This is either madness... or brilliance; declansdad, pooksma and declan...update10/16

[pooksma]

Inspired by Mystikgarden & Pixardust, BrooklynnsMommy & MeMom


A long time ago in a country far, far away…

Well not that far away but it seemed far when we were buried under 2 ft of snow and Disney dreaming. The urge hit sometime in October ‘06. It was time to start planning a trip.

Do we go or don’t we? Yep, we all agreed-it was time to hit the world again. When would we go?

I need to back up a bit here and explain that I am currently on the five-year-plan. I teach middle school and am working on my Master’s degree. I was planning to apply for educational leave (6 months) to complete my degree in ’08. In order to do this, I would have to take 2 courses through the summer of ’07. That cut out any trips for the month of July, so August it is! (I did get the leave BTW and will be back in school full time Jan-April next year)

We began watching the fares on Delta out of Bangor, Me. (Just for the record, if anyone doesn’t know and to ALL Air Canada reps who may be reading this- Flying AC is a RIPOFF.) Just for fun we also priced from our local airport. We could fly from Bangor for a total of $700 CDN (for 3 ppl) or fly from home for $2600 CDN. Uh yeah, I had to think really long and hard on that one!


By early December, flights were booked and we began consulting with Liz and Joe at Dream Come True Vacations. The KOTS plan Part 1 was one its way.

 

[MeMom]

It's great to have you on board the pre-trip train! I'll never be able to compete with the great pictures I know will come along with your trip.

This Disney stuff is sort of like passing the baton. Someone else goes, and you ride along on their trip via the Boards. Then it is your turn to go and share the fun with others who wait. Then you come home to Reality World, which is not nearly as fun as Disney World, and hand off to the next group, and they share the joy with you. Then you start trip planning AGAIN! It's a fabulous never ending cycle of Disney fun!

 

[mystikgarden]

Aww you guys. Thanks for letting us inspire your pre-trippie!!
So far it sounds great! Can't wait to read more. Are we going to hear from both of you?!? I can't wait to hear more about your plans and all of the Disney magic that awaits you!

 

[declansdad]

Ok, my turn.

Let me introduce you to our intrepid crew. First we have ds, Declan.

He turned 6 this year and is on his third trip to the World. (I’m turning 43 this year and this will be my third trip as well, doesn’t seem fair to me.) On our last trip, ds discovered Splash Mountain and BTMRR. This means we are not allowed to go on It’s a Small World.

Second, we have my dw or pooksma here on the Dis.

She has got one extra trip on us. She got to go once back in the 80s. (Sorry, I can’t give out any ages here.) DW has initiated much of the planning for the trip and is now disappointed most seems to be done. (Don't tell her I posted a picture. It's hard enough to get her in them now.)

Finally, there is me, declansdad.

Waited all my life to get to Disney World and now I want to go every year. So far my biggest roles on this trip have been to call Delta every time they make a change to our flights and to create our planning spreadsheet.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

We started getting quotes for this trip back in August 06. Joe at Dream Come True Vacations was fantastic. I think on some emails he answered them before we sent them. Fast forward to November and we finally decided it was a go and contacted them again. After checking on a number of scenarios that included questions about Pop, All-Stars, and Coronado Springs we finally settled on a resort. Coronado it would be, yay we’re moving up to a moderate.

But wait….dw has a new idea. If we stayed at Pop for 8 nights we could surprise ds with 2 nights at AKL, our dream resort. Ok, let me think about that for a second. Sounds good, let’s do it, says me. Let’s throw in the dining plan as well, says dw. So back to Joe we go. After conferring with the Disney guru we come up with the plan, 8 nights at Pop with the dining plan, 10 day MYW with the Park Hopper options, and 2 nights, room only, at AKL. Done, Book It, We’re Done, No Problems. Ah, not quite.

Liz has now taken over for Joe to help us out and she emails us to say that everything has been booked – package booked, done; room request at Pop, done; deposit paid, done; AKL booked, done; savanna view, done, deposit paid, problem.

Liz lets us now that Disney tried numerous times to get authorization from VISA for the AKL deposit and it wasn’t working. We said that wasn’t possible so try again. Liz suggested that we contact our bank to see what they could find out. Bank said that they approved three transactions but someone kept trying to make more charges for the exact same amount within a couple of minutes. They said that sounded fishy so they would let it happen. I called Liz back and explain it to here and she immediately called a supervisor at Disney and let them know that they caused the problem. Apparently, they were doing some system maintenance and the requests were timed out on their end but VISA kept approving them. They realized that they were the problem and fixed it. Way to go Liz and thanks again for the help.

So now we’re finally booked and the plane tickets are bought, we can get the rest of the planning finished, like the ADRs. We can book on Feb 14th so we have plenty of time. And you just never know, we might get free dining or a discount code from Disney.

 

[Avivasmom]

What a good looking family!!

So does your 6 year old thinks he knows everything like my 6 year old thinks she does!!!

We will miss you by a few days in August!

Glad it all worked out. In 2005 we did 2 nights at AKL after 2 nights at POFQ. You will love it. I am taking Aviva back with my dad for her bday in January as a bday present!

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[declansdad]

What a good looking family!!

So does your 6 year old thinks he knows everything like my 6 year old thinks she does!!!

We will miss you by a few days in August!

Why thank you, ds's looks come from me.

Yes he thinks he's pretty smart, smartest kid in his class. According to him anyway.

I think it would be cool to meet other Dis'ers at Disney. Too bad we'll miss you.

 

[pooksma]

We will discuss the pics when I get home...

Just to throw in here, the "extra" trip I had was courtesy of my Grandma. My cousins were living in Gainesville and we went to visit. I had 1 day at MK so I'm really not that far ahead.
Didnt want anyone to get the wrong idea

 

[MeMom]

Looks like Papa Bear managed to get himself in trouble very quickly on this report! I know how you feel about pictures, because I HATE being in them, but you shouldn't mind at all. You look great! When you're my age, then you can start hiding behind things like I do, but you've got a long way to go for that. Don't be too hard on Dad when you get hold of him. Even Trent and John let Jill live after the ones she posted of them. Just be glad he wasn't out to make you look like a crazed maniac like she did to them!

I love that Cinderella well. I think it's one of the things that gets overlooked as people race by to the rides. That's something I want to concentrate more on this trip, too. After seeing so many neat pictures of the "off the beaten path" stuff, I want to take more of those. I'm not good with the camera, but my youngest son is, so I'll drag him along with me as my official photographer. I'll find the pictures I want and let him do the work.

 

[declansdad]

Looks like Papa Bear managed to get himself in trouble very quickly on this report! I know how you feel about pictures, because I HATE being in them, but you shouldn't mind at all. You look great! When you're my age, then you can start hiding behind things like I do, but you've got a long way to go for that. Don't be too hard on Dad when you get hold of him. Even Trent and John let Jill live after the ones she posted of them. Just be glad he wasn't out to make you look like a crazed maniac like she did to them!

I love that Cinderella well. I think it's one of the things that gets overlooked as people race by to the rides. That's something I want to concentrate more on this trip, too. After seeing so many neat pictures of the "off the beaten path" stuff, I want to take more of those. I'm not good with the camera, but my youngest son is, so I'll drag him along with me as my official photographer. I'll find the pictures I want and let him do the work.

I'm not too worried. I tihnk more people should see how lucky I am.

 

[pooksma]

The whole VISA incident scared me! I din't like Disney messing with my VISA! Thank goodness for Liz!

Next up were the ADRs. We decided to try some restaurants we'd never do OOP, here is what we came up with for TS:

August 13- LTT 7 pm so we can stay at MK at night
August 14- Le Cellier 1:30 pm - Spend the morning at Epcot
August 15- Donald's Breakfastosaurus-Hit EE ASAP
August 16- Crystal Palace 8AM- Try to get some great park shots before its overrun. (Anyone who has seen declansdad's pics on the DIS knows he's a great photographer! )

August 17- Rose and Crown 7:00pm- Late night Illuminations
August 18-Ohana 9:30 am- Leisure Day
August 19 Chef Mickey's 6pm- then over to MK
August 20- Boma*** 7pm- Secret #2 will be revealed to DS- Spending next two nights at AKL!!!

Whew! Im tired and hungry just typing this! Back after supper.

 

[pooksma]

Looks like Papa Bear managed to get himself in trouble very quickly on this report! I know how you feel about pictures, because I HATE being in them, but you shouldn't mind at all. You look great! QUOTE]

See DH- Others feel the same way! Thanks for the compliment BTW

 

[pooksma]

What a good looking family!!

So does your 6 year old thinks he knows everything like my 6 year old thinks she does!!!

We will miss you by a few days in August!

Glad it all worked out. In 2005 we did 2 nights at AKL after 2 nights at POFQ. You will love it. I am taking Aviva back with my dad for her bday in January as a bday present!

Looking forward to reading more.

Yes he does think he knows it all! I think all 6 yr old's must.

 

[declansdad]

We're really looking forward to those ADRs. We will probably get to sample a few too!

It took a bit of discussion to reach consensus on the ADRs. Not so much as to where but when. We were trying to make best use of the park hours and that planning is pretty hard when Disney hadn't posted the August hours. I think we discussed it for about a month before simply saying "Ok this is it, send it to Liz." Well that's a bit of a lie. DW said for about a month we need to decide on the ADRs and I kept saying "we've got time."


I do have to say that once again Liz at Dream Come true was awesome with these ADRs. We emailed them to her on Feb 13th because the 14th opened the 180 window. We expected her to send us back one confirmation per day but she surprised us again. Within hours she emailed us the confirmation numbers for all but one and that one followed the next day. Two for Liz.


Coming soon, our Delta experience.

 

[mystikgarden]

Ok first off your little one is the cutest little cutie!

And I have been really leery about using anyone other than Disney to book a trip. We did get some good deals on our last trip and are looking for more in December It really seems like Dreams Come True is really working out for you guys. I will definitely check into that!!

Great start you guys can't wait for more!!

 

[pooksma]

Crazy time here now. School ends for DS and myself today. I still have 2 teacher days to go, but no students!

Will post some pics tomorrow showing the first shopping expedition results and a Delta update...Have a great Friday all!

 

[MeMom]

Ahhh...the last day! Last days are so nice. Once the goodbyes are said and the classroom is cleared out, you know you have freedom ahead to do more of the fun things in life, or to just do nothing. Of course, as a fellow teacher, I know you have mounds of paperwork ahead of you during your teacher work days, but once you muddle through that, you can just concentrate on you and your two guys...and your Disney trip, of course! Congratulations on getting through another year. Enjoy some well-deserved time off!!!

 

[novdisneydreams]

Loving your pre-trippie Did Declan get his hair dome like that at MK? My two DSs would LOVE that Was it at the barber shop? Do you need an appointment? Do you know what they charge? Thanks for any info!

 

[declansdad]

Crazy time here now. School ends for DS and myself today. I still have 2 teacher days to go, but no students!

Will post some pics tomorrow showing the first shopping expedition results and a Delta update...Have a great Friday all!

Stop rubbing it in. I can't help it if my school is year round.

Oh, by the way, you have used the pronoun myself improperly. (Sorry folks, inside joke)

 

[declansdad]

Loving your pre-trippie Did Declan get his hair dome like that at MK? My two DSs would LOVE that Was it at the barber shop? Do you need an appointment? Do you know what they charge? Thanks for any info!

Yes that haircut was at the Harmony Barber Shop at MK. I think they charge about $14. He received many compliments that day and a few looks. Be careful though, once the gel hardens it becomes a weapon.

 

[PIXARdust]

Inspired by Mystikgarden & Pixardust, BrooklynnsMommy & MeMom

You're too kind! Sorry it took me so long to get over here, but I can't wait for more!

Yes he does think he knows it all! I think all 6 yr old's must.

Wait until he's 12. I'd give anything for a six year old again!