The little trip that could....Because God is good!

Disneydreamer5

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
554
Ok so I would be lying to say that I am not super excited to be writing my very first pre trip report. I suppose the best laid tale should begin with what else but, Once upon a time on the Jersey Shore….:grouphug:

Once upon a time there lived a young married couple with 5 children. 4 Girls and 1 boy or the prince as his sisters like to refer to him.

In 2005 the DW In laws came into a little extra money. One Saturday morning they decided they wanted to take them on a vacation, their treat.:banana:
Well it was up to the DIL(a.k.a. me) to find the perfect place to go and make all the arrangements, easy enough right? Wrong. MIL didn’t want to cruise, had no desire to go to any tropical islands and certainly there would be no flying if the flight was more then 2 hours long.
Talk about limiting our options!:scared1:

One day while watching TV appeared a commercial for Disney. Hey now, there’s an idea. After all DW had been to DisneyLand over 15 times through out her childhood however she had never been to Florida or Disney World, which she heard is so much better.:cloud9:

Now her research would really begin. She knew nothing of the Disboards, Magical Memories, Mousesavers, or even allears.net. She did manage to find a wonderful little book titled the unofficial Guide to Disney and this turned out to be her official guide.

She decided on POR because there was going to be 9 of them all together and they could, at that time, have all 9 of them in 2 rooms.
So she showed the resort to the MIL and also told her all about the Dinning Plan. She was good to go and, so far, happy with all laid out plans. Not an easy thing to do I assure you.

That was until about 4 months before they were due to leave. Little by little it became very obvious that she wasn’t going on this trip. What time would you like to fly?” Whenever, What airline do you prefer? I don’t care, What kind of tickets should I get for you and Dad? Do we need tickets?:headache:

Are you reading between the lines at this point because she certainly was. Finally the time came that they needed to start paying off the balance on their trip. DW decided that there was no way she was going to tell her children, then ages 15,14,13,10, & 7, that grandma is not cooperating and we can’t go. Instead she called up Disney and made some changes, they would still have the dinning plan and their dates would remain the same as well the tickets for the themeparks but they needed to down grade to the value resorts.
Ok no big deal, right? Right!:goodvibes

So she tells DH all her plans & let her MIL know that they are still going. She was more then happy for good. All good. Bad news was , they would now have to pay for a trip that they really had no intentions of paying for and we had no idea what they were doing.
They had booked for 6 nights and 7 days and although they did try to plan out some kind of schedule, looking back at it now they were so unaware of what exactly they were doing.
DW’s ADR’s had them all over the place, MK one minute rush over to Epcot the next, water parks? What is Disney Quest? Where is it? What do you mean it rains everyday in June in Orlando? Everyday? Really? Yes, really!

Do we have to pay to get into Disney Quest even with the water parks and more option? Is there anywhere in the world to buy a pack of cigarettes? (I know I know, I am trying to quit.)

All and all the trip was so much fun. It was as magical as she thought and hoped it would be and the kids had the time of their lives.

They still talk about it now and it’s been 5 years. DD was 15 when they went and now is 19 and staring her second year in college. Last year she wrote an essay about that trip and not only did she get an A+ but the teacher asked to keep the essay to show to other students. Very proud of her, yes I am.

Ok so let’s fast forward to 2007. It was May and Disney is offering free dinning mid August until the end of September. Wow that would be great saving for this family, almost $1200 saved on food.
( Remember she paid for dinning plan back in 05)

So she started looking at their finances, dates, schedules and after about 2 weeks she decide yes, we can do this. We can go back to Disney! Yay!

She talked to DH and tell him all the reasons they need to go on vacation again. She also explained in length about the Disboards and all that she had learned. She showed him all the deals they are getting and the money they would save this time around. She told him about the crowds in September compared to the crowd level when we went last time in June. All and all she was able to convince him that the family from the Jersey Shore not only wants to go back but they need too.

She called DT first thing Monday morning and had every intention of booking Pop Century. Due to the saving from the FDP she decided this time they will do 8 nights and 9 days adding a lot more time to get to do all the things that they missed last time around.

While on the phone with CM, DW realized how much cheaper this trip is going to be and ask her to do her a favor, of course Mrs. D what would you like? Could you possible price out CBR for me just for the heck of it? Why, of course I can she reply’s.

Well much to her excitement and surprise, staying moderate, and at our favorite resort, was still going to be a little cheaper then their last trip. DW asked her to please put them on a courtesy hold and she will call her back shortly.

She then called her DH to tell him and before she could finish her thoughts he said, CRB really? Is that the one that looks like a Caribbean Island? He is so smart , lol.

Yes dear that is the one. Book it! That was all he said. She began to give him a million reasons why this makes sense and why they should totally go for the extra money and again he only repeats, babe I said book it.

That was all she needed. Book it she did.:yay:
She spent the next few months talking to the kids about the trip. Her DD and DS spent hours looking at pictures of the resorts on line and places that they should try to get into for their ADR’s.

The family watched the video over and over again in excitement that they were not only going to WDW again, but this time they were moving on up and staying at CBR.

DH and DW even took the kids to Dorney Park and for the first time in either of our lives went on a few upside down roller coaster in preparation for R&R!( Didn’t make it on last time.)

They did their research and my DD, who was 10 at this time, was measuring herself on a daily bases to make sure she was going to be tall enough to get on all the rides with her older sisters and brother.

The family took long walks every night after dinner to prepare their body’s for the extra walking that they would be doing. They even went so far as to keep the air condition off a few days here and there so the Florida September heat wouldn’t get to them or slow them down.

All the kids were doing odd jobs for friends and relatives to save some extra money for the trip.
They talked to all the children’s teacher’s so that they wouldn’t be bogged down with school work, during or after the trip. The dogs had their babysitter set. The ADR’s were all made. Everyone got to pick one place that they really wanted to try. The First night would be Chef Mickeys as they decided that was going to be their place! No matter how many times they get to go, they would always have one meal there. They had only been to World showcase at night and mostly everything was either closed already or preparing to close so they would certainly get there early one day to see it all.
Everest was being built on their last trip so everyone was very excited to get to ride it this time around.:cheer2:

DH & DW both got their dates approved by work, all August bills as well as the beginning of September were paid. The post office knew to hold the mail.
DW spent the last week getting all the last minutes things that you need for any trip and they were good to go. Now all we needed to do was wait………..:rolleyes1

Then 2 weeks before their trip, at 3am, the phone rang! :confused3
 












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