mchelle77
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2009
I was waiting until I was 70 days away from our trip to start a journal, so since today is "technically" (and I'll get to that) 70 days from departure, I decided to start it. I need to be able to chat with people who get it.
My DH (Russ) and I (Michelle) have been to Disney three other times together (and he went once when he was about 8). First time (1997) I barely remember - we went with his parents, and I was in college. I remember a few people being not so happy about me taking an additional week off of school (we went for a week, then to Miami for a week). But I had a ball.
Second time was in 2000, we went with his brother and sister-in-law, their two boys (ages 4 and 6 at the time) and his cousin and her BF (now husband). It was 50% awesome, 50% trip-from-hell. Being there was fun, but having to coordinate the schedules of 6 adults, two kids, two cars between everyone and ONE "suite" was a nightmare.
Next was our honeymoon in June of 2003. The single best trip either of us has ever taken. Two weeks in Disney World. My DH was working for a hotel at the time, so we had a suite to ourselves at the can't-be-beat rate of $39 a night. We had wedding money in the bank (over a third of that was used in Disney!) and no one to answer to. We did almost everything we wanted.
So fast forward to 2005. Our DD (Talia) was born and we agreed that we would take her for her fifth birthday (this coming February). In May, I lost my job. As of two weeks ago, I STILL don't have any job leads, so DH suggests that we move the trip up. So we plan for the last week of October. I was nervous about it, but I called, got the quote, listened about free dining (which wasn't around last time we went) and decided to book the POFQ. Oct. 26 - Nov. 1.
So the next day we find out that his cousin and her DH (the same couple we went with last time) had called the night before and booked THEIR vacation - the same exact week as us. They still thoguht we were going in February, and we had no idea they were even interested in going.
So my DH and I book, pay the deposit, and I start going mental with ADRs and schedule (tentative ones, like "this day we'll go to this park" type of thing). The other night we had his cousin and her DH and DS over (their son is the same age as our daughter) and we talk about the trip. They haven't put money down yet, but they insist that they will.
We are hesistant to travel with them. Their son can be a handful and we don't want our daughter's trip to have to revolve around him in any way. But my DH said that he'd feel obligated to do SOME things togehter, because our DD and their DS are very close. Makes us iffy. But we'll deal with whatever we need to ... just get me to Disney!
As of this morning - my DH wants to move the trip a week. Nov. 1 - Nov. 8. His reasonings are mostly due to his work. He's a videographer and has wedding shoots the Friday and Saturday before we leave. We aren't flying people, so we're Amtraking it down (from NH - we'd have to leave at 8am to catch a 930am train from South Station in Boston) If we switch the date, we'll drive and be able to take our time coming back (that's a loooong drive, especially while having post-trip-depression).
I called today and they can move it if we want to. I just need to talk to him and really be sure it's what he wants to do. And then get to work switching my ADRs. I had one thing booked each day - I'm most nervous about Fantasmic and the Princess Dinner. We also booked the Spirit of Aloha (we had booked on our honeymoon but it was rained out
)
So that's where we are as of today. We're either 70 days away, or 77 days away. Not quite sure yet! The other good thing is that if we move it a week later, we may stay one extra night. That might be worth the aggravation I'm sure to go through with ADRs.
Michelle
My DH (Russ) and I (Michelle) have been to Disney three other times together (and he went once when he was about 8). First time (1997) I barely remember - we went with his parents, and I was in college. I remember a few people being not so happy about me taking an additional week off of school (we went for a week, then to Miami for a week). But I had a ball.
Second time was in 2000, we went with his brother and sister-in-law, their two boys (ages 4 and 6 at the time) and his cousin and her BF (now husband). It was 50% awesome, 50% trip-from-hell. Being there was fun, but having to coordinate the schedules of 6 adults, two kids, two cars between everyone and ONE "suite" was a nightmare.
Next was our honeymoon in June of 2003. The single best trip either of us has ever taken. Two weeks in Disney World. My DH was working for a hotel at the time, so we had a suite to ourselves at the can't-be-beat rate of $39 a night. We had wedding money in the bank (over a third of that was used in Disney!) and no one to answer to. We did almost everything we wanted.
So fast forward to 2005. Our DD (Talia) was born and we agreed that we would take her for her fifth birthday (this coming February). In May, I lost my job. As of two weeks ago, I STILL don't have any job leads, so DH suggests that we move the trip up. So we plan for the last week of October. I was nervous about it, but I called, got the quote, listened about free dining (which wasn't around last time we went) and decided to book the POFQ. Oct. 26 - Nov. 1.
So the next day we find out that his cousin and her DH (the same couple we went with last time) had called the night before and booked THEIR vacation - the same exact week as us. They still thoguht we were going in February, and we had no idea they were even interested in going.
So my DH and I book, pay the deposit, and I start going mental with ADRs and schedule (tentative ones, like "this day we'll go to this park" type of thing). The other night we had his cousin and her DH and DS over (their son is the same age as our daughter) and we talk about the trip. They haven't put money down yet, but they insist that they will.
We are hesistant to travel with them. Their son can be a handful and we don't want our daughter's trip to have to revolve around him in any way. But my DH said that he'd feel obligated to do SOME things togehter, because our DD and their DS are very close. Makes us iffy. But we'll deal with whatever we need to ... just get me to Disney!
As of this morning - my DH wants to move the trip a week. Nov. 1 - Nov. 8. His reasonings are mostly due to his work. He's a videographer and has wedding shoots the Friday and Saturday before we leave. We aren't flying people, so we're Amtraking it down (from NH - we'd have to leave at 8am to catch a 930am train from South Station in Boston) If we switch the date, we'll drive and be able to take our time coming back (that's a loooong drive, especially while having post-trip-depression).
I called today and they can move it if we want to. I just need to talk to him and really be sure it's what he wants to do. And then get to work switching my ADRs. I had one thing booked each day - I'm most nervous about Fantasmic and the Princess Dinner. We also booked the Spirit of Aloha (we had booked on our honeymoon but it was rained out
)So that's where we are as of today. We're either 70 days away, or 77 days away. Not quite sure yet! The other good thing is that if we move it a week later, we may stay one extra night. That might be worth the aggravation I'm sure to go through with ADRs.
Michelle
Took a while to find it!
People think we're crazy, but we've driven it every time we've been there. We LOVE the drive down. Drive back, notsomuch. But by moving the dates, we're able to take our time coming back, so we'll stop in Georgia and Virginia on our way home. I like the idea of having our car there, and being able to do some travel food shopping .. like buying a case of water to keep in the hotel, having our DD's umbrella stroller (Amtrak had too many restrictions). We need to buy new tires before we leave, but we needed those anyway (DH is a wedding vendor and is constantly traveling throughout New England, so there's a lot of wear and tear on his car.)
Now we have another day of dining, too, so we're going to Whispering Canyon Cafe on that Monday night for dinner and leaving the next day.
We went to Storyland (NH) in July and my DD met "Cinderella". She wasn't buying it. She actually said to my mother "I met Cinderella. Well ... not the REAL Cinderella." Look at her eyeballing her.
arugh.. He never did get to see them.
