The Wonderful World of Disboards - How I managed to plan a WDW Trip

[difry]

I found Disboards over a year ago when I first started planning our trip. I really like to do a lot of research when planning a trip and finding Disboards was a God-send!

Our Disney History is limited. I grew up in south Florida and went to Disney a couple of times back in the 70s, Space Mountain wasn’t even finished! The first time we went, my parents splurged! We stayed at the Contemporary and ordered room service! It was the coolest vacation ever! About the same time, my husband and his family camped at FW and spent a few days at the park. His experience was as wonderful as mine. In the early 90s, we visited family in Florida and managed to scrap together enough money to take our daughter (5) and son (3) to the MK for the day. Again, a great time was had by all.

My kids both went to WDW again on a Band Trip in 2003 and spent a number of days and visited every park. Although the trip was a typically exhausting school trip (if you exhaust them they are too tired to get in trouble) they had a wonderful time.

My husband and I took a ten-day trip to Florida in April 2006. At the end of that trip we spent 2 days at WDW. We didn’t have a lot of time and the parks were very busy (can you say - Spring Break!), but we managed to check out each park and had a wonderful time. We had so much fun and talked about it so much that we ended up agreeing to go back all together (DD is now 22 and DS is 20). DS & DD paid their share of the cabin and ticket cost, which made the trip much more affordable for all.

I am so excited about going back – I am the planner in our house. My DH and kids tease me terribly, but it is all in good fun and they always express their appreciation of the planning I put into things. I don’t have the days planned to death. Our TS meal reservations are made and will dictate what days for what parks. I am counting on the lines being short (After all that is why I am risking hurricane season!). I have my brochure marked with the rides I don’t want to miss and the ones you will never get me on again (Stitch – sometimes there is a very good reason there is no line!). But I am hoping the light crowds of September will allow us to move around smoothly.

With the wonderful help of Disboards the plan is made. We are arriving at WDW on Monday Sept. 17th, spending the night at the Best Western and moving to a FW cabin on Tuesday Sept. 18th and hitting the parks. We will be at FW 4 nights before driving home on Saturday September 22nd.

(Again) Thanks to Disboards, we have Free DDP for our stay! I have made dinner reservations for Tuesday night at Trails End, Wednesday Lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine Inn, Thursday Dinner at the Rose and Crown. I haven’t made Friday’s reservation yet – yes, I know - My choices will be limited, but I am overwhelmed trying to decide where we will be on Friday.

I’m thinking: day 1 AK with MK in the afternoon evening (back to FW for a late dinner), day 2 MGM, day 3 EPCOT, day 4 whatever – more MK or back to EPCOT…who knows??? There are a lot of things I want to see at MGM and EPCOT is everyone’s favorite from past trips. I figure once we know where we will be Friday I will stop at a guest services desk and see what is available when and just go with the flow.

Last night we picked up the travel documents from the travel agent. I tried to go through AAA but I was not satisfied with the service. I went with a local Travel Agent and was very impressed with her efforts to get the free dinning for us. As we live in KY it is only about a 12-13 hour drive and (YEA!) we just bought a new car so we are looking forward to the Road Trip!

We are about 26 days from departure and I can’t wait!

 

[hjd0411]

Wow - 26 days!! I dream of being that close to departure! But then again, I have nightmares about not being ready, even though my trip has been about 2 years in the planning!!!
Sounds like you will be having a blast - I look forward to more updates!

 

[difry]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am counting the days. One exciting milestone is when you can say..."We are going to WDW Next Month!" (Although the best has got to be "tomorrow").

I enjoyed your pretrip report. That is quite a flight! After reading a number of reports, I am so glad we are able to drive. It is so much easier to pack for a road trip rather than flying.

I look forward to keeping up with your report. I hope by the time I start my trip report that I will have figured out how to post pictures. I am a lazy scrapbooker, I have gotten about 2 years behind, but I plan to do a "special" WDW trip book when I get home, so I will be snapping pictures like crazy the entire trip.

 

[hjd0411]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am counting the days. One exciting milestone is when you can say..."We are going to WDW Next Month!" (Although the best has got to be "tomorrow").

I enjoyed your pretrip report. That is quite a flight! After reading a number of reports, I am so glad we are able to drive. It is so much easier to pack for a road trip rather than flying.

I look forward to keeping up with your report. I hope by the time I start my trip report that I will have figured out how to post pictures. I am a lazy scrapbooker, I have gotten about 2 years behind, but I plan to do a "special" WDW trip book when I get home, so I will be snapping pictures like crazy the entire trip.

Oooo yes - pictures please! I haven't added any to mine as I only have old prints that I have to scan and they don't do that very well! Still, I will have loads when I return!! I've never tried scrapbooking - I don't think I'm creative enough for that! But maybe Disney will give me incentive!

 

[difry]

I don't know how creative I am...but I can certianly make a big mess cutting and pasting pictures. I'm counting on this trip to get me going again. Our last two years of pictures are only viewable on my laptop..which makes it hard to share

Is the shepherd in the picture yours? He is beautiful! I have a Great Dane/Shepherd mix named Rex. He is 130lb whimp, he has a big bark but no bite at all. I also have a 12lb chihuahua/dachshund mix named Layla. She rules the world she lives in. If I ever figure out how to post pictures I'll post one of them.

 

[hjd0411]

Yes - she is my baby!! Spoilt rotten, but I love her! She is 2 1/2 years old and has been here before! Her name is Charlotte.
Your boy must be big with that mix!! How do your two get along? I also have a small dog (Skye, who is a Lhasa Apso cross - basically a little white lap dog!) She is getting old - nearing 16 years, and is blind and deaf. She doesn't do much more than sleep these days, but she occasionally has a bit of a play. Charlotte and Skye used to "play-fight" nearly all the time - drove me mad - but they have grown out of it now. I'd love to see some photos if you can.

 

[difry]

She is beautiful!

We absolutely adore our puppies. Rex and Layla are both about 3 years old. We got Layla first and then about 3 months later got Rex. They are both rescues. Rex was literally about to be euthanized when we got him. He had kennel cough and was so sad the first few days. He was starting to get better from that when we found out he had heartworms…scary! My husband teases me about my $1,000 “free” dog. It took a month of “rest” (which is not easy with a 100lb puppy!) and some serious medication but he is now in excellent health!

Rex and Layla play fight also. The noise is amazing. He sounds like a big bear and she sounds absolutely vicious. My son has a 60lb (yes he is over weight!) beagle mix named Henry. It is hilarious when the three of them play. Rex growls like a bear and chases Henry, Henry usually ends up on the ground making this high-pitched seal-like noise and then Layla runs around yipping at them trying not to get stepped on.

Yep – chaos – that’s my life