Together Again-A Family Reunion Trip-A January 2012 PTR-Updated 7/1 with 2009 TR!

[NoraG]

Alright everyone-

I've never done a trip report, but I'm SO excited that I thought I'd get started. It's wonderful to have a place to share all the good news. We're over 6 months away, but I thought I'd get started early, so I can update when I make ADRs, inevitably change ADRs, finalize resort plans, etc. Please feel free to share your experiences, ideas, comments, and enthusiasm!

I won't post too frequently so far from our trip dates, but I will update as "events" occur, such as my ADR appt. It's on my calendar (July 12)!!!

Here's our story:

Myself (23) and my DM (64) took our DC50 and her son DC15, and two daughters DC9 to Disney in December 2009. Their dad couldn't make it and he's regretted not coming. So, we're hoping this trip he'll be able to take the time off of work. So add DC51 to our cast of characters. It was their very first trip and we did 4 parks in 4 days, plus a night a DTD after AK. Boy, were we worn out. We're hoping to relax a bit more on this trip.

The plan:

A split stay at BLT lake view and BCV in a 2 BR villa. We're eligible for military, FL resident, and AP discounts, so hopefully we can apply a 40-42% discount to the room. We will be staying Jan 8-Jan 13. We live part-time in FL and are all eligible for FL resident tickets, so we will be using the weekday select pass as our dates happen to allow us 5 weekday visits. We'll just be checking in and resort hopping the 1st day. Since park hours have not yet been released, I don't know which dates we'll spend where. And, if we can't get the discount on the 2BR villa, we'll have to rethink our plan. We're really really hoping to get to be within walking distance of the two parks we'll be visiting this trip: MK and Epcot. They were our DCs (all of them) favorites and we didn't get enough time in either.

Hiccup:

The military discounts have been released, but no 2 BR at BLT or BCV yet. I know it's early, but I still worry that we'll have to change our plans. DC51 will be experiencing his first visit and he isn't a big vacationer and hates lines, so we're hoping by being close to the parks we cut down on transportation waits and he can take a break if needed. Though we could get separate rooms at a value, we felt separated when we did that last time and it wasn't convenient for making plans, getting up early, or eating breakfast together. And, we were a bit cramped with all the suitcases. We're hoping a villa will give us the space and homey feeling we're craving, plus a washer and dryer. Big plus!

Dining:

I considered the dining plan and crunched so many numbers I thought my head would explode, but we determined it would not fit our needs. So, we're going OOP with TIW. We've budgeted about $2000 for food, with 5 TS meals.

What I would like to do:

CRT for lunch-haven't been since I was a kid, but going for experience, not the food.
Cape May for breakfast-fun and tasty
Sanaa for lunch-my fav
Via Napoli for dinner- a cheap and yummy option for a group if sharing. That salad is sure pricey though.
Kona for lunch-yum

We'll eat most breakfasts in the room and are debating having dinners in the villa. We'll see....lots of time to discuss this option.

That's all for now I think. Hoping someone will enjoy reading as I plan!!!

 

[NoraG]

So, finally my persistance has paid off. While BLT 2BR Villas have not yet been released for the military discount, I managed to get a 2 BR lockoff at BWV. Remember, we want to split BLT/BCV, but since BCV hasn't released 2BR villas yet either, I thought I'd lock in BWV as a viable alternative.

While I'm not thrilled about the lockoff, the 40 percent off sort of makes up for that. Hopefully, BCV and BLT will release their villas soon (hint, hint).

So, to make things clear, we are booked BLT with no discount for 1/8-1/11 and BWV 1/11-1/13 with a military discount. I'll continue to try to get what we really want, but I'm glad to have booked something with a discount. My wallet was starting to look very empty.

Anyone have opinions on the kitchens in a lockoff vs. a dedicated villa? or does this give us two kitchens: 1 in the studio and 1 in the 1 BR? So confused....

 

[NoraG]

Here's our touring plan:

Though we live part-time in FL, we'll be driving into Orlando from Missouri. We plan to arrive Sat. night (1/7) and will stay in our Orlando home. Sunday morning we'll eat breakfast, pack up and head to Disney!!!

I can't make ADRs yet, but here's what I'm hoping for:
Sunday
1:00 lunch at Sanaa plus animal viewing. Should we look at both lobbies in ALK(Jambo and Kidani)?
Drive over to WL to look around and maybe a snack
check into BLT-our home for the next three nights
dinner in the villa, plus wishes from our room

Monday
breakfast in villa
MK day-rope drop
12:30 CRT
more MK

Tuesday
breakfast in villa or maybe qs
MK day
1:00 Kona
MK
QS dinner

Wednesday
breakfast in villa
check out of BLT
MK in morning
QS lunch
Epcot in evening
6:30 Via Napoli
check into BWV

Thursday
8:00 Cape May
Epcot-rope drop
QS lunch
QS dinner

Friday
breakfast in room
check out BWV
Epcot
ADR Les Chefs de France-not sure about lunch or dinner
-this may depend on budget contraints

The dining plan just gives us way too many desserts and not enough flexibility, so we've decided to go OOP. To keep ourselves on budget we toyed with the idea of gift cards with a set amount, but thought if we came under we'd be out that money until we return to WDW. So, we're going to charge to the room and tally up our receipts each day to determine if we'll be on budget based on the spreadsheet of estimated costs I made. Our goal: $2000. This is with 5 TS and 8 QS. Since we may eat in our villa at least our first night and might share meals, I hope we can get a 6th TS in for our last day. The ultimate question then is: lunch or dinner?


Your opinions on my proposed plan would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[GrammyJudy]

We are planning for Jan 2012 also...but the end of the month...it will be me, DD Meg and her 2 boys..11 and 3. We are thinking of OOP also unless they do free dining again. The little guy is not too keen at sitting in a restaurant unless there is entertainment so we may be better off with CS.

Your plans sound good so far...keep us posted...don't you just love the palnning?

 

[NoraG]

Thanks so much for responding. I hope someone is enjoying my planning as much as I am. In fact, I enjoy it so much, I've often planned trips we never take, just to see how cheaply we could go. Boy, I think I have a problem

This trip will be our most expensive yet and I go back and forth on whether staying in a 2 BR is worth it, but it's a gift from my DM (thanks Mom!) and that's what she really wants. So, since she's paying who am I to argue?

I know we'll love the proximity to the parks. I know Disney busses can be awesome (or not so much) and it will be value season, so probably low volume, but with 7 people, I think it could be tough to get on one bus at peak hours.

Congrats on your upcoming trip! I really wish we could do late Jan or Oct really, but I am starting a PhD program this fall, so we're working around my school schedule. The kids can make-up work, but I can't, so we're going before my Spring semester begins.

Do you know where you'll be staying?

We had plenty of trouble deciding on dining plan vs. OOP, but the amount of desserts and the fact that it wouldn't actually cover all our meals (nights vs. days) kind of sealed the deal for us. Plus, the extra food makes tips higher. So, OOP with TIW works out best for us. Are you eligible for TIW (AP or FL res)? I've found it very worth it in the past, even only for 2 people. 20% off all food and beverage incl. alcohol at most WDW restaurants and it's good for a whole year.

 

[GrammyJudy]

Congrats on your PHD program and good luck! What are you studying?

We are staying at POFQ we think. We stayed there years ago but we think the size will be good. I have some mobility issues and after a long day at the parks who wants to walk a lot to the room.

Last year we got free dining. In 2009 we got the 4/3 deal, in 2007 we got a % off...so we will see what happens this year. Qe are hoping for a % off as we can eat CS and/ or dshare meals and that will save $$$$. We will do at least one character meals for the little guy.

Keep planning and the time will go by faster. I also read all the guides and many websites over and over, do you?

 

[NoraG]

Congrats on your PHD program and good luck! What are you studying?

We are staying at POFQ we think. We stayed there years ago but we think the size will be good. I have some mobility issues and after a long day at the parks who wants to walk a lot to the room.

Last year we got free dining. In 2009 we got the 4/3 deal, in 2007 we got a % off...so we will see what happens this year. Qe are hoping for a % off as we can eat CS and/ or dshare meals and that will save $$$$. We will do at least one character meals for the little guy.

Keep planning and the time will go by faster. I also read all the guides and many websites over and over, do you?

Thank you. I just got my Master's Degree, so I feel as though I'm simply collecting degrees at this point. But, hey, they pay me, so I might as well! I am studying Political Science, but I have no desire to run for office.

POFQ is very nice. I stayed there Labor Day weekend 2010 with a friend. The walk to the bus was very easy due to the compact layout and bus trips/waits were reasonable except the time we missed the AK bus by 30 seconds. Ah well! I think we stayed in bldg 4 which was close to both the main building and the bus stop. It worked out well for us. We could park close as well.

I didn't like the curtain between the vanity and room, however. I much prefer the door at CS. That may be because I get up earlier and felt like I had to be so quiet when washing my face, brushing teeth, etc. My friend gets ready in 10 mins, I take more like 25 (so I was up earlier while she slept in), but it wasn't the end of the world.

I've been doing so much research, I think I could write a book! My DM and I have been over a 100 times, but we've only been with the kids once and never with 7 people. So, I find it very helpful to read about experiences with children and with large groups. The trips with the kids are so different, but absolutely the best we've taken. It is such a joy to watch them experience everthing and to be able to help them enjoy it to the fullest!

If you are considering character dining, I highly recommend CP and CMC. CP in MK has Pooh characters and we had the best time there in Dec. 2009. Food was good and fresh (I think we had a 10:30 ADR) and characters were awesome. My friend and I went to CMC in BC for our birthdays and loved it. We had a 10:50 ADR and the food was still fresh and we saw many of the characters twice. They even checked to be sure we'd seen them all before they "closed up." There was much more space at CMC and I love the beach theme! Although they were closing up and we were the last ones there, they never rushed us at all, which was amazing. We were given cupcakes and signed cards for our birthdays and they even offered to wrap up our cupcakes, but we decided we'd have to eat them there to save them from the Sept heat. It was such a burden

 

[NoraG]

Since I can't do much more planning at this point (still waiting for discounts to be released and my ADR appt to arrive), I thought I'd solicit advice for our drive.

My DM will already be at our FL home, but the DCs and I will be driving about 1000 miles to get to said home (about 16 hours). I really want us to arrive in time for a late lunch at Sanaa b/c it's my fav and they'd love to eat with the animals in view! The two older adults (this excludes me) have to work on Fri as they will be taking an entire week off, so we can't leave until after dinner on Friday.

The question is, should we leave Fri night, very early Sat morning, or at a reasonable time in the morning? We have a place to sleep Sat night (our home), so there is no cost if we arrive before Sunday-our check in day. We have three drivers, so we'll probably drive straight through except for bathroom, food, gas, and stretching stops. For those that have driven long distances, how do the kids do for such a long trip (ours are ages 15, 13, and 9)?

I'm thinking if we leave at night, they'll sleep most of the trip and it will be less chaotic. Of course, the adults will be sleepy, but we can catch up on Sunday when we don't visit the parks. However, I'd hate for us to start exhausted. On the other hand, a 16 hours trip with awake children might be difficult. Your advice is appreciated.

 

[teekathepony]

Jumping in!
Your first day is my birthday soooo can I come too?
I can't give advice on driving to the World. It would take me 4 days I think. Sorry! Hope it works out for you. If it were me, I'd probably like to leave really early in the morning.
Nice plans so far!

 

[NoraG]

Jumping in!
Your first day is my birthday soooo can I come too?
I can't give advice on driving to the World. It would take me 4 days I think. Sorry! Hope it works out for you. If it were me, I'd probably like to leave really early in the morning.
Nice plans so far!

Well Happy Very Early Birthday. I'll be thinking of you while we're at the World. We never seem to be able to go on one of our own birthdays, but maybe we will celebrate all of our unbirthdays for this trip.

I'm not sure how the driving will work out. Normally, two of us take 2 days to drive it, but we'd really like to save the hotel $$$ to spend at WDW, so I know we'll drive straight through. No one will like leaving early in the morning, but I think it's our best option. I'll let you know when we make a decision.

Thanks for reading!

 

[NoraG]

Being obsessed with the planning and not being able to get everything settled yet has caused me to be a bit restless. Because of this and the fact that I wanted to practice cooking (I'm no Top Chef), I pulled out my Food and Wine Festival Recipe books. I have 2009 and 2010 and although they overlap a bit, I'm glad to have both.

My culinary adventure began with Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup. The original recipe makes 10 servings, so I cut the recipe in half. I hate to quarter recipes because I think things never work out that way, but halving it worked just fine. I would use just a little bit less flour, as my DM deemed the soup just a touch floury. I did not notice this, but she did. You could certainly add more beer, as I did not taste it at all and I am not a beer fan, so I imagine I would have noticed it if the flavor were strong. I did have to thin the recipe with more milk at the end -about half a cup for my half recipe. I found it to be delicious-though very rich. It was also fairly easy to do. The hardest and most time consuming part is the chopping. Bacon is difficult to cut, so I recommend using kitchen shears if you attempt this endeavor.

 

[NoraG]

Next up were empanadas. Don't be fooled-these are harder to make than the recipe makes it seem. Working with dough you have to be very fast, which I am not, so my empanada dough was very hard to work with. Again, i cut this recipe in half as I did not need 20 empanadas. I was only able to get 8 out of my dough, but again, I am not an experienced baker. The dough was very similar to pie crust and not my favorite, but the filling was amazing and so easy to make. I hear you can buy frozen empanada dough, so I think I'd do that next time and just make the filling myself. All together it sook me about 2 hours to make just 8 empanadas. I was glad I did it and I had the time, but it was a lot of work. Also, these empanadas are huge, I think I'd make slightly smaller ones next time.

Be sure that you seal your empanadas quickly, before the egg wash dries-it makes it so much easier.

I had some leftover beef, so I formed 2 small patties to make sliders. I really wanted to make the tomato chutney from the lamb slider recipe to go with them-so I did. When you go to peel the tomatoes, cut an X in the bottom and put them in boiling water for 1 minute. Then peel from the X. This makes the process much faster and less frustrating.

At first the chutney seemed very sweet and then you're hit with the cayenne. It's a great combo, but you may want to reduce the cayenne, if you don't like very spicy food.

Next, I'll be making an onion tart, black pepper pork with potatoes and cabbage, and chimichurri sauce-not for the pork

So far my adventure has turned out to be very enjoyable and I have not had to throw anything in the trash. A true testament to the ability of the Disney chefs to create good, easy to follow recipes!

 

[NoraG]

So, I called again. That's right, I call Disney reservations twice a week to see if the resorts we want are available with a military discount for our dates. It gets a bit exhausting, but we can't afford a 2BR villa without the discount.

Right now we're booked BLT (no discount) 1/8-1/11 and BWV (w/a mil discount) 1/11-1/13. We'd like BLT 1/8-1/11 and BCV 1/11-13 both with discounts if possible.


So, I called again and no change on the resorts we want. BWV is a great alternative to BCV, so we don't really need to worry about that too much. WLV does not have 2 BR villas available with the discount, so I couldn't use that as a back up to BLT. However, there is a 2 BR villa at Kidani (std view) for $1,447.89. The savannah view is a bit pricier. BWV was $945, so this would give us a total of $2392.89. This is less than the regular cost of BLT for just 3 nights. So, should I go ahead and switch it? What's the point in keeping the BLT room if we can't afford the regular priced room? We could also do SSR or OKW for less, but the kids would like AKL, as would the adults. Any thoughts on this? Should I just bite the bullet and give up my BLT room at the regular rate?

If DC51 can't come (due to work schedule) we'd be down to 6, which would allow us to stay at a value suite or the Ft wilderness cabins. I was given a price of $625.23 at the cabins for three nights, but I'm thinking he must have said $1625.23. Does $625 seem right? It's 40 percent off, but wow, what a difference! We can't make this decision yet since we don't know if he'll be able to get the time off, but if you had to choose would you pick a value suite or the cabin? How would you get to MK from the cabin?

I'd love some feedback right about now. My head is telling me to take AKL with the discount, but my heart says 'hold on to BLT." Oy vey!

 

[NoraG]

So my latest F&W recipe adventure did not turn out as well. I tried the onion tart from France in the 2010 recipe book. While the recipe was easy to follow, it turned into s puff pastry covered by an omlette, covered by onions. Yuck! I was so disappointed.

If I ever try it again, I'd use half an egg, rather than two eggs. Yes, there was that much omelette on my tart. hmpf!

 

[NoraG]

To make this PTR more interesting and perhaps gain some new readers I thought I'd report on our last family trip. Details below.

Who:
Me (21)- a student-in a Master's program at that time. I've graduated now. Woohoo! Wait a minute, how come I didn't get a WDW grad trip?
DM (62)-retired, but never bored! Loves WDW, but it can get to be too much. I love her despite this flaw
DC (48)- works in the Healthcare industry, but whose main devotion is being a Mom to:
DC (13)- We were able to celebrate his half-birthday while at HS. It was amazing! Loves legos and Star Wars.
DC (11)- The quintessential middle child-the peacekeeper, the most mature 11 year old-ever. And, we have the same name, so I've got a special soft spot for her. She's always willing to compromise, so we make a special effort to be sure she gets to do things she wants to do also.
DC (9)-Still really into the Disney Magic. Loves Princesses, but Fairies and Tink are her fav!

When:

Forgive me, but I don't remember our exact dates. It was the second week of December 2009 (value season)-a Thursday through a Tuesday.

Where:

CSR for four nights. I'll explain the other nights later. And all four theme parks.

Why:

Besides myself and DM, this was a first time trip for the cousins. They really had no idea of the scale of WDW and were shocked. This trip was done on a major shoestring budget-aside from not staying at a value. We did the military four day base tickets for $105 each with tax for the DCs, an upgraded FL res AP from a free ticket for me, and a upgraded FL res SP from a free ticket for DM. We had two rooms at CSR, DCs in one and myself and DM in another-both at a military promotion of 40% off. We all did the QSDP and one TS meal.

 

[NoraG]

I'm going to go my day of the week here because I don't remember the exact date a year and a half later. You think I might after all that planning!

Background: We planned this trip only two months in advance and were incredibly lucky to have so much work out for us. I am eternally grateful to the Disney gods that my family had the best time ever! DC (48) had heard so many people come back having been overwhelmed, exhausted, and broke that she went thinking they'd never go back. She left knowing they wanted more. So, yay that we could be their personal tour guides and get them an amazing deal. BTW, I am the military id holder and official travel planner, thus holder of all discounts. Okay, so not really. But, I was really glad the military discount saved them so much $$$$. We could not have done it the same way otherwise.

So on to the good stuff. Although we have a home in FL, the DCs were out of state at the time (Myself and DM were in the FL home), so they flew in on SW and got a pretty good deal. Airfare was about $800 for all of them RT. They arrived around 3:30 PM (I remember this clearly) and we greeted them at the airport with Mickey gloves on. DC (11) is very claustrophobic and none of the kids had flown before. Poor DC (48) wasn't sure they'd make it down once they got on the plane. She did the early flight check-in you pay $10 for (per person, per leg of trip) and only found it useless coming down. They got a very high number going back up. We simply drove back to the house and ate at a local italian restaurant that night so that we could rest before driving to Disney on Monday morning!

 

[NoraG]

We did not get a good start to our Friday. Both DC (48) and I had medical issues to attend to which delayed us and the kids got a rather late start. In the end, we pulled into CSR around 11 or 11:30 AM. We quickly checked in, checked out the main area, and went to our room. We were in the casistas building and the rooms were first floor, adjoining, as we requested. While we were only the 2nd bus stop, we were incredibly far from the main building. Almost directly across the lake. This really only mattered once, but when it did, the walk seemed forever. We all loved the rooms-there were no problems. They seemed in perfect condition as far as I know. They were spacious, but the cousins were a bit crowded being four to a room and having all the luggage. We were very glad to have chosen CSR, which had/has queen beds. We could not do a value or mod with doubles. Too tight. Now, we'd put one or two of the kids in the room with DM and I. Back then, they wanted to stay with Mom. Also, the courtyard outside the rooms was great!

After settling in we had quick snack of food we brought ourselves and headed to the bus stop! We arrived at Epcot between 12:30 and 1 PM. I was so disappointed it was so late. After having our picture taken we rode Speceship Earth. Both DC (48) and DC (11) get motion sick, but were fine on the descent. I'd hate that part if it weren't for the game you get to play. This ride ended up being DC (9)'s fav. Go figure!

We did more of Future World, but not that much. A few games in innoventions and Nemo. We also went to the Land and saw the movie, which we all agreed we never need to see again. They loved the hydroponic garden tour (ooh, I can't remember the name. Darn it!) and this had always been my Mom's favorite. She was so pleased they enjoyed it. We ate at the WS place that is two stories and in FW, near Club Cool (I think). Now, I may get chewed out for this, but I want to be honest,so here goes: as members of the military we can add the dining plan to our room without adding tix (we had separate military tix), so we added the QSDP. We made the youngest cousins 8 and 9 on the room so they could get children's dining plans. Thus, we really made the older one younger. While I understand why people do not like to do this or feel it is dishonest, in this case we got what we paid for. We knew she'd only eat kids meals and that's what she ate. I'd appreciate if there was no arguing/debating about this. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this thread is not a debate thread. I thought it might be helpful to some to know when a kids meal was enough food for an 11 year old and when the kids got sick of the kids meal offerings.

Back to the story: we all had plenty to eat. DC (9) and I traded meals because she really wanted a salad. This will become a theme for the trip. The kid just really loves salad. DC (48) does not eat chicken, so that limited some choices, but not by much. We got 1 Greek Salad, 1 Chicken Caesar salad, 2 kids cheeseburgers, and 1 adult burger, plus sodas. I have idea what DM ate. Sorry. I think we also got cheesecake for dessert. We liked these. That I remember.

By the time we headed to the WS it was already dark! Time flew by. So, they never saw the WS while it was light out. I know, I know, they'll just have to come back! On the bright side, we were just in time for Illuminations. The kids liked this, but DC (9) does not like loud fireworks. She did well , but covered her ears for all the fireworks each night. These seemed the worst, but that's because we were very close. Next time, I'll bring the poor kid some earplugs.

I have no idea what else we saw, but it was getting very cold around this time. The weather had been pleasant, but Epcot had EMH until midnight this night and it got very cold. We were forced to buy six multicolor blankets fromt he Mexico stand (not the one inside). It was pricey, but we use them for other things too. We walked around looking like the Von Trapp family ready to climb over the mountains for the rest of the right, but we were warm. The kids were really getting tired, but we stopped at the CS place in Morocco to eat. This is what I think we had: DM and I split the lamb platter. Dc (13) had the mixed platter. He loves to order the most expensive item. Grrr. On the plan it didn't matter though.. DC (9) had the falafel sliders. It's not on the kids menu, but the CM said she could have it. I know Dc (48) just finished the kids food, but I don't remember what DC (11) ate. One of the kids meals-and she was full. I really don't think we were given dessert here.

We finished by walking around the WS and were exahusted, so we headed back to the resort for some rest. Next up: HS day!