Time has played a trick on me...

[samiet620]

Hi everyone. This is my first Disney trip,pre trip report....first Disney everything!
A little background:
Well here goes. I always wanted to go to Disney, but my parents could never afford it when I was a kid. When I had my own kids I had it as a goal that I would take them to Disney.Well......
Flash forward to today:
My kids are half grown! Time has played a trick on me! One moment I'm changing diapers....
My oldest Jeimy is a wonderful young lady of 15.She loves getting on rides and looks forward to tower of terror.(I haven't decided if I'll ride that one! )
I have twins- a boy and a girl who are 14.Jose loves loves loves animals. He's not into sports or girls (yet ) but science and animals are his world. Animal Kingdom and swimming with the sharks are his main focus.
Naomi, my baby by 8 little minutes is my artist. She just wants to go and have fun. She's "my lets just go and enjoy ourselves" gal.
When did my babies become teens? I realized that time was escaping me and soon they will have their own busy lives so I want to do something special while I have them mostly to myself.I want them to someday look back and say " remember when mom took us to Disney" so I went ahead and started to do some investigating. Prices, budget, etc. I discovered that hey I can pull this off! I went ahead and booked for Aug. '08 at CSR. Now the real planning begins......

 

[jmskinner]

So glad you are getting to go. My DSD will be turning 16 in Oct, so we went ahead and planned a trip ourselves this Summer before she decides she doesn't want to hang out with us old folks, or has a job and can't get off work!

Looking forward to more of your PTR!

 

[jmskinner]

I'm still here. Any updates?

 

[samiet620]

Hi and thanks for sticking with me....I guess we are not the most interesting but I will write as things drop into place. Well I made the final payment on the trip of 274.16 The kids are so happy. They clapped and cheered as if we had just hit the mega lottery! I guess they REALLY want to go! This makes my heart full...alll the sacrifice is worth it if they are truly happy.
I almost changed our ressies to stay at a value but the kids and I really want to stay at CSR. As Jeimy put it .....it looks like a place where people take a real vacation. It would save us money but the theme really didn't attract them and every time I thought of changing to a value I'd feel sort of mad....not the feeling I'm going for as a plan this trip. I have never in my life stayed at a hotel let alone a resort in Disney World so I guess its a real treat. So I decided to go with what we all really want. CSR!!!
Now the spending money needs to be saved up...lets see what ways I can manage this feat. I'm trying to be "good" when it comes to debt. I am trying to come up with ways to cut corners so that I can save as much as possible. I'm also debating on ordering groceries through we go shop.com or renting a car the first day there and going shopping myself.
Oh decisions decisions. I'll let you know what I decide....

 

[jmskinner]

I am a firm believer in you only live once and you can't take the money with ya afterwards. But on that note, I actually tried to get DH to stay at a value this next time (really wanted to swing a couple of days at AKL), but he loved POR last time, so off we go.

Have you considered the dining plan? We used it our first time. I packed all these snacks and we barely touched them because we were so busy eating on the DDP and trying to ride the rides. It can be expensive, of course when we went before you got more food (appetizers) and the tip was included so I might change my mind about it after this next trip. We left with counter service credits still on our room.

I think you can buy milk and some other necessary items at the resort in the store, but I am sure it is expensive.

Enjoying your trip report! And hey, anyone going to WDW is an exciting family!