The Smith's "yes, we are to Disney AGAIN" PreTrip Report!

[Tnkrbelle565]

Hello Fellow DISers...after many years of dispensing my disney knowledge on the Disboards, I finally decided to write a Pre-Trip/Trip report this year. Actually, I started a trip report last year...in WORD! Never made it onto Disboards because it took me so long to write, that I started forgetting the particulars about the trip. So I'm going to start nice and early this year...which unfortunately means...if you are one of my kind readers, there will probably be a lapse between my pre-trip report and my actual trip report!

So How about the Cast of Characters?

First me: I'm Kristine. I'm 31 and yes, I'm completely obsessed with all things Disney. It started a LONG time ago...32 years ago to be exact. If you've read my other posts, you might remember that I'm a Disney Souvenir. Here is my mommy standing in front of Cindy's castle on that fateful trip...completely unaware that she was expecting ME

My parents clearly enjoyed the fact that I'm a Disney Souvenir because they chose to take me to Disney year after year...and dress me like this:

Actually truth be told, my dad was the Disney fan. He just got it. My mother, bless her heart, never got it. She still doesn't get it. She still asks me yearly "you are going to Disney AGAIN?, Don't you get bored of it?" My dad sadly passed away 4 years ago. But I'm keeping the family Disney loving tradition alive for him.


Next Character of course is DH:

He's 32 and not quite a Disney Hater. He's worse than a Disney Hater. He complains all year that "his wife" won't plan any vacations that aren't Disney related. However, once we get there...he has more fun than me and DD combined. He loves amusement parks and is pretty much a big kid. DH works nights so we actually don't see each other much during the week. Vacations are the only time of year we actually see each other for any stretch of time. In addition to his regular job, DH also coaches Football for our town. He actually agrees to go to Disney during football season. So I guess I have to love him for that!

DH and I have been married for 6 years. We didn't get to go away for our first wedding anniversary because I was extremely pregnant. This was not planned but we've learned to take our blessings when we get them. I have PCOS and had been told to plan on fertility treatments to get pregnant. Well all is took was a little pixie dust because 5 months after our wedding GUESS WHAT! Needless to say we spent our first anniversary with him enjoying the champagne and me enjoying the top tier of our wedding cake.

Every anniversary since then, we have spent at Disney. Let me take this time to clarify a few things 1) we have gone other places besides Disney and 2) I've never told my hubby that Epcot was just as good as going to the real countries. If he read this, he would insist that I have. However, if it wasn't for me, he wouldn't even has a passport. And it's not my fault that I caught the travel bug young and worked hard when I was younger so that I could spend time traveling when I was in college (I interned in Europe for a year so I got to travel a LOT!). But, I love Disney and I find it the perfect place to take our DD on vacation.

Seems like a good time to introduce you to DD.

. She is 4 going on 24! She shared my obsession with Disney. She only enjoys watching the Disney channel. She decorated her bedroom in Lilo and Stitch and then HSM. The only question she asks her Dr at her physicals is how tall she is so she knows how many rides she can ride at Disney. She was born premature but you wouldn't know it now. At 45 inches, she will be able to get on all buy two rides this year That scares me...not her.

This will be DD's 3rd trip to DisneyWorld (she's also been to Disneyland). I probably should mention that my love of Disney did not include bringing a baby with us on our trips. So, she stayed home with her grandmother for the first couple of years. Since someone may ask: No: I did not feel bad; yes: she does know we were at Disney w/o her; yes, we missed her when we saw other families with children the same age...but we quickly got over it. So DD got to go once she was potty trained.

NEXT UP: You're Staying at AKL??? Again???

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Just wanted to add an apology...no clue why photobucket is making some of the above photos so huge.

 

[jham]

Hey, am I first? I can't wait to read all about it! I love seeing pictures of your family and I love the little Kristine pictures!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Thank you! You are my first reader (or at least the first who admitted to it!)!!! I was cute wasn't I????

 

[minnie2]

How fun! I love these trip reports! I can't wait to read more.

i am so sorry about your dad. I lost mine back in 1991 so I understand about keeping your dad alive.

Don't you just love when drs tell you you need special treatment to have a baby and you prove them wrong?!?!?! That happened to us with DD they told us ' It is highly unlikely you will ever conceive naturally' well the next month I was pg with Nikki!

any way I can't wait to read more!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

How fun! I love these trip reports! I can't wait to read more.

i am so sorry about your dad. I lost mine back in 1991 so I understand about keeping your dad alive.

Don't you just love when drs tell you you need special treatment to have a baby and you prove them wrong?!?!?! That happened to us with DD they told us ' It is highly unlikely you will ever conceive naturally' well the next month I was pg with Nikki!

any way I can't wait to read more!

When I was having the conversation with my Dr about my fertility options...I was pregnant! Because I have PCOS, I didn't have the "normal" way of knowing so I was 2 months before I found out. I didn't know until I had to place two children one night and I was falling asleep driving back from Boston. Yes, I did enjoy calling my drs office saying "ya, I won't be needing the fertility treatments"

Thanks about my dad. Sorry about yours too.

 

[t-beri]

WOW Kristine, you and I have SO much in common! I am sorry about your dad's passing, I hope you have a blast at WDW in honor of him.

I don't think Lily would EVER get to go to WDW if we waited for her to be potty trained

I can't wait to read more!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Thanks for reading!!!

 

[teresajoy]

Great start, and you are just cute as a button!!!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Here's a little more:

As you can see from my signature, the first few trips to Disney (as an adult) were spent at POP. I enjoyed POP....truly I did. I loved the theming and the tie-dyed cheesecake YUM!!! I especially liked the cost Truth be told, I never really explored the resort. We always stayed in the 60s so I pretty much only saw that, the Hippy Dippy Pool, and the lobby area.

So POP was all well and good until last year. Last year was our 5th anniversary and DH and I decided to try to stay at a "nicer" hotel. Now my dream has always been to stay at AKL since it opened. However, I could never justify the cost (I've very much on the "how much time do you spend in your room" team). However, since this was a special anniversary, we decided to bump it up to a moderate (Caribbean Beach). So that was the plan, UNTIL....

Fast forward to January. We were in the middle of a deep freeze in Boston. It was my birthday. As always, i was procrastinating at work by checking the DISboards...and I noticed that several DISers were getting 20, 30, or 40% off codes. Seems that the CMs were giving extra pixie dust because a lot of people seemed to be getting these offers not by the usual pin code means but by calling and asking if they had a code attached to their name. So as I was driving home from work, I decided to call CRO. Got the sweetest CM. Asked if by any chance I had a code. She left and came back. "Yes, I do have a deal that you are eligible for" I probably should add in here that I am the unluckiest person known to man...seriously...I never win contests, on the rare occasion I step foot into a casino- I immediately lose, I will never be picked by the Dream Squad at Disney. But this time I got some serious pixie dust.

Because I'm a compulsive Disney planner I basically knew the prices for the various resorts. As I'm a social worker, I cannot do math in my head. So here I am, trying to drive home, extremely excited, trying to do math. CM never told me what deal I was getting but I finally figured out that it was 40% off. Well if you are going to get 40% off, you might as well stay at a Deluxe right? So I had her change my plans from CB to AKL. Was it a birthday gift from Disney? A Dream? A little Pixie Dust? I guess I'll never know. But I do know that I got to stay at AKL for 40% off. The funniest part was me trying to write down my confirmation info. If you recall, I said that it was a deep freeze here in NE...and every pen in my car was frozen solid. Took about 10 pens to write down one confirmation number.

So that was last year. So why are we staying there again? Well, that's DH's fault. Literally, we were not at AKL 10 minutes and that man declared that he would NEVER stay in a value resort again. To this day, I don't know what exactly he discovered in 10 minutes but he was hooked. Then when we got upstairs to our room and THIS

was the view from our room...everyone else was sold too. Seriously, i wish i had gotten a picture of DD's face. She knew that we were staying at a place named AKL but didn't know that there were actual animals there. DD is CRAZY about wild animals. We have been members of our local zoo since she was born and she would STILL go every week if we let her. She thinks of the animals as her own and has made friends with half the zookeepers and knows most of the animals by their given names (i don't mean like giraffe, I mean like Beau, Autumn, and Sox...the giraffes). Anyway, she was absolutely thrilled with the Savannah View...she didn't leave the balcony the whole first night.

Well, of course during our trip, we were offered a bounceback. And in fairness to me, I did inquire about the prices to stay at cheaper hotels. But then my husband reminded me of his declaration that he would not stay at a value again (I swear, if he didn't have a Boston accent, I would say that you could almost hear the Scarlet O'Hara in him). Then I had to listen to his tirade about how he works LOTs of overtime all year and he deserves to treat his family to a nice vacation (somehow I recall that I also pay for our vacations...but I'll let him keep believing that he's treating us...good for the self-esteem ).

So there it is...the reason we are staying at AKL again! SOOOO Sept 5-13th that's where you'll find us!!!

Up next: A brief TR of our last AKL stay. (yes, I mean brief...but I will throw in more pics next time).

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Thought I would throw a picture of our whole cast in here (with Snow White because she is DD's favorite):

The lovely lady on the left is my mom (I didn't know if you would recognize her with the shorter hair and lack of bell bottoms from the Castle pic!). For someone who doesn't "get" Disney...she sure looks like she is having fun. This pic is from our 2006 trip. My mom came with us so that DH and I could have some "alone time"...I think the woman is desperate for more grandchildren! (I should add that I do have siblings but one lives in Los Angeles and the other in Utah so my mom is really only close to me...both in the literal and figurative sense). I just realized that she is obviously standing in front of the prince in this photo because my mom is quite short and she looks the same height as me in this pic...ODD!

 

[t-beri]

BRAVO!!! This year is B and my 5th anniversary. I am trying to covertly plan a weekend at AKL. This seems glutonous because we are going to wdw for the weekend w/ my folks in july and then B has a music gig at a walkathon in Orlando the 2nd weekend in aug. so I talked him into staying over fri AND sat nights then we have our annual trip (which sadly has progressed to staying off property which is long story)But I think if I wait to book I can get a pretty good passholder rate then since it is off peak. Well, keep your fingers crossed. He is only interested if we get a savana room.

Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans!

..t.

 

[HeatherSue]

Woo-hoo!! Another reason to procrastinate on updating my own TR!!

Your family is so stinkin' cute! You are too funny, too. Thanks for pointing out your mother in the pic. You're right, I wouldn't have recognized her sans bell-bottoms!

I LOVE the old pictures. Look at you in your Mickey ears and shirt- ADORABLE!!!

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[minnie2]

YEAH AKL! And with a code even better! Tell your DH since he loves it so much maybe you guys should buy in Kidani village like we just did My DH said he didn't want to stay in a value resort and I am in the same club as you 'How much time are we really in the room?' My DH was just like you guys always wanted to stay in AKL but it was always out of the question because of price. Well 2 weeks ago to my shock DH was all for buying into AKLV! They have a great deal going on so even though I have never stayed there or anywhere on property before we know own 1.2%


You said you were in Boston? I love Boston! DH ad I actually went there on our honeymoon many many moons ago! Also my grandparents lived on the cape and the other side of my family moved there from Ireland. So I love Mass!
I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Woo-hoo!! Another reason to procrastinate on updating my own TR!!

Your family is so stinkin' cute! You are too funny, too. Thanks for pointing out your mother in the pic. You're right, I wouldn't have recognized her sans bell-bottoms!

I LOVE the old pictures. Look at you in your Mickey ears and shirt- ADORABLE!!!

Can't wait to read more!!

Thank you! I did ask my mom whether that picture was taken either before or after going to Disney as she couldn't remember...so I'm guessing that means that I just wore Mickey ears around the house on occasion???

I did find a couple of other old photos from Disney that I will have to scan and add in. They feature some FABULOUS late 70s/early 80's attire and hair. Although that does not beat the late 80's photos that include spiral perms, high bangs, and tight rolled acid wash jeans...seriously...I could have been in Honey I Shrunk The Kids (you like that reference to your TR??? )

YEAH AKL! And with a code even better! Tell your DH since he loves it so much maybe you guys should buy in Kidani village like we just did My DH said he didn't want to stay in a value resort and I am in the same club as you 'How much time are we really in the room?' My DH was just like you guys always wanted to stay in AKL but it was always out of the question because of price. Well 2 weeks ago to my shock DH was all for buying into AKLV! They have a great deal going on so even though I have never stayed there or anywhere on property before we know own 1.2%


You said you were in Boston? I love Boston! DH ad I actually went there on our honeymoon many many moons ago! Also my grandparents lived on the cape and the other side of my family moved there from Ireland. So I love Mass!
I can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!!

We did briefly think about buying into DVC and if we had done it 5 trips ago...it probably would have saved us a ton of cash!! But this might be our last Sept trip for awhile. DD will be starting Kindergarten next year and I'm not sure how I feel about pulling her out right at the beginning of the year. I orginally said that we wouldn't be going to Disney at all in 2009 but now I'm rethinking that. I might try to at least do a long weekend trip...even if it's girls only. The plan is for her to go to a local Catholic school so I'm guessing that there will be plenty of long weekend/holy days that I can work around

We do live in Boston and by "live in Boston", I mean we live about 30 minutes north of the city. It is a very fun city. I'm completely a city girl by nature. My dream is to live in a brownstone in the city BUT then I remember I'm a social worker so I'm guessing that one won't come true BTW, most of the city is Irish. I lived/worked in Ireland for a year and they knew I was from Boston not by my accent (which I actually don't have because I was a duel major in college...social work and THEATRE!!) but because there are a LOT of young people from Boston working in Ireland! They call Boston the "33rd County" St. Patrick's Day is a FAR bigger holiday here than it is over there but I'm sure you're family has mentioned that.

 

[minnie2]

You will be going even when your little girl is in school it is inevitable! Trust me I have been there done that! Dh and fought about taking the kids out of school for one mre day meaning they would be out of school for 6 days instead of 5. He was not for it then he brings up possibly going the same school yr in Feb I actually vetoed it and said lets do it the fallowing Nov but we haven't made up our minds yet. You can always go on school breaks

Oh trust me I know the Irish in Mass! I am a good little Irish girl with my blonde hair and blue eye and my dd actually started out a red head then turned blonde! I actually took her to the dentist ad our dentist couldn't get over how Irish she looked it is a good thing I was Irish because he was so adimit that she was SOOO irish! don't tell my DH side of the family they insist the kids are all Russian! UM they are half me!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

You will be going even when your little girl is in school it is inevitable! Trust me I have been there done that! Dh and fought about taking the kids out of school for one mre day meaning they would be out of school for 6 days instead of 5. He was not for it then he brings up possibly going the same school yr in Feb I actually vetoed it and said lets do it the fallowing Nov but we haven't made up our minds yet. You can always go on school breaks

Oh trust me I know the Irish in Mass! I am a good little Irish girl with my blonde hair and blue eye and my dd actually started out a red head then turned blonde! I actually took her to the dentist ad our dentist couldn't get over how Irish she looked it is a good thing I was Irish because he was so adimit that she was SOOO irish! don't tell my DH side of the family they insist the kids are all Russian! UM they are half me!

Definately not opposed to taking her out and DH would NEVER argue about that. But, I figured that I should at least see how she is going to be doing in school (and get a feel for how the school feels about pulling kids out) before I plan a trip! I'm not concerned about her academic performance in school...I'm more concerned about her "social skills" I plan on getting many phone calls that she won't shut up in class (doesn't take after me at all does she??)

So now I just have to figure out WHEN I want to pull her out. I'm absolutely opposed to going during school break times. I can't ask a child to stand in a line that I don't have the patience to wait in. We go in Sept (and put up with the heat) just so we can walk onto rides.

 

[minnie2]

Definately not opposed to taking her out and DH would NEVER argue about that. But, I figured that I should at least see how she is going to be doing in school (and get a feel for how the school feels about pulling kids out) before I plan a trip! I'm not concerned about her academic performance in school...I'm more concerned about her "social skills" I plan on getting many phone calls that she won't shut up in class (doesn't take after me at all does she??)

So now I just have to figure out WHEN I want to pull her out. I'm absolutely opposed to going during school break times. I can't ask a child to stand in a line that I don't have the patience to wait in. We go in Sept (and put up with the heat) just so we can walk onto rides.

I guess because I hate my kids schools principal i am more i will pul them out when I want! LOL i know that is wring BUT I have had many issues with this principal. Like her not caring my DD has specail dietery needs that even affect her every day class stuff. She has Celiac and can't have anything with wheat in it so she can't do certain crafts or even play with reg play dough and this principal handled it awful. Then the other main issue was the schools in town had bomb threats and she felt it was a good idea to announce it over the announcement before the parents were notified This is an elementary school that only goes up to 5th grade so imo they are to young to hear about this from any one BUt the parents. JMO. When I called her on it se said kids were coming to her about it. Yeah smart blaming the kids! Any way I figure my kid my rules. I know very bad but I have been burnt.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I guess because I hate my kids schools principal i am more i will pul them out when I want! LOL i know that is wring BUT I have had many issues with this principal. Like her not caring my DD has specail dietery needs that even affect her every day class stuff. She has Celiac and can't have anything with wheat in it so she can't do certain crafts or even play with reg play dough and this principal handled it awful. Then the other main issue was the schools in town had bomb threats and she felt it was a good idea to announce it over the announcement before the parents were notified This is an elementary school that only goes up to 5th grade so imo they are to young to hear about this from any one BUt the parents. JMO. When I called her on it se said kids were coming to her about it. Yeah smart blaming the kids! Any way I figure my kid my rules. I know very bad but I have been burnt.

I don't blame you...that's awful. All of my cousins have celiac too...I haven't brought myself to have the blood test because I have no will power when it comes to dietary restrictions

In this day in age, with email and reverse 911, the parents should have been notified ASAP about this. I wouldn't worry about pulling them out of that school either.

 

[minnie2]

How wild your cousins are celiac too
Ihope they are doing well with the diet. Thankfully my dd is so good with it better then I could be

It get worse with the principal that is just the main things!

Looking forward to more trip reports!