that my sister says she would love to go back sometime and so does Amie. Lucky me, my sister wants to go, and she said she would like for her kids to go. Problem solved for me about taking the brothers kids but not the sisters. But I really dont want the entire family there for a special vacation with Wes. I come up with the great Idea that we should take a family vacation some other time. Thus the chaos started of a Family Vacation.
Who all is coming?
OK so we have to establish the cast of characters for the family vacation and determine when we are going. Here is who joined and in the order they said they wanted to go.
My Sister and her family
Marla, James (husband), Matthew (son 18) and Brianna (step-daughter 13). There was some discussion of Matthew was going to go because he is 18, and we just didnt know if he wanted to go. He finally said yes he wanted to go, and is now very excited about it, he calls me every so often to ask me about the trip.
Me and Wes
I am always up for a trip to WDW. And Wes, I will drag with me if I have to.
My Brother
William, Sona (wife) John (13) and Sara (8). I really was not sure if my brother would want to go, he never mentioned Disney to me, or if he liked it. So it took some prodding to get him to agree to go. And to be perfectly Honest, I dont know if he will go or not. He has about 40 days to make his final payment for the trip. We shall see .
My Nephew and his family
Jeramie (sisters oldest son), Leslie, and Aiden (3). Jeramie actually has been to WDW before, he was 1 ½ when he got to go with us on the vacation when I was 15. He does not remember it at all, did you really expect him to? But my sister really wanted him to go, and he wants to go as well.
Jeramies In Laws
Fred and Barbara say they want to go. They want to go and spend time with the grandson on this trip. Now Barbara is a teacher, so that limits our time to visit the park to June, July, or August. Which is right along with when Brianna has to go as well. So this pretty much means we are going at the worst time of the year.
My Niece and her Family
Amie (sisters daughter), Pleas (Babys daddy I dont really know what to call him, they aint married or the like yet) and Jaden (1 ½). Amie really wants to go and pressures Pleas into agreeing to go. Hahaha, get used to her getting her way LOL.
OK so if you sum up everyone we have a grand total of 18 people. Now all we have to do is pick a date and start planning right? Oh the fun that involves. But this is more than enough for now .
Future topics:
The Planning Starts
When are we going, and are you sure you are going?
Some additions to the group
The start of the shirinking
The deadlines I force everyone to follow (hahaha my favorite part)
OK well you finally find out why it is called a Shrinking vacation
ADRs/ Why I dont care about the ADRs I still have my September trip with Wes right ..
Starwars weekend, and adding to the trip
The big shrink that sucks
Flight reservations, and the Jaden Dilemma
Start of the Touring Plans and what we want to do
Deadline approaches for my Brother .
That will pretty much bring you up to date as of when I started posting this
Yes as soon as I can get photos of everyone involved. I have a few to add on here soon, just as soon as I get around to it.
and is also limited to the summer. 
William, has in the past been a bit of a fuddy duddy. He will say he will do something, and tell me he will, but then he wont do it. I just know that is how he is, so it does not bother me really. I had to find out when they were out of school because if left to him, William would just not look and tell me. 
I told the family to start thinking about where they wanted to eat because we have to get ADRs at 180 days out for a group our size to say the least! While that happens, James mentions to his mother (Judy) and step-father (Pervus) that we are going to Disney this June. They think that sounds great and say they would like to go as well.
So I give them the deadline of 9 days to get this finalized or they stand the chance of not having meals with us. That means we could have a total of 20 people on this vacation ICK!!!!!! 
That is what my nephew Jeramie has been saying because he and Leslie are saving up to buy a house at this time as well. They finally find one they like and is within their budget. So they do the smart thing and realize that if they go on the vacation to Disney, they will be spending more money than they really should. Instead they decide to take the money they were spending on the vacation and use it for the new house. 
I respect that and think they made the right choice. So now we are down to 16 people because my sister still wants to take Aiden (her grandson) with her.
WOW within five days, I lost five people and two others that were thinking about going. 
