The trip that might not, oops scratch that, IS HAPPENING!!! Sept 1-9 PTR.

[drsvanhorn]

So are you confused as to why I'm writing my first ever PTR for a trip that might not happen? Well 1) I need to pass the time until the trip and 2) I'm keeping the dream alive that we will still be going on the trip.

I will get into the title later but for now on to the introductions.

Me- 34 year old chiropractor with my own office who loves Disney World so much I swear I'd put my chiropractic office on Main Street U.S.A. if I could.

DH- 32 year old music lover who goes to Disney because he knows I love it and secretly he loves it too. This will be his 2nd trip to the World. He is an inventory specialist and is getting his Bachelor's in Music Production online.

DD- 12 year old drama queen who says she will always love the princesses no matter how old and cool she is. Her words, not mine. This trip she will have just turned 13 four days before we leave. She has no idea we are going. She has been to MK twice but the rest of the parks only once.

DS3- My 3 year old "wild man". He loves mickey mouse clubhouse and the rest of playhouse disney and has gained a new adoration for spiderman. Can't wait for him to see the Avengers monorail. This will be his first trip to the World and he says he wants to ride the T-rex ride, AKA Dinosaur. We will see about that.

DS0- My 1 month old son who will be 5 months in Sept when we go. Wasn't sure about taking him at first but over a week without him I can't even fathom, so he's going and will be the best behaved of the group probably.

We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside in a garden view room with park hoppers and free dining. I have never stayed at a moderate before and I love the look of POR, I can't wait!

That's all for now but I will explain the title tonight as well as go over our dining plans.

 

[tofubeast]

Subbing in!! Hoping your trip becomes reality!! Will be fun to read your experience, especially since going with a toddler. We will be going in Dec. with my then 26 month year old. Should be fun!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Moodyzblu]

I'll join in and send you lots of pixie dust in hopes your trip DOES happen !!

 

[Elleshoodat]

Ohhh, I SO hope you get to take your trip! And yay for Port Orleans. French Quarter, then Riverside are my favorite mods.

You are right that DS0 will be the best-behaved member of your group. After our trip, I am fully convinced it would've been easier to take DS as an infant than a toddler!

 

[drsvanhorn]

Subbing in!! Hoping your trip becomes reality!! Will be fun to read your experience, especially since going with a toddler. We will be going in Dec. with my then 26 month year old. Should be fun!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining in.

I'll join in and send you lots of pixie dust in hopes your trip DOES happen !!

Thanks for the pixie dust, I'm hopeful we will be going but won't believe it until its paid in full.

Ohhh, I SO hope you get to take your trip! And yay for Port Orleans. French Quarter, then Riverside are my favorite mods.

You are right that DS0 will be the best-behaved member of your group. After our trip, I am fully convinced it would've been easier to take DS as an infant than a toddler!

I'm sooo excited for POR I've heard so many great things about it!

 

[drsvanhorn]

A little background on my love of Disney...
My first 2 trips to Disney World included my mom, sister, grandparents and two sets of aunt uncles and cousins. We would get 2 Cabins at fort wilderness and it was so cool being together as a family. We don't get together much anymore so I really miss those days and I think thats where part of my love for Disney comes from.

Now to answer the question as to why the trip might not happen...
So I booked this trip the beginning of March when free dining came out for Disney Visa Card holders intending to use our tax return to pay for the trip.I have been holding onto the return to put it into savings and collect some interest until payment is due on our trip July 18. Well this past Monday I had a financial issue at my office and had to deposit my entire tax return into my account, including the money for our trip. I wanted to cry because it felt like our trip was going straight down the tubes. I plan on replacing the money when the issue is resolved, but it still feels like our trip is gone.

We got all our financial house in order and the trip is ON for sure!!

Dining details and the special celebrations on our trip up next...

 

[MK2010]

Ooh Ooh! I can totally relate! We had a trip planned and then all the money had to go for hospital bills. i waited a few months then started planning again. Turns out we're going back 4 months earler than we would have!

 

[drsvanhorn]

Ooh Ooh! I can totally relate! We had a trip planned and then all the money had to go for hospital bills. i waited a few months then started planning again. Turns out we're going back 4 months earler than we would have!

You can't beat that, getting to go earlier. I'm optimistic we are going, but boy it was hard seeing that money go so fast.

 

[LegoMom3]

Subbing cuz you are taking the trip that I can't take this year!! Our family of 5 discovered POR by default back in '06 (the only affordable option) but we LOVE. IT....!!! It is hands down my favorite resort (I've stayed at a few others by myself). The atmosphere is so relaxing and it truly is a refuge from the busyness of the parks. The pool area on the island is fantastic.

Anyway, can't wait to read about your dining plans! YAY for Free Dining!!

 

[MK2010]

Hey guess what? I just noticed that we'll be there at the same time! Our trip is Sept. 1-12!

 

[drsvanhorn]

Subbing cuz you are taking the trip that I can't take this year!! Our family of 5 discovered POR by default back in '06 (the only affordable option) but we LOVE. IT....!!! It is hands down my favorite resort (I've stayed at a few others by myself). The atmosphere is so relaxing and it truly is a refuge from the busyness of the parks. The pool area on the island is fantastic.

Anyway, can't wait to read about your dining plans! YAY for Free Dining!!

I can't wait to check out POR and take my DS3 fishing.

Hey guess what? I just noticed that we'll be there at the same time! Our trip is Sept. 1-12!

Where are you staying?? We are trip buddies!!

 

[MK2010]

We're staying offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek this time. We got Y.E.S. tickets so we weren't eligible for the dining plan and I needed an affordable option that would allow me to feed my family without eating out every meal. I'm super excited about it though! I never thought I would be excited about staying off property after our last stay on property, but I am looking forward to it! We'll have to meet up and ride something together!

 

[drsvanhorn]

We're staying offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek this time. We got Y.E.S. tickets so we weren't eligible for the dining plan and I needed an affordable option that would allow me to feed my family without eating out every meal. I'm super excited about it though! I never thought I would be excited about staying off property after our last stay on property, but I am looking forward to it! We'll have to meet up and ride something together!

Yes we will have to meet up for sure!!

 

[drsvanhorn]

So here is the run down of our dining choices:
9/1- 5pm Chef Mickeys(I'm making this our first place to eat for 2 reasons, 1 being I want to start our vacation in MK and 2 this is the first character meal I did as a kid on our second family trip and I looved it! This will be a good warm up to the characters for DS3.

9/2- 4pm Garden Grill(Never done this meal or even ate here before so its a first for us all, which most of the ADRs will be a first.)

9/3- 7:30am Ohana(I'm so looking forward to this one after reading about it on others trip reports. Another plus is DD13 loves Stitch.)

9/4- 12pm Biergarten(My son loves music and my grandmother was German so another win-win choice.)

9/5- 5pm T-REX(My DS3 loves dinosaurs, especially T-rex so I'm hoping he will love this restaurant. Do you guys think he will be scared of the big dinosaurs in here? We've watch a bunch of videos on youtube of the restaurant and he loves it, but I'm not sure how he will like it in person.)

9/7- 8am Hollywood and Vine(Doing for the playhouse disney characters for DS3.)

9/8- 8:05am Crystal Palace(Another one I've heard great things about, and I can't wait to be in MK before rope drop!.)

I want to do 50's Prime Time one night we go to HS, so probably on 9/3, just haven't made the ADR yet.

For our celebrations for the trip we have DD's 13th birthday and DS3 and DS0's first trip. I'm trying to figure out how to do the reveal to DD12 on Monday before her trip on her birthday. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Up next: Arrival Day!!

 

[Elleshoodat]

I completely understand having financial issues. We had to postpone our latest trip by 7 months due to some unexpected expenses, but we bounced back and I know you will, too.

Love, love, love your ADR choices. 'Ohana is on our must-do list for next trip, and you have some fun character meals planned, too.

How did you like the FW cabins growing up? I've thought about them for future trips when we take my parents...

 

[drsvanhorn]

I completely understand having financial issues. We had to postpone our latest trip by 7 months due to some unexpected expenses, but we bounced back and I know you will, too.

Love, love, love your ADR choices. 'Ohana is on our must-do list for next trip, and you have some fun character meals planned, too.

How did you like the FW cabins growing up? I've thought about them for future trips when we take my parents...

Thanks! I really enjoyed staying at the cabins. My favorite was the activities they had on the beach at night and riding the boat to MK. Oh and the electrical water pageant! I also remember taking the boat to River Country and loving all the things there. I really miss that place! I think the when we went either the first or second time EPCOT had just recently opened. I remember also having to get your hand stamped to get back in the park for later in the day and waiting in line with my mom in the July Florida heat at age 5 throwing a fit because I didn't want to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My mom will still tell you how much of a brat I was that trip.

It's weird thinking back to when there were ONLY 2 parks! Wow times have changed!

 

[MK2010]

I love your ADR choices. My last trip with the family was in 2009, my baby was 4 at the time. He loved T-Rex. All of my kids say their favorite meal from that trip was the OHana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. We aren't doing meals in the park this time, but if we were I'd like to do CP for breakfast, Tusker House breakfast and early dinner at Rainforest at AK. 1900 Park Fare Supercalafragilistic. Right now those are the only character meals I would really, really look forward to. I love how WDW offers so many different choices for character meals and even different settings for some of the same characters!

 

[drsvanhorn]

I love your ADR choices. My last trip with the family was in 2009, my baby was 4 at the time. He loved T-Rex. All of my kids say their favorite meal from that trip was the OHana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. We aren't doing meals in the park this time, but if we were I'd like to do CP for breakfast, Tusker House breakfast and early dinner at Rainforest at AK. 1900 Park Fare Supercalafragilistic. Right now those are the only character meals I would really, really look forward to. I love how WDW offers so many different choices for character meals and even different settings for some of the same characters!

Thanks!! I was worried at first my DS3 would be scared in T-REX but after reading other TRs with toddlers at T-REX, I'm sure he will be fine. We have watched videos of the restaurant over and over and over too.

Next update tonight, sorry its been so long, its been hectic around here lately.

 

[Elleshoodat]

Thanks! I really enjoyed staying at the cabins. My favorite was the activities they had on the beach at night and riding the boat to MK. Oh and the electrical water pageant! I also remember taking the boat to River Country and loving all the things there. I really miss that place! I think the when we went either the first or second time EPCOT had just recently opened. I remember also having to get your hand stamped to get back in the park for later in the day and waiting in line with my mom in the July Florida heat at age 5 throwing a fit because I didn't want to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. My mom will still tell you how much of a brat I was that trip.

It's weird thinking back to when there were ONLY 2 parks! Wow times have changed!

I remember those days, too, and it is weird. I can hardly remember when there were just two parks. That doesn't mean we're getting older, does it?

Thanks for the info on the cabins. We never made it to River Country, but I sure wish it was still open.

 

[drsvanhorn]

I hope everyone is still sticking around. I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last update, but it's been a super busy week at work.

We plan on leaving South Carolina after I get off work on Friday, August 31. That will be around 7 or 8. We will drive into Orlando and stay at a cheap off-site hotel for the night.

We will check in at POR early in the morning. If our rooms are ready that will be great, if not we will either explore the resort and swim or head to Magic Kingdom to get the vacation started right away! We have a 5pm ADR at Chef Mickeys, so we will have the evening in MK for sure to watch Spectromagic and Wishes.

I'm thinking about hanging out at the resort and then head to MK to see the parade and catch a few things, if possible before our ADR.

I loooove the CR, so I can't wait for this meal!

I don't really have any must do's for MK on this day, but it would be great to get in a few rides. Maybe POC, Haunted Mansion and Buzz. I know thats all over the park, or maybe we will just hang out in Adventureland. Any suggestions??

Next up is Day 2.