The One Where All the Planning is Different

[MamaBelle4]

Hello! Hiya! What's going on fam?? Starting a pre-trip report 18 days before we leave, because, you know, why not?

Who are the we? Why, I am so glad you asked.


This picture feels forever ago, May 2018. Pictured are PapaBelle, DD5, DD12, DS3, held by yours truly, DD9, AuntieBelle and DD8 (ages listed are current and do not include the adults because, how rude).

We scheduled our trip for December 6th, thinking we would eek in that last magical free trip for DS3. That. Did. Not. Happen.

Partially because of Covid, but our timeline to reschedule was limited as we are using DVC points banked from 2019. If I'm being 100% honest, the reason we rescheduled was her:



My beautiful, wonderful, perfect, sweet Sammy girl. We discovered she had an inoperable, cancerous mass in her stomach in August. We knew our time left with her was limited, so we decided to hold off on the trip until after the new year so we could utilize PapaBelle's vacation time to spend it with her. We took her on camping adventures and had a wonderful last couple of months with her. We had to say goodbye on October 4, and it was HARD. She was a member of our family for 10 of her 11.5 years.

So, in order to have that extra time with her, we rescheduled our trip to January 23-29!! We leave on January 22!! Additional details (including a family member update!!) in the next update!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Back again so soon, you ask? Of course! I never told you where we are going or what we are doing, and I suppose that's moderately important in a trip report, right?

Where/When?
Saratoga Springs 1/23-1/29

Record screetch

Just kidding! That was the original plan, but plans are made to be changed!! Well, not ordinarily, but for this trip, they very, very much are.

You see, I have a friend (please hold your shock) who had her DVC points getting ready to expire and had no use of them so she asked me if I wanted them. What a silly, silly question.

Due to her generosity...

Where/When?
AKV, Kidani, Savannah View suite - 1/23-1/29

Usually, I would have used those points to stay longer but my thinking was thus: if someone in our party comes down with a fever or whatnot, would we rather quarantine in a resort we love for 9 days, or a resort with a tremendous view for 7. Also, I would have had to rearrange so much to add more time. We would have had to extend our car rental, change dining reservations, park pass reservations. And I did not want to do it. So call it laziness, if you must.

Since that's probably what influenced 90% of my decisions, I suppose that's fair.

The day the "park pass reservation system" launched, I stayed up til midnight, then I checked at 3am and again at 7am, just to make sure we got the days I wanted. And the site kept crashing and it was a nightmare. But I secured our days

For December. So when we switched, I had to do it all over again But I got'em again! No harm, no foul.

And then, 60 days out, I woke up bright and early to get those dining reservations.



That's a lie. I forgot about them. It was 3pm on our 60 day check mark, I was hanging out in the living room with the kids, taking a break from their virtual schooling for the day. I shouted obscenities when I realized I had forgotten and ran out to the dining room to get cracking.

We got mostly what we wanted. And I'm grateful for that. Will post our reservations and our park pass days in the next update, which I hope may have a stray picture or two!

 

[MamaBelle4]

I have already lied to you fine people, for which I apologize.

I said I would provide a family member update, which I neglected to do. It wasn't out of malice, but more so because my brain is at least 77% swiss cheese at this time. I have had 4 children attending virtual school since March. That is my excuse, even though my brain was at least 76.6% swiss cheese last February. It's the last .4% that really makes the difference.

In December, shortly before Christmas, we adopted us a Moose.



(I don't know how to orient this the right direction, sorry!)

He is as bad as he is cute, if not worse. Less than a week after we brought him home, we had to make a run to an emergency vet.

See, we were getting ready to go outside and play in the snow and DS3 was standing in the kitchen, all ready to go. Moose ran up, pulled his glove right off of his hand and swallowed it whole

I have never seen an animal do something like that. I wasn't even convinced he could swallow it whole.

Oh. Yeah. He can. I declined to bring the glove home with me when the vet brought it into the exam room for my inspection

Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but maybe he'll stick to his food from now on!

 

[Bama Mom]

Wow, you're trip is so soon. How exciting! Sorry about your furbaby passing. We currently have none but have had some in the past that cruched us when they passed away. They are very much family. Moose is a cutie!

Looking forward to more of your plans and a report once you get back.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Sorry about your furbaby passing. We currently have none but have had some in the past that cruched us when they passed away. They are very much family.

Thank you and !!They really are family and you ache when you lose one.

Moose is a cutie!

He sure is a handful!

Looking forward to more of your plans and a report once you get back.

Hopefully I am able to follow through with a whole trip report, I started one before and fizzled out.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Short update!

First of all - the kids are all packed and ready to go! I still have to pack for DH and myself, but it will only take a few moments to throw our stuff together, so I'm not concerned.

We were also able to rearrange a couple reservations to make a bit more sense to our touring style. For example, we had a reservation for the Rainforest Cafe at 2:20 on our Animal Kingdom day (not my first choice, but the kids wanted it!). I was able to get reservation for 6:45 that evening at the RC in DS instead! Animal Kingdom closes at 5pm, so we won't lose any precious and incredibly short park time that day!

Getting really excited now, we're down to two weeks before we go!!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Relatively productive day today!! The kids are fully packed for the trip (in a giant suitcase, I might add).

I also packed their road trip snacks for the ride there and the ride back (with the exception of the fresh fruit that I'll add right before we go). I snagged these meal prep containers at Aldi a couple of weeks ago for this exact purpose. Each kid's snacks are labeled and packed so hopefully we won't hear "DD12 ate mine!" "No I didn't!" "Well where is it then? It's not here!!"



Yes. I'm an optimist, but hey, what are you gonna do?

I've confirmed our rental car pick up on 1/21 so that we can pack and hopefully hit the road around 2am to avoid rush hour traffic. The first leg of our journey is about 10 hours, followed by 4 hours the next day.

And to help myself feel more prepared in the age of post covid with no FP+ planning, I bought a touring plans subscription. Why didn't anyone tell me how cool they are (Okay, so everyone here has been saying it forever but I don't always listen).

I mean, look at how cool this is!



Will we be able to meet the times listed? No, probably not. But that's okay - it gives us a good plan. If it falls apart, and with 5 kids that's almost a guarantee, at least it gives us a great starting point!

Trying to get the kids all a week ahead on schoolwork so they don't need to check in down there - wish me luck (and patience, definitely going to need extra patience!) 12 days til we leave!!

 

[ksanftleben]

I love your neatly-packed individual kids' road snacks. Wish I'd have thought of this 35 years ago when our two kids were little. Better believe I'm doing this next time we travel with our three granddaughters.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I love your neatly-packed individual kids' road snacks. Wish I'd have thought of this 35 years ago when our two kids were little. Better believe I'm doing this next time we travel with our three granddaughters.

First,
Thank you! When we went to get Moose, it was just me and the 5 kids and it was a 6 hour drive. I did a test run of prepackaged snacks and it worked out really, really well that trip! Hopefully this works out as well!!

 

[Ellester]

I always did individual bags when the kids were little. Heck, I still put initials on the sandwiches I pack now and my kids are 12, 16, 19, and 22! Saves SO much aggravation and the tendency for certain of kids to eat ALL the snacks first just to make sure he got what he wanted. Sounds like you are in good shape!

 

[MamaBelle4]

the tendency for certain of kids to eat ALL the snacks first just to make sure he got what he wanted.

First,

Second - this 1000%!! I bought a bunch of different snacks and went through kid by kid and let them pick out 4 things for each leg of the journey. That way they all got what they wanted!

 

[Ellester]

First,

Second - this 1000%!! I bought a bunch of different snacks and went through kid by kid and let them pick out 4 things for each leg of the journey. That way they all got what they wanted!

Thanks! Yeah, nothing like hearing from the backseat at 9:30am “I’m hungry and all the snacks are gone!” The joys of parenting!!!! This way they only have themselves to blame if they eat everything before the first state line and have to wait for their next meal! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[DLo]

Following along. I hope when you come back you will do a TR. Hope you have a magical time .