The time we took our Friends ... and had to postpone

[catherines_mama]

We are very excited for this upcoming trip. We get to go at “the holidays” AND we get to take some people who we consider some of “our favorite people”. For sake of anonymity, we will call them The Smiths (Dan, Tina & Josh) LOL. But I will likely post their pics but it’s okay.

This trip came to be when our dear friends were going through a very tough year this past Spring / Summer. DH and I truly love these friends. We’ve lived here for 2 ½ years and have found this family to be close to our hearts very quickly. Josh is right between DD13 and DS12 and Dan & Tina get along great with DH and I. DH and I wanted to do something wonderful for them. We also wanted to do something wonderful with our family. We decided to plan this trip and invite them to join us. Things aren’t stable yet for them, so there might be a chance they can’t come last minute – and that’s okay. We’ll have to be flexible.

The details:

When - 1st week of December – the week RIGHT after Thanksgiving. Sunday – Saturday stay. DS12 and DD9 will be in FL with their mother for Thanksgiving so we’ll just piggy back off that and when we pick them up, we’ll go to Disney. YES the kids will all miss a week of school – Oh well!

Where – Right now we are booked in a 2 bedroom at SSR our HOME resort. We did it right at 11 months. At 7 months, I am going to try to move to AKV-Kidani. We want to have the benefit of the extra potty with our crew. If we cannot get AKV, we’ll be happy at SSR or OKW since they have more sq. footage. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Who – Our family: DH, ME, DD13, DS12, DD9. The Smiths: Tina, Dan & Josh12 (by the trip DS and Josh will also be 13). So we will have 3 13year olds on our hands!!! WOOHOO So fun! The boys can get nutty sometimes, but DH keeps saying they might grow up a bit by then. LOL

Dining – We’ll use TiW. Dining Plan with teens does not make sense in my opinion. DH and I are doing a couple days at BWV over Spring Break in a few weeks, we’ll buy it there.

 

[catherines_mama]

Tomorrow is a big day- I call in at our 7mos mark and change over to AKL - Kidani. I checked today for checkin 11/29 and it's wide open.

We are going to go for 2 Bdrm lock-off. I thought that Incase they have to cancel close to (within the limit) we can just modify to a 1 Bdrm and drop the studio. Figured that'd be easier then changing from dedicated 2 Bdrm to a 1 Bdrm at 60 days.

I've also been working on tentative FP+ plans and touring plans given Josh's suggestions. No days yet just plans within each park. I hope he releases DEC soon.

Exciting stuff!!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We have almost the exact same plan as you going on, except in January instead of after Thanksgiving. I'm patiently waiting for the 7 month window to roll around to switch from SSR to AKV-Kidani as well. We'll be going with my husband's family, BIL, SIL, MIL and niece.

Have you traveled with these friends before? A trip to Disney with some very good friends a few years ago nearly ruined our relationship with them. It took years to get on reasonable terms again.

Good luck switching tomorrow!

 

[catherines_mama]

Have you traveled with these friends before? A trip to Disney with some very good friends a few years ago nearly ruined our relationship with them. It took years to get on reasonable terms again. Good luck switching tomorrow!

Yes and no. DD13 and I have gone with friends when it was just us. Pre-DH. And I've taken the kids alone with a friend alone and her kids.

I'm laid back enough and I THINK I know them well enough to anticipate and avoid anything too bad. The good thing about DVC is WE will be back so we can very much make this about them and enjoying the experience with them and won't need to make it about what we want to do. That's what I'm hoping for anyway. This was all DHs idea. If it goes terribly wrong we can all blame him. My biggest worry is my patience level with 2 12yo boys. I have permission to mother yell at him and it goes both ways .. But that's my biggest worry.

 

[catherines_mama]

So it's official. We have moved to AKV-Kidani. There was a 40 min wait at Member Services this morning because the special pass offer final day is today. So I swallowed hard and did it online.

Couldn't get the 2 Bdrm lock-off so we did a 2 Bdrm.

I'm still so excited!!!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

So it's official. We have moved to AKV-Kidani. There was a 40 min wait at Member Services this morning because the special pass offer final day is today. So I swallowed hard and did it online.

Couldn't get the 2 Bdrm lock-off so we did a 2 Bdrm.

I'm still so excited!!!

Yeah! I find switching my own reservations so terrifying it actually makes me shake from nervousness while doing it. Congrats on the move to AKV.

 

[DVC Sue]

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[catherines_mama]

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Thank you Sue!! I'm starting to actually PLAN. Things are crazy busy life wise so I always line to go to my happy place to cope. Planning a trip is such a great coping mechanism.

 

[catherines_mama]

I'm reaffirmed to do this with our friends. DH has been out if town for work since Easter. Because of his hours and the distance he can't come home. Tina and Dan have been my saviors. With 3 busy kids, I'm 1 mom and they've picked up my slack a ton giving kids rides home from after school stuff when I've got another one on the other side of town.

Earlier this week DH arranged with Tina to take the kids to the mall so they could Mothers Day shop for me. . They had fun and she says they were really good. I leave Monday for a quick business trip so I used the alone time for a quick mani/pedi.

This is Tina's 1st Mothers Day without her mom. I know it's going to be hard. DD13 and I decided we are going to buy her a rose bush, she's been wanting to start a rose garden. She's done so much for me lately- I'm excited to get this for her.

Planning wise, I've put our tentative dining plan together for their review along with a budget. I know it's overwhelming if you don't go often like we do. I'm trying to make it digestible. ADR window opens 5/30!! It's getting real!

 

[catherines_mama]

Would December hours please come out!! I'm gonna go bananas! 11 days from 180 day window for our ADRs. I'm making some guesses based on Nov schedule and the MVMCP dates. I wonder how close i'll be.

 

[sophia315]

Would December hours please come out!! I'm gonna go bananas! 11 days from 180 day window for our ADRs. I'm making some guesses based on Nov schedule and the MVMCP dates. I wonder how close i'll be.

Agreed - just publish them already!!!

 

[stevelee]

what are the hours good for? sorry maybe i am missing something...

 

[catherines_mama]

Knowing the park hours help you know what days each park has EMH. So if you want to your avoiding, or using, EMH you know that. If you want to make a dinner reservation based on a park closing or Fantasmic timing, you know that.

For us, we are not going to "hop" given the remaining questions with FP+, so we are going to avoid EMH days and just do rope drops. So I'd like to know park hours to plan what park what day. Many ADRs are in the park so it's great to know by the 180 day ADR window.

 

[stevelee]

Thanks. Makes sense!

 

[marron5]

Do you think they will eventually allow for multiple parks per day with FP+? Why does it seem they are discouraging park hopping?

 

[catherines_mama]

Do you think they will eventually allow for multiple parks per day with FP+? Why does it seem they are discouraging park hopping?

It sounds like they are moving in that direction. But planning so far out, I wanted to know our plan and not stress. We've gone no hop before so no big, but I do enjoy hoping, even for a meal or evening activity. If we get weather on HS day and miss the lights or Fantasmic... We couldn't hop to go back.

I don't think they are discouraging it. I just don't think they thought out the FP+ scenarios and the result of them.

 

[catherines_mama]

So it seems like I waited forever for Dec hours to be released and while I waited I guessed based on Nov and last year trends - Hours are posted and Josh has posted his recommendations - I did pretty well!!

Here are our plans

Sunday: We will be in S. Florida for Thanksgiving so we'll head up to AKV and check-in early in the day. We'll bounce over and have some fun at DTD, the pool and do some grocery shopping until our room is ready. Tina and fam will drive down from NC and meet us in the evening. Being Floridians we LOVE Bahama Breeze and will take them to dinner there as a way to open vacation.

Monday: Hollywood Studios We'll have lunch at 50's Primetime and enjoy the lights and Fantasmic in the evening. I'm really not ready to plan out FP+ yet. This is all so new to me. Getting this much detail is all I've really done before.

Tuesday: Animal Kingdom all day until we drop. For me this has always been around 2PM. We'll spend the evening at DTD - we LOVE Earl of Sandwich

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom Rope Drop and maybe a mid day break - we'll see. I'm going to try to book the Wishes Dessert Party. I know with 8 ppl it might be hard. We have just gotten tired of the crowds during parade & Wishes and with so many people would like to relax. I'd love to do this as a surprise.

Thursday: Epcot will be a busy day. We'll do the earliest Cape May breakfast I can get then head to Epcot for the day. We'll also do an early Candlelight processional package dinner (thinking Rose & Crown) and see Candlelight processional AND Illuminations. with 3 13 year olds Epcot will be interesting me thinks. We'll see

Friday: Last full day in parks for me... always has to be MK. We'll do rope drop again and enjoy the day. It's a party day so we'll had over to Ohana for dinner to end the week.

Head back to AKV and send the men and kids to swim while us mamas pack.

Saturday we all head back north. I'm sure I'll lose a child or two to ride home with them LOL

That's our week. I get to make ADRs on Tuesday.

 

[catherines_mama]

Okay!! I got all my ADRs for all the desired times!

The only thing I didn't get was the Wishes Dessert Party. I called DINE and they also couldn't book it, not even for a party of 2. So it's odd, they thought so too. So they told me to keep checking back. If we don't get it, we'll make a plan B. Maybe parade from Frontier Land (less busy) then find a spot somewhere for Wishes that is close but NOT Main St. We shall see.

Next: July and the CP package booking!!

 

[catherines_mama]

I'm very excited that Tuesday Candlelight Processional Dinner Package should be released and I can book that.

 

[Pbuttadad]

I hear Jodi benson is the celebrity guest that week. Very cool. We will be there the same time just different schedules at the parks. By chance, did you see that they changed EMH's?