Too many kids for Disney? We're here!!!!!!

[estherhead]

Pre Trippie:

Ok, ya’ll. I’ve begun the planning for our 2008 trip. I booked our accommodations today so I thought it was time to start my pre-trippie. I’ve been working up to this by finishing my 2007 Trip Report & writing a just dining review (it’s included in the Trip Report, but not everyone wants to read all that, ya know?)

So, since the last trip is over, it is naturally time to begin a new trip because what is life without a Disney trip in the planning? At the end of our last trip we were offered the Bounceback & I actually called & got a couple quotes & we ended up not booking. For a few reasons, one: though we were quite sold on dining at Disney, we weren’t as sold on staying at Disney. Two: we really wanted someone to come with us & it’s hard to get someone from home to commit to coming to Disney in the 10 minutes before you check out.

But we did know before we left that it wouldn’t be but a few months before we had the Disney itch again so I had a little bit of non-buyer’s remorse on our air flight home. However it has all ended well as my poor Disney-crazed & Disney-deprived sister has had to endure my endless Disney talk for the past year while she was busy having a new baby so we’ve decided to plan a trip together. The best time for them is right after Thanksgiving due to her husband’s work schedule. This is also good for our kids (they all go to school together) have the Monday after Thanksgiving off so a 9 day trip would only cost us 4 days of unexcused absences.

As you will see below this is quite the undertaking as between the two of us we have 7 kids under 11. It wasn't our plan, but it is our reality. And they are pretty stinkin' cute, if we do say so ourselves.

Our Cast of Characters for this trip:

Perla: (previously, me!): I chose to be a girl mouse from Cinderella along with my sister as we are two parts to a whole when it comes to planning anything. We adore planning things together. Anything from weddings to kid’s parties to vacations to weight loss. We’re pretty good alone, but together I can’t think of a skill we’re missing. I’m crafty & good with my hands, full of enthusiasm & endless ideas. She is organized, practical, clever with the internet, and excellent with a stretching a dollar. We both are full of energy & smart & (thank heavens) we’re both adaptable (since we have 7 kids). We’re a good team.

Donald Duck (previously Dh): Total Disney-lover. Really up for any vacation I suggest as long as it isn’t with crazy people (yes, we’ve tried that: choose travel partners with care.) Adores spending time with his three girls, loves swimming, currently plays Toontown non-stop with the children. Chose Donald Duck because Donald is a pretty awesome duck, ready for any fun Mickey, Minnie, & Daisy can dream up but he can be a bit cranky.

Mulan: Our eldest: 8 by this trip. Serious, but loves to laugh. The best helper ever.

Ariel: Our middle: 6.5 by this trip. Sunny, sunny person, sings constantly but things hurt her feeling very deeply. She is obsessed with thrill rides.

Boo: (previously the baby) Not walking yet, but days away at the most. Will be 20 months by this trip & I have no doubt a Boo look alike in every way. The most observant baby of all of mine. Even tempered is what I would say she is.

Suzy: See Perla above. In Cinderella it is Perla who proclaims, “We can fix that, we can do it,” having absolute confidence in their skills to make Cinderella’s dreams come true, but it is Susie who picks up the needle & starts making it work.

Milo: My b-i-l, married to Suzy. Did you know Disney had a movie about a linguist? No? Well my b-i-l is not a linguist, but since he actually knows what the difference between a linguist and whatever he is, than Milo is his best fitting Disney character. You can find Milo in Disney by looking for the only man sitting on a park bench with his nose in a leather bound book that is 20 pounds of boring. But don’t think he isn’t a Disney lover. He likes Disney a lot. And he especially loves being with his family in Disney. He likes what is planned to happen, to happen. He loves Epcot and will hold it against me for quite awhile if I make him go see some unplanned, random nature thing at AK.

Prince Charming: 11 by this trip. Is Prince Charming in his school’s production of Cinderella and it is quite appropriate. Loves to be loved & liked. Quite charming. Quite handsome. Teenager before his time. Spends a huge amount of time listening to country music on his headphones & not listening to anything we say. Literally he cannot hear us, when he does hear, he is very useful & helpful & incredibly obedient. I’m not sure I’ve met a more obedient 11 year old boy. While still being independent. It’s a great combo, let me tell ya.

Buzz: 8 by this trip. He is focused on what he is focused on and completely clueless to anything going on in the real world around him. Because of this he is amazingly happy. Wouldn’t you like to be immune to anything happening around you? The negative to this is: he is easy to lose at Disney. Also, like his father, whatever the plan is MUST stay the plan. Happy, but not easy going. Final note on Buzz: he finds it highly amusing to tease the characters, would especially love to tackle one to the ground so we’ll have to keep our eye on him.

McQueen: (as in Lightening) 5 by this trip: Headstrong, hotheaded, and talkative. But super cute. A little bit of a ‘fraidy cat so we’ll have to see how he does in this thrill seeking group.

Jack-Jack: 1 by this trip. Obviously, I don’t know the new baby’s personality very well yet. But in anticipation, I’m naming him Jack-Jack. I have a feeling he’ll be multi-talented.

So that is the whole crew. The adults are all in our thirties and our kids range from 1-11. Perla & Donald have all the girls. Suzy & Milo have all the boys so it should be easy to keep us separate.

Now on to the planning!

I had decided that I would rather rent a villa than stay on property as there is just so much room to spread out. So Suzy & I started our endless search of rental sights. I have a love/hate relationship with finding a Disney villa. They just all start to blend together and this time it really was tricky as we decided we wanted a real hot tub. Many of the villas have spas attached to the pools which aren’t any hotter than the regular pool, they just have jets.

We did, however, at least entertain the idea of staying on property.

The benefits: Could buy the DDP. Have more transportation options if we want to split up more. Early & Late entry. And, at the value resorts in value season it wasn’t too expensive. No parking fees at the parks. Never have to leave Disney property.

The negatives: Have to rent 3 rooms & have the older kids stay together which is a bit nerve wracking since they are young, even if it is connecting, they still have their own exit, and it’s only connecting to one set of parents, putting them more in charge of the kids. No hot tub. No kitchen nor fridge. No living room. No private pool. Loud. No private space. Never get to leave Disney property.

So ultimately we settled on a villa. Guess which one? The Magic Palace in Windsor Hills. A truly magical villa, our own little haven away from the mayhem while still being right there! We won’t have our own private hot tub, but there is one at the clubhouse. We’ll be only 5 houses away from a super cool playground. We have 5 bedrooms, instead of 3 so our kids should all sleep better. We also have a family room, games room, and dining room so we can all spread out. Free high speed internet. Our own pool table, air hockey table, foosball, PS II. Our own TV’s (6 in all.) Plus, we can eat breakfast at home for cheap and pack a lunch (or maybe pack a dinner & eat at a TS for lunch) which will really save us money.

To stay at ASM for the same 9 nights with the AAA discount would be $2233.80. To stay at the Magic Palace is costing us under $2200! So it is about the same as staying in a value for us. And you have to admit, it seems a bit quieter & more luxurious. Even if you add in the $99.00 per family for parking (which that will be under that as we won’t go to a park all 9 days), it is still a pretty good deal for all of the amenities. I also mapquested it and it should take us under 10 minutes to get to Animal Kingdom & 15 minutes to Epcot. I can handle that.

We ended up booking for 9 days. So we probably will nestle in the first few days to avoid Thanksgiving crowds & enjoy relaxing at our wonderful home away from home.

The other thing we began, Suzy & I, is trying to figure out how to pay for all this. We’ve decided to coupon! Long ago I did this but then I lost access to my coupons & quit. Thanks to the Budget board here we’ve started scooping up coupons on a few reputable sites & should start getting them in the mail tomorrow. I’ll keep you all posted on how much we’ve saved. I’m still skeptical but with food costs growing by leaps & bounds, I have to do something!

We also will more than likely take our tax stimulus checks in May and put them back into the economy by buying our Disney tickets. I think Donald & I will buy non-expiring 10 day premium tickets while Milo & Suzy will get 7 day tickets that do expire. Donald & I would like to go back once the girls are over the 54” height requirement to Universal & SeaWorld but still visit Disney a bit.

We’re yet to set a budget for food. But I’m going to try to save as much money as possible in the next 108 days which is how long I have before making ADR’s.
On my short list is:
1900 Park Faire Cinderella dinner,
either O’hana’s or Whispering Canyon,
Rose and Crown or Raglan Road,
Sci-Fi or Prime-time Café
If we have enough money: Le Cellier
Crystal Palace?

I doubt we’ll really eat at 6 places as we won’t have the need to as we can just pick something up on our way home & eat it at our own table in our villa, but those are the places I’m interested in researching and seeing which ones fit into our budget, both our money & time budget. I figure the DDP would cost us $96.00 per day and we would get it if we were staying on site. So I will more than likely work with $100 per day budget. But…. Only for the time we’ll actually be at the parks, maybe 6 or 7 days? So our food budget will probably by $700.00 not including groceries.

I really would love to keep it at that and spend any extra cash I might be able to scrounge together at the Anne Taylor Loft discount store. Hmmm…. Shopping at the outlet malls the week after Thanksgiving? Anyone from Orlando want to enlighten me on what a psychotic idea that might be? Just how bad would it be on Black Friday or Saturday?


Questions to be answered in later editions:

Will I convince Suzy & Milo that individualism is out & matching t-shirts are in?
Will we be able to settle on a definite plan with 2 power planners, 2 non-easy-going followers, and 7 children?
Will now 3 month old Jack-Jack end up with super powers?
Will Boo have a terrible case of the terrible two’s?
Will we be able to wait for NINE WHOLE MONTHS?????????

Stay tuned…

 

[estherhead]

Perla:


Donald:


Suzy:


Milo:


And our seven kids will tagging along, of course. Mine are all dark haired girls, Milo & Suzy's all blonde headed boys. Super easy to figure out for wait staff. It's almost like we planned it that way, almost.

 

[sleepingbean]

Oh, I'll be looking forward to watching this unfold! We'll be going with brother and his two girls, our two girls, and my parents!
And it looks like we'll be traveling close to the same time as you guys, so I'll be checking back often

Great start!

 

[sleepingbean]

Oh, and I JUST watched Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was wonderful

We just built a house last year, so it was very painful and fitting to wade through. The wife totally cracked me up. She was so painfully oblivious.
So your current thread title caught my eye!

 

[estherhead]

Oh good! I wasn't sure anyone would get my title but I just love this movie. Somehow the timelessness of it & the sincere sweetness of it just seemed to fit a Disney vacation. And the chaos! Controlled, of course.

 

[ILMICKEY]

Oh Yaaaaay!! A new one. I'm in it for the long haul!!!

 

[estherhead]

So, my little girls are mice in Cinderella at their school. And my nephew, Prince Charming, is Prince Charming. So I decided to donate a cake for all the kids & the poor teachers who have been beyond stressed out as we've had 10 snow days in February, all of them critical practice days. Which meant that practice had to be rescheduled & rearranged. These are my favorite two teachers at the school anyway, and now they are beyond my favorite. 140 kids are in this play. You can just imagine the stress.

So the play was this weekend. One on Friday night & one on Saturday. And guess where I live? That's right. Ohio. And the March Blizzard of history. So it's been cancelled. Those poor teachers.

So, both plays are going to be tomorrow at 2 and then 4 and then we are going to have a party & my cake. Well, since I had an extra day I decided to go all out & spent 6-8 hours on this today.

Every single thing is edible.

 

[ILMICKEY]

WOW! That's just beautiful. You are the woman!!

 

[sleepingbean]

very impressive!
Although I'll miss the old title!

 

[estherhead]

Can two obsessively planning mice plan another trip to Disney before the first trip is over? Of course they can. You know this is true, if you are writing a pre-trip, and certainly if you are reading a pre-trip, you yourself are an obsessive planner.

So, free dining came out. I swore that this year I would let it go by & miss me. I have a lovely trip planned for early December, after all, and a trip to Yellowstone planned in August. I certainly, absolutely, for sure do NOT need a free dining trip in September. I just simply don't.

And yet.....

I do. It really isn't another WDW trip I need, it's a girl's only trip I need. Now, mind you, my mom, myself, & my sister have lovely husbands. And we are not meek & mousy women. We are assertive. That being said, we generally are accomodating, especially on vacation, to our dh's. And, and this is a key point, we are very money conscious. Two of our dh's spend money themselves, making us restrict our own spending to make up for the waste. And one of them is a bit of a cheapskate, especially when it comes to food. He simply doesn't understand eating out. It seems an idiotic waste of money to him.

So, when free dining came out we girls banded together & decided to abandon men & children for 4 days, 3 nights of freedom. Especially freedom to eat whatever we stinking want to eat at restaurants. And to shop & waste time. Honestly, we couldn't care less if we ever get on a ride (except Soarin'.) This trip is all about female freedom.

Empowerment, sisters, empowerment. Our dh's don't really understand. They are such good men, and they are good to us, so why on earth would we need to abandon them to feel freedom? It may be inexplicable, but it is true.

So they believe us, if not understand us, and my dh has agreed to take vacation to watch our 18 month old baby at home!!! And my dad has agreed to give us $600 as a gift for our airfare!!! So we are going with their blessing & we upgraded to DELUXE dining just to make sure we truly could eat ANYTHING we want.

I may even drink. I know, it's shocking, but it's true. I'm not much of a drinker. There is always such pressure to have the right drink & I always want to keep my wits about me because dh is drinking & there are still children to be watched & a car to be driven. This time, though my sister will be bringing her 9 month old baby, I will have no one to watch, and no one watching me & wondering why I'm getting a sissy drink. I can get a sissy drink if I feel like it. And if only I am drinking I won't worry about the money we are wasting as it is when dh is drinking 2 drinks & I ponder drinking one, then we are paying for THREE drinks which is very expensive at WDW. But one froo-froo drink? Definately within my budget.

Oh I am so very excited. Are there any other people out there who would be excited about such delightful freedom?

I'm excited about something else too. We are staying at Pop, which I've never stayed at. And I am going to be training for a half-marathon so I will have some long runs I'll need to do. I've mapped a little route around Pop & Caribbean Beach resort & am imagining myself getting up in the am & answering to no one, going on a run at Disney. No people back in the room getting annoyed at me. Just me, my mp3 player, and the freedom of running at Disney. No jogging stroller. No family at home waiting for dinner. Nothing important to think about. Doesn't it sound delightful?

Here are the places we are planning on eating (meaning we have ADR's already if nothing changes):

Jiko (I've never been to AKL)
Flying Fish (I've never been to Boardwalk)
Artist Point ( LOVE WL)
Boma
Yak & Yeti
Wolfgang Puck Cafe

I haven't eaten at any of these places before.

OK, I'm super excited. I'm gonna have to quit typing because it is making me just a tiny bit nauseous with excitement. Three kids can make a gal a bit giddy at the prospect of escaping.

I'll update ya'll with the "real" trip report updates later.

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE BOOKED A GIRL'S TRIP!!!?????

 

[estherhead]

So, the big news is, other than the second September girl’s trip, Suzy and I have been pinching pennies like you cannot believe.

What I cannot believe is how much time I now spend shopping. For some reason I always equated saving pennies with staying OUT of stores. This makes logical sense. How can you spend money if you are never near a store to spend it in? Well let me tell you, that is a lie! It is logic which in practice is false logic.

It all started with the disboard budget boards. Previously, I’ve scanned them for visiting Disney tips. Like the famous, “Ordering a double cheeseburger and extra bun” tip. Or the controversial, “bring last year’s refillable mug” tip. But I slowly began reading the other tips. And low behold, mind boggling information abounded.

Did you know you can get all your toiletries at CVS for free?

Did you know that you can BUY coupons online?

Did you know that you can feed your family for $40 a week?

Neither did I!

Nor did I know that you can make videos of yourself reviewing things & score cold hard cash!

Nor shop on-line & earn money for doing it.

Shocking, I know. The die hard Disbudgeters will have a heart attack reading this. How could anyone be so misinformed? Well I was. And now I have found mommysavers, thecouponclippers, ebay coupons, coolsavings, thecouponmom, etc. I also have a subscription to my newspapers for the coupons. I save the coupons which are generated after my receipts. I get coupons from friends. I search the wine bottles for coupons. I think you get the idea.

Wanna hear of my success? Hmm, what would you say to 20 free cake mixes? 10 free French’s mustards? FREE shampoo, make-up, vitamins, diapers? It’s been a miracle. I’ve gone from spending $150+ a week to $70-125 a week. And eating WAY better than ever before. Name brand.

I never knew nor understood the high a person can get by walking out of a store with 2 bottles of All detergent, 2 bottles of Neosporin, and razor cartridges ($35.00 value) for $2.00! AND they gave me back $8.00 to use on future purchases. -$6.00 transaction. Oh yeah baby! That was a CVS deal.

Then I was in Kroger’s a few weeks back & bought 6 cans of Hormel chili, 5 French’s mustards, & some other things which I now can’t remember. My total was -$.30. That’s right, they owed me money for buying stuff. The girl told me she couldn’t do that & Reese’s cups were on sale so just grab a pack & give her a dime & I’d be good to go. Boy was my family (waiting in the van) excited to get the Reese’s cups. And Donald was THRILLED to have bags full of free groceries.

The best things is that I have money in the bank to spend on Disney. Suzy (also getting amazing deals) and I have paid off our lodgings & she has bought some of her tickets. I’m planning on spending part of my stimulus check on a Kroger’s gift card which should pay for gas & groceries for 3 months. The other half I will buy our Disney tickets!!!! 230 days away and lodging & tickets paid for. That ain’t half shabby.

PLUS we have our September trip being paid for. Also, I’m going to Yellowstone in July & I’ve got part of the rooming paid for for that! This is in addition to the $1500+ I had to pay for dentistry for my girls. I was sure that would take all my money but it has been easy to swallow with the money I’ve been savings.

This newfounded save money by shopping theory has also drifted into my clothing shopping. I’ve started going way more often. And sometimes I walk out of the store with nothing, if there are no deals to be found. Donald & I took our girls to a deeply discounted store (anyone have a Gabriel Bros?) and taught them how to shop for clothing. They are 6 & 7. We bought them & their baby sister entire summer wardrobes including shoes for $233.00, yes that is for all three. There are a few things we needed to get elsewhere, like I had to buy tights for $2.50 at Wal-Mart for one of the outfits, but in general that was total. I was so excited that I went back the next week while Kohl’s was having a sale & spent $200 on myself. I got so many outfits, including a $250.00 leather lined jacket for $25.00! This is something I REALLY needed as I lost mine last fall & basically didn’t have coat this winter as I wasn’t willing to spend the cash on it. But now with my new shopping habits I have found a cashmere dress coat for $50.00 (originally over $300) and a leather for $25.00!!! Sooooo excited by this all. It’s hard to even type fast enough.

It seems like I pull out my Disney rewards card constantly but instead of putting $250 on it each time I pull it out, I’m putting $10-20 on it each time I pull it out. So more often is equaling a lot smaller.

Yesterday we all went to Wal-Mart as dh had to buy some things for work (on his work card, not our money.) I took in my giant coupon book & just looked for deals. I bought 4 things of gum, 1 box of Bagelfuls, baked beans, and shampoo. The total with tax was under $2.00. My eldest said “$2.00? We’ve never come in here and spent $2.00!” It was very cute. It sounded like she was yelling at me for spending too much.

Whew, anyway, I’m obviously happy with the new budget stuff. We’ve also shut off our cable saving ourselves almost $100.00 per month. We’re using a discount card on our gasoline saving us $.30 on every gallon which has been helping a lot. And we have been paying off our credit cards & now owe less than $2000.00 on a card that has 0% interest for 12 months so we are taking our time since it isn’t doing any harm. Today I’m shopping for cheaper health insurance. Hopefully if everything goes along the same lines as right now we’ll have $1000 cash for Disney, $300 Disney dollars, and everything (excluding house & van payments) completely paid off by our Disney trip in November. What a relaxing trip that would! No money concerns at all. We shall see, eh?

OK, more vacation plans coming up on the next report.

 

[ILMICKEY]

That is AWESOME! I wish I had the patience to do all that. I am a big bargain hunter (I've been called Frugal), but I can't seem to clip coupons. I really should start huh? Sounds like you have done a GREAT job.

Kudos !!

 

[estherhead]

That is AWESOME! I wish I had the patience to do all that. I am a big bargain hunter (I've been called Frugal), but I can't seem to clip coupons. I really should start huh? Sounds like you have done a GREAT job.

Kudos !!

Yes, I, too have always been frugal. Maybe even cheap ? But this has been a whole new world to me. I thought it would make me even cheaper & maybe make me kind of obnoxiously not want to spend money in other ways too, as I've seen people like that. My grandmother used to take all the sugar packets on the tables when we go out to eat! But so far that hasn't happened. I'm still balanced about spending money on splurges and haven't found myself stealing ketchup packets at Burger King. But ya never know...

I do find myself watching other people in the check-out lines though & thinking, "No!!! Don't spend money on that! You can get it for free this week at CVS! " So far I've held myself back from saying it outloud. Let's hope that continues.

Coming up in my next chapter...

How to get ketchup for free

 

[estherhead]

It's finally here, the 180 day mark. And guess what???? No NOVEMBER HOURS POSTED YET!!!!! I know, I know people are truly griping about it over there on the other boards. But that's OK. We aren't going to be eating much at WDW sit down places anyway so I'll just patiently wait for the hours to come out.

We won't be eating too many meals there because we have our own house, with our own kitchen, remember?

Here are a few reasons I love have an off property house:

1) your very own pool. This is fabulous as you can go out there & sit & read a book & relax. At public pools I'm always running about monitoring things. At a private pool, I can put floaties on them, put the big kids in charge, and get lost in my book. I'm only there in case of emergency. Plus, with 4 parents, even that easy task is split in fourths.

2) you very own kitchen. Having a freezer & oven allows me to buy french fries, hot dogs, frozen pizzas, chicken tenders, etc. All the junk food stuff we would eat in a food court & on vacation but instead of running & getting it, I just pop it in the oven & chill out. Plus it saves money big time and the kids don't have to sit in a restaurant on best behavior.

3) laundry. Let's face it, you have kids, you have laundry. It's much easier to just do a load every other day than make a big to do about it & take a morning off vacation to do it. Having a laundry in the house takes the pressure off as a mom.

4) my own bedroom. We stayed at All Star Sports last year & it was great. Great!!! But I seriously missed having my own delightful bedroom. The one we are staying at this year has a canopy bed. The luxury of having my own bath & bedroom with NO KIDS ALLOWED on vacation is just too much to bear. And I can't really afford Boardwalk. This allows me that kind of luxury.

5) off property. I realize staying on site allows total immersion in Disney, which is nice, but with a bunch of kiddos, sometimes a run to Wal-Mart is inevitable. Since we're off site, it isn't that much of a hassle. I just pop in the car & I don't feel like I'm ruining my vacation by popping into the store. For me, this is a bonus. I guess this also is the benefit of a rental car too.

6) my own TV. and wireless internet. Call me a geek, I like to have my own remote & laptop with wireless internet while on vacation. Just imagining it makes me all happy inside. 9 blissful days of no Spongebob. Can you feel the muscles in my neck loosening? Can you?

7) money. Although mentioned in the other posts, money, money, money. Having my own car, my own kitchen, my own laundry, store access, etc. save me money in lots of nickel & dime ways. We like to print out menus to our favorites, like Outback Steakhouse, and order from the WDW parking lot. We swing by & pick it up & eat it by the pool while the kids play. This saves us $ by no tip, drinking our own alcohol, no kid's meals, etc. Delightful.


So, enough about all that. I also wanted to say that I got my check from the USA government to stimulate the economy. I got $2100.00. I quickly stimlated the economy by spending $1100.00 of it on WDW tickets!!!! Yipee! They came in the mail yesterday. I got 7 day, water parks & more, park hopping, expiring tickets. Mine is Tinkerbell. Ooooo, were my girls ever jealous. I GOT TINKERBELL. I can feel the pixie dust.

This is one jam packed post, let me tell ya! Here is also our tenative (remember, no hours posted yet!) schedule:

Thursday - shop, unpack, explore - go to bed early

Friday –
6:30 AM Awaken & dress
7:00 AM Out the door (make sure you have your tickets!)
8:00 AM Rope Drop!
Park probably crazy by 2 pm or so, go home.

Pleasure Island for one couple

Saturday - AM: mini golf
PM: AK until 8pm or so

Sunday – MK, leave early afternoon & go to Disneyquest. Eat all together at Cheesecake factory then big kids all stay.

Pleasure Island for second couple.

Monday - All day DHS - Fantasmic

Tuesday – Blizzard Beach

PM Downtown Disney (including DisneyQuest)

Wednesday - AM Epcot Character Lunch at Garden Grill

PM MK 7:00 Spectro and 8:00 Wishes

Thursday - AM off

PM Epcot illuminations 9:30pm - dinner Rose & Crown

Fri - Blizzard Beach

Sat - Home


OK, that's all for now. More later.

 

[5 crazy kids]

Oh, good thread!!!!!
I'm subscribing

 

[estherhead]

Oh, good thread!!!!!
I'm subscribing

Welcome, welcome. Maybe we can start a large family support group for our special needs!

 

[twob4him]

Hi Perla....I came over from the Windsor Hills thread! Now I am just loving your trip report!!! I am only on the first page but I love that you and your sis and family are all going together! Garsh you must be sooo excited! Half the things you are mulling over, I am too! I am hoping to stay at the Villa Oct 30-Nov 9, 2009!! I am saving saving saving too! I am so excited to read about your tips and ideas and plans! OK I am off to do just that!

 

[twob4him]

Can two obsessively planning mice plan another trip to Disney before the first trip is over? Of course they can.

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE BOOKED A GIRL'S TRIP!!!?????

I am sitting here in amazement! It would never cross my mind to plan a second trip with just girls!

QUOTE=estherhead;23681426]

So, my little girls are mice in Cinderella at their school. And my nephew, Prince Charming, is Prince Charming. So I decided to donate a cake for all the kids & the poor teachers who have been beyond stressed out as we've had 10 snow days in February, all of them critical practice days. Which meant that practice had to be rescheduled & rearranged. These are my favorite two teachers at the school anyway, and now they are beyond my favorite. 140 kids are in this play. You can just imagine the stress.

Oh yes I can...I'm a teacher and that is one undertaking I wouldnt undertake without ending up with an undertaker!


Every single thing is edible.

[/QUOTE]
That is one impressive cake you made! Really amazing!

It's finally here, the 180 day mark. And guess what???? No NOVEMBER HOURS POSTED YET!!!!! I know, I know people are truly griping about it over there on the other boards. But that's OK. We aren't going to be eating much at WDW sit down places anyway so I'll just patiently wait for the hours to come out.

We won't be eating too many meals there because we have our own house, with our own kitchen, remember?

Here are a few reasons I love have an off property house:

1) your very own pool. This is fabulous as you can go out there & sit & read a book & relax. At public pools I'm always running about monitoring things. At a private pool, I can put floaties on them, put the big kids in charge, and get lost in my book. I'm only there in case of emergency. Plus, with 4 parents, even that easy task is split in fourths.

2) you very own kitchen. Having a freezer & oven allows me to buy french fries, hot dogs, frozen pizzas, chicken tenders, etc. All the junk food stuff we would eat in a food court & on vacation but instead of running & getting it, I just pop it in the oven & chill out. Plus it saves money big time and the kids don't have to sit in a restaurant on best behavior.

3) laundry. Let's face it, you have kids, you have laundry. It's much easier to just do a load every other day than make a big to do about it & take a morning off vacation to do it. Having a laundry in the house takes the pressure off as a mom.

4) my own bedroom. We stayed at All Star Sports last year & it was great. Great!!! But I seriously missed having my own delightful bedroom. The one we are staying at this year has a canopy bed. The luxury of having my own bath & bedroom with NO KIDS ALLOWED on vacation is just too much to bear. And I can't really afford Boardwalk. This allows me that kind of luxury.

5) off property. I realize staying on site allows total immersion in Disney, which is nice, but with a bunch of kiddos, sometimes a run to Wal-Mart is inevitable. Since we're off site, it isn't that much of a hassle. I just pop in the car & I don't feel like I'm ruining my vacation by popping into the store. For me, this is a bonus. I guess this also is the benefit of a rental car too.

6) my own TV. and wireless internet. Call me a geek, I like to have my own remote & laptop with wireless internet while on vacation. Just imagining it makes me all happy inside. 9 blissful days of no Spongebob. Can you feel the muscles in my neck loosening? Can you?

7) money. Although mentioned in the other posts, money, money, money. Having my own car, my own kitchen, my own laundry, store access, etc. save me money in lots of nickel & dime ways. We like to print out menus to our favorites, like Outback Steakhouse, and order from the WDW parking lot. We swing by & pick it up & eat it by the pool while the kids play. This saves us $ by no tip, drinking our own alcohol, no kid's meals, etc. Delightful.


So, enough about all that. I also wanted to say that I got my check from the USA government to stimulate the economy. I got $2100.00. I quickly stimlated the economy by spending $1100.00 of it on WDW tickets!!!! Yipee! They came in the mail yesterday. I got 7 day, water parks & more, park hopping, expiring tickets. Mine is Tinkerbell. Ooooo, were my girls ever jealous. I GOT TINKERBELL. I can feel the pixie dust.

This is one jam packed post, let me tell ya! Here is also our tenative (remember, no hours posted yet!) schedule:

Thursday - shop, unpack, explore - go to bed early

Friday –
6:30 AM Awaken & dress
7:00 AM Out the door (make sure you have your tickets!)
8:00 AM Rope Drop!
Park probably crazy by 2 pm or so, go home.

Pleasure Island for one couple

Saturday - AM: mini golf
PM: AK until 8pm or so

Sunday – MK, leave early afternoon & go to Disneyquest. Eat all together at Cheesecake factory then big kids all stay.

Pleasure Island for second couple.

Monday - All day DHS - Fantasmic

Tuesday – Blizzard Beach

PM Downtown Disney (including DisneyQuest)

Wednesday - AM Epcot Character Lunch at Garden Grill

PM MK 7:00 Spectro and 8:00 Wishes

Thursday - AM off

PM Epcot illuminations 9:30pm - dinner Rose & Crown

Fri - Blizzard Beach

Sat - Home


OK, that's all for now. More later.

You crack me up!!! I love your writing style (and thinkin style )Your itinerary looks great and I am staying off-site for all of those exact reasons. Congrats on your savings and coupons and such....my DH is a diehard saver and uses coupons all the time!

 

[estherhead]

[: )Your itinerary looks great and I am staying off-site for all of those exact reasons. Congrats on your savings and coupons and such....my DH is a diehard saver and uses coupons all the time! [/COLOR][/SIZE]

Hi!

Thanks for the compliment on the cake. I still feel like the picture doesn't do it justice, it was a super cool cake.

Having a dh who coupons is awesome! Mine enjoys watching me, but gets frustrated himself. I sent him to Wal-Mart with 16 Powerade coupons, his very favorite drink is PowerZero. They were $.75 off coupons & the drink was only $.60 so I thought this would be fun for him. Well, they had their Powerade in 3 places in the store & the PowerZero only in one so it took him 20 minutes to find it. So even though Wal-Mart paid him $2.40 to take his favorite drink out of the store, he still found himself frustrated. He says he doesn't know how I do it.

 

[estherhead]

Hello all you patient readers. This post really has nothing to do with Disney, but it has a lot to do with my life between now & Disney. I thought you could use an update as to what I am doing to fill in the time between Disney trips.

Well, in addition to working & playing with the kids, I will be going to Yellowstone this summer! It is a 28 hour trip one way and Myself, Donald, our three girls & my parents (not going to Disney, so not listed in the Cast) are going in our Honda Odyssey. Am I crazy? You bethca! Boy am I excited. I haven't been on a true road trip in years and I am excited. Mt. Rushmore, St. Louis Arch, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons. We're even going white water rafting!!!

I also am helping a couple plan their wedding. Hmmm, you should read that "I'm putting on a wedding." The week after I get back from Yellowstone. Suzy & I weddings and volunteer about once a year to help a deserving couple put on a $20,000 wedding for $3,000. We do this by offering all our time & experience for free by making the cake, doing the flowers, catering it, etc. It is a super fun hobby, but utterly exhausting. So in the 2 weeks between now & when I leave I must:

Cut out 150 black napkins, make 20 sugar roses, 100 sugar leaves, 150 other sugar flowers, bake, fill & freeze the cakes, make all the favors, and organize all the helpers who will be helping us. It's a bit overwhelming to think of. Also, my niece is coming today to stay for a week and I'm trying to get organized for back to school which is a 6 weeks away. And I'm helping my sister in law with a 50th anniversary party for my in-laws, which my dh is making a video for.

Sigh.

I addition to all that, we are planning a second trip, remember?


The trick we're dealing with right now is whether one of us should get an annual pass and DDE card. It's a really tricky decision as it is almost a break even in savings. CONFUSING!

As for the budget, I have been doing amazing with the savings. We've been able to stay under our weekly food budget and that includes all toiletries & cleaning supplies. We've also done all of our clothing shopping at Goodwill & used clothing stores & yard sales. It's amazing how much we've saved. Unfortunately, we've had some unexpected bills which means we're gonna have to go into debt a tiny bit to get everything in. This saddens me as it isn't my style, but I do know how to play the 0% interest credit card game and have decided to go ahead & play. Most of the bills are medical which can come out pre-tax, but even still, it's our money we're talking about. So I guess I'll still be paying for my summer of fun in December/January. Stupid teeth, eyes, and ears. Why can't my family's vision/hearing/chewing be perfect????

Another big thing that happened to us this summer is our cat had kittens. 5 adorable little kittens. Boo enjoyed these kittens more than you can possibly imagine. She has carried them everywhere. My favorite story though about Boo & the kitties has a second part: Boo loves to collect pretty, special things. If she finds something that sparkles, she will put it in a drawer for safe keeping. We find her binkies in drawers, her cups of chocolate milk go into drawers, cookies that are especially delicious will go into drawers. Anything she truly enjoys, into a drawer it goes for safe keeping.

So where should kitties go? I have found kitties everywhere. In Donald's sock drawer. In kitchen cupboards. In the toilet (the kitties jump out of this one, and Boo gets in big trouble when I see a wet kitty.) Kitties everywhere. We're down to onw kitty now. The others have found homes. So Boo has been trying to carry our big cat around, when she can't find the kitty. The big cat is not amused and will NOT go into drawers. It's all highly amusing for the rest of us. I've had more belly laughs from watchign Boo & the kitties than I've had the rest of the year. Good times, good times.

Well, I really should shower. I'm going to make sure I post photos of the wedding we're doing & of Yellowstone so stick around. And later, of course, I will post a FULL report of our girl's trip. So this really will turn into a triple trip report. In the mean time, don't look for me much as I'll be running around like a mad woman!