The Wisdom of a Child Soothes the Aching, STRESSING Disney Planner PTR

[TxRabbit]

It was an Ah Ha!! moment. I think they call it an epiphany. I looked at my beautiful DS in amazement. He had just said something so simple, and yet so profound. And I needed to hear it so BADLY. And I marveled at the wisdom of my 7 year old. And without any modesty or humbleness (is that a word?), I also admit that it was a happy momma moment. One of those times where you think to yourself, I AM doing a pretty good job as a mom . I know you can't wait...what did he say?

I'm sorry to keep you in suspense, sort of. But I must set the stage, and put this sweet little sentence into context. Then it might actually offer some of my fellow obsessive, planning, researching Dis-ers some consolation as well.

I have been freaking out while trying to plan this trip! Totally and completely. Ever since the idea of going to WDW became a real possibility with the sale. Disney. ON SALE. Buy 4, get 3 free!! Wow. Where do we stay? Do we go and spend less? Do we go and take advantage of the SALE and stay where we might not otherwise afford to stay? Where do we eat? Should we get the DDP? Which one? And why aren't the PARK HOURS available?!?!?! What to do? What to do?

My happy place, my happy vacation spot was giving me some SERIOUS stress!

I knew one thing for sure. June. We will go in June, before the sale ends. DS will be out of school. Hurricane Ike has messed with the school days enough. I CAN'T pull him out of school this year. So June it is.

But every other decision was giving me a serious headache.

I get obsessive when planning for Disney. I research. I plan. I "what if?" A LOT. But I try to not make my family crazy with my Disney obsessed self. My husband is a project manager. His idea of vacation is not having to make ANY decisions. He wants ME to plan it all out. He WANTS the free ride. He says, "What do we get to do today?" When we GET there. THAT day. And for our other two trips to WDW I had a GREAT time planning it all. But THIS time.

I do talk to DH and DS about the plans. Short conversations. Here and there.

It was during one of these little conversations that DS spoke such a vacation altering comment.

I was trying to feel them out about the whole resort decision. Like I said, we have been twice to WDW. We stayed in AKL the first time. We ended up getting moved to BC the second time, because of construction at AKL. We loved both. But they are EXPENSIVE. But beautiful. SAB was awesome. But the food options there, mmmm, not so much. I'd like to check out WL instead of AKL. Just to do something new. But again. Can be pretty pricey. I'm not sure I should spend that kind of money at this time.

So, moderates. CBR. PIRATE rooms?!?! Not sure about the location on property. CSR? QUEEN beds! But the restaurants may not participate in the 2009 DDP. And no balconies for the moderates. Some of my favorite times in WDW are the evenings when DH and I sit on the balcony after putting DS to bed. We enjoy some adult libation, and EACHOTHER. It's our alone time while we are on vacation. The difference between a moderate and AKL/WL really isn't THAT much.

My mind swimming in possibilities, I try to explain to my family all the options, without bogging them down in details.

And DS said, "Momma, I don't CARE where we stay. All I care about is that we are even GOING to Disney next year."

Aw, Sweeeetie.

Out of the mouth of babes.

My whole perspective changed in an instant. And now I am back into the fun of planning our trip to WDW.

Anyone else freaking out? Overwhelmed with too much information? Having a hard time making up your mind? And also really wanting MORE information all at the SAME TIME?! Like WHERE are the PARK HOURS!

Then come join me and talk it out. I'd love to hear from you. Because even though I have got my mind set all good and adjusted. I am still juggling a couple options. And if you're in the same boat, I would LOVE to hear from you.

My first decision is the RESORT. But more on that later. I'm really trying to learn how to make shorter posts.

 

[TxRabbit]

Hello. I'm DW (36) and I'm a lazy, perfectionist. WHAT?!?!

Not really. It's just that I tend to enjoy the planning of things almost MORE than the doing of things. I was that little girl that would dress up her Barbies, set up the house, (which I MADE), set up the furnishings (which I also made), and spend quite a bit of time getting everything set up JUST RIGHT. And then I was done. I didn't actually PLAY with the Barbies. I just set them up.

Sometimes I would rather READ than do ANYTHING. It's the quality in me that LOVES to plan, to research, to learn.

And I want things to be JUST RIGHT. Just so. This way. The way that I think it is best. Like dishes, in the dishwasher. As much as I hate doing them, I can be irritated when someone else does them. Especially if they don't load the dishwasher the way that I think it should be done. And make no mistake, I WILL rearrange the dishwasher. I know. That the perfectionist in me. I need to let go. Really. I know.

I love Disney World. My family spends time in the moment there. We are fully present. Oh sure, we may be thinking ahead to our next activity, the next ride, the next meal. But all thoughts of our normal, day to day don't get past the Disney property line. It TRULY is a magical place that way.

I am blessed to be a homemaker while DH has to work outside the home. It's the way we like it. Weeeell. DH would NOT work, given the chance. He recently changed careers. He is now managing hardware projects that end up on the space station. NASA is his main client. He's liking the work. But not the commute, which is an unfortunate 61 miles away. It's rough business. But it's the way it is for now.

He is one of the reasons why I stress over the planning. He works hard to provide for our family. I want the money spent on WDW to be money WELL spent. Because WDW can cost a pretty penny.

He's an engineer that is SOCIAL. A rare breed. He's also a goof ball. He can really ham it up for the camera. And DS. He likes to make him laugh. Here's some good personality shots:

I love posting pictures, but my DH doesn't like me to. I accidentally posted a pic that had my DSs elementary school name on it. Someone recognized it, and wrote about it. I had to go through and remove our family pictures. So most of my pictures will be side shots, not full on face shots in deference to DHs safety concerns.

DS7 is a big time second grader. A recent devotion to all things football has developed. He would rather watch college football than cartoons!

He's a thoughtful boy. At the end of last summer, he explained to DH and I about long days and short days. Long days, you know, the kind of day that seems so long because you do SO much in it? A Disney day is a long day. A school day is a short day. He wakes up, goes to school, comes home, then next thing he knows, it's bed time, and it's like he didn't really DO much that day.

We didn't get to go on vacation last summer. We didn't really have many long days last summer. And at the end of the summer, he explain to us, that he missed that. Long days are exciting days. He missed having long days that summer.

Understand. He wasn't complaining. He was just talking. And it made me really want to plan a family vacation for 2009.

I didn't think we would be able to go back to WDW in 2009. We've got these credit cards you see. And we're striving for that account balance to read $0.00. We're trying to keep it all in perspective. We're trying to actually BUDGET. And not INCREASE the balance in the meantime.

We have..., wait for it, wait for it,... A PLAN!

And I was pretty sure that plan could not include Disney without compromising the plan.

And now there is a SALE.

And Disney just might fit into the plan.

What is the plan you ask?

Well...it's gonna be in JUNE!!!

More on that in a minute. I really am trying to learn how to make shorter posts. But I don't think it's working.

 

[TxRabbit]

We plan to go June 20 through June 27.

We PLAN to drive. 1000.69 miles from our doorstep to a resort's doorstep. Which is like . But the more I think about driving...the more attached I become to all the things that I could take with me on our trip. Things I couldn't take if we flew.

If I can find a deal on airfare, we might fly. Depends on the deal. And on whether or not I can stand to leave behind all the things that I think I might take.

That, and I am becoming attached to the idea of having a car at WDW. It's helping me not worry too much about transportation issues that each resort may or may not have.

The resort is the big question.

I like my balcony at night. But I don't know that I HAVE to have it. I certainly question whether or not it's worth it to spend $XXX to be able to stay at a hotel that has a balcony.

The ONLY balcony resorts that come close to fitting the budget are AKL and WL. And between the two, I would pick WL becasue I haven't been there before.

Looking at the moderates, I liked CSR. DH liked it too. He actually got to stay there once upon a time ago for a convention! But he didn't get to enjoy any of the parks or anything else. But Pepper Market is pretty pricey. Rumor has it that it will not participate in the DDP, which would be the ONLY way eating at PM would fit the budget.

So, I think that maybe I should save some money to spend elsewhere on the trip. So I'm looking at All Star Sports. As I said. DS has discovered sports. He is all over it. I showed him pictures of ASSp and they looked heavenly to him.

I really like how there are better kid's meal choices at the values. I think there are like 5 different meals to choose from! Most only have 2. Which is so ridiculous to me, but that's a rant I don't need to start.

I sure do love the price of the values. And Sports was recently renovated. So the rooms would be newish for our trip. I really like that thought.

A value works well with us driving for this trip too. We could park as close to the room as we could, and come and go as we please. I'm thinking about adding park hoppers to our tix. AND we could just plan to eat at other resorts this trip, and drive ourselves. Because relying on Disney to go resort to resort is a PAIN.

I'm really thinking All Star Sports will win. But a part of me is fighting that decision. Which is why it hasn't truly been determined at this time.

The only other definite is finding Donald. He's the only character DS really wants to see that he hasn't ever been able to see.

So I'm planning on going to Tusker House early, getting into the park before it opens. We're pretty excited to ride EE too! DS wasn't tall enough on our last trip, so we didn't even go to DAK during that one. He DID ride TMRR 10X during P&PP! We are READY to take on Everest.

I'd love to hear some encouraging words about value resorts. Anyone got any?

 

[TxRabbit]

It has become clear that money is NOT a big deciding factor in this decision. At least between a value and a moderate. Here are the vacation package costs, which all include basic DDP, park hoppers, and water fun & more:

All Star Sports (prefered location, for football theme) $2209.81
Any moderate (std view) $2365.89
AKL (std view) $2927.31

OK. So the deluxe is still a chunk more. But it isn't a significant chunk, just over $700 more than a value. Granted, it's about 30% more than a value or moderate. But it terms of actual cost, it isn't prohibitive. We might find it better to drop another option, like park hopping, to reduce the cost just a bit more, if we really wanted to stay at AKL.

But the value and the moderate are really insignificant in difference with this deal.

Just for fun, I checked out GF, CR, and Poly, and they are SOLD OUT for our dates. People are taking advantage of this offer, I tell you what.

Unfortunately, money is a factor. But I can easily see how we can tighten our belts around here to be able to swing the opportunity at a deluxe hotel. The big question again, is, is it worth it? For us? For this trip? There are always times when it is WORTH it. But is this one of those times?

This is really a hard decision. I can see why I read over and over again about how people have changed their resorts again.

The fact is that we HAVE a ressie for CSR. I have already changed it from CBR. We are no different in trying to figure out this resort thing. But I need to get it settled soon. I dislike the idea that this isn't settled.