Update! rental house, 4 kids, and the grouchy grandparents! June 2013 Pre-trip Report

[agmmbolam426]

Well I know what youre thinking "a trip report for a trip in 14 months?" Well yes! Why not? lol. My family and I have been going to Disney for 3 years now and we love it more and more every year. Our next trip is going to be very special. Not only are we going to the most magical place on earth but we get to bring my in laws with us. They have not had a chance to experience the joys of a fun filled Disney trip! So, let me introduce you to my family:

This is my husband and I. Disneyworld has always been a special place to us both because it is where my husband asked me to marry him.

This is Mckalynn( we call her KK for short). Her favorite character is Rapunzel and last year she wasnt able to meet her so that will be one of our first stops in Magic Kingdom next year!

This is Landon. His favorite characters are Perry and Jack Sparrow. (im sure the picture didnt give that away )

This is Emma. She loves anything Princess and this will be her first trip to Disneyworld with us!

This is Addie. She is a HUGE fan of Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

This is a recent picture of all of the kids. ( Emma isnt smiling because the poor baby got 5 stitches the day before because she fell into a bookshelf at school )

Last but certainly not least... My in laws! Before this trip is over we WILL turn them into Disney fans!

Stay tuned for all of the exciting details!

 

[agmmbolam426]

 

[agmmbolam426]

So where are we staying?

We normally stay on site. We have always stayed at the Pop. And it was going to be the same this year. About a month ago my husband and I sat down and priced out our 2013 trip. Now in the past we have always gone in September and have always used the free dining. Problem is....we know have children in school, so no more september trips So we decided on the first week of June. We priced it out for 2 adults, 2 kids, Pop Century and free dining. IT came out to about $3100.00 My in laws came out to about $2100.00. My husband and I looked at each other and got upset, it just hit us that we may not be able to go next year either. Then....I remembered rental houses. We were worried we would lose some of the magic, but I think we will be ok with that since we will just be in Disney in general. We looked at roughly 1000 homes on vrbo lol. We finally decided on a 4 bedroom (2 masters) and 2 kids rooms. A rec room, a pool and a short drive. The total with taxes..............$800.00 for the week
We are so excited we get a nice house and we will be saving money!



Stay tuned for more

Chris

 

[agmmbolam426]

Hey look at there in less than 2 weeks we will be under a year

Not much has changed, just saving up our money and surfing DIS every night.

 

[Leger13]

Found ya!! Lots of crickets in here

 

[Leger13]

First I will say that the kids are all getting so big so fast! They are all so cute! I'd have a nervous break down trying to go to WDW with 4 kids in tow haha!

OK I feel like I am talking to myself but I will continue this post.


So where are we staying?

We normally stay on site. We have always stayed at the Pop. And it was going to be the same this year. About a month ago my wife and I sat down and priced out our 2013 trip. Now in the past we have always gone in September and have always used the free dining. Problem is....we know have children in school, so no more september trips So we decided on the first week of June. We priced it out for 2 adults, 2 kids, Pop Century and free dining. IT came out to about $3100.00 My parents came out to about $2100.00. My wife and I looked at each other and got upset, it just hit us that we may not be able to go next year either. Then....I remembered rental houses. We were worried we would lose some of the magic, but I think we will be ok with that since we will just be in Disney in gerneral. We looked at roughly 1000 homes on vrbo lol. We finally decided on a 4 bedroom (2 masters) and 2 kids rooms. A rec room, a pool and a short drive. The total with taxes..............$800.00 for the week SO my parents will pay $250 and we will pay the rest! Here is a link to our rental
http://www.vrbo.com/364202

We are so excited we get a nice house and we will be saving money!



Stay tuned for more

Chris

We've stayed off site at a VRBO rental home once before. It was honestly one of our BEST trips! You will really enjoy having your own space, not having to eat at a food court, sitting on a couch, having your own pool, etc. It's really great and good for a big group like y'all. And like you said, much more affordable Only down side is having to pay for parking and not being able to send your purchases from the parks back to your resort but not a big deal. I hope it's not too hot for you guys in June. It's been a long time since I've been there during that time of year.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We are about to embark on our second family trip, and we have done rental homes both times! This is my first time going VRBO, so I'm a bit nervous about that (hope the owner isn't a scammer!), but staying offsite worked out really well for us! We also brought along the grandparents, as well as the aunt and uncle. We enjoyed having a place to gather together in the evening, having our own kitchen and pool, and everyone had their own beds and bathrooms! :thumbsup: Really, it doesn't take any longer to get to the parks than it would riding the Disney buses.

 

[agmmbolam426]

wow we have readers!

Hey Carla! Yea we are really excited about staying off-site. Hoping it wont feel less magical though.

I guess I need to start updating this more. The biggest change is we have added a day to our trip!


Thanks guys!

 

[Leger13]

wow we have readers!

Hey Carla! Yea we are really excited about staying off-site. Hoping it wont feel less magical though.

I guess I need to start updating this more. The biggest change is we have added a day to our trip!


Thanks guys!

Nah it won't feel any less magical. It's actually a whole new adventure staying at a house off site. I really liked it when we did it. It was nice going "home" after a long day at the parks.

Yay for adding a day!

 

[agmmbolam426]

Cool, your making us feel better. We can not wait!

 

[Leger13]

Cool, your making us feel better. We can not wait!

Glad I could help!

 

[agmmbolam426]

One of my favorite things to do for my kiddos is to put together a "Disney travel bag" and a "present from their favorite characters" for each child. Not only does it pass the time but they absolutely love it. The great thing about making these goody bags is Disney is everywhere!!! I went to our Target's dollar section a couple of months ago and found these adorable princess pens with glitter and beads for .30 on clearance!! They are perfect for autograph books! Today I found tinkerbell snack containers for .30 too!! Our Target dollar section always has a bunch of cool Disney stuff. I got a great tip from one of our fellow Disers a few years ago when you have a car full of kids saying "are we there yet" every five minutes you need something to keep them occupied. So, you make them a goody bag with books, coloring books, toys, etc. but you give them one new thing every 30 min- 1 hr so they dont tear through the whole bag in five minutes and then start up the "are we there yet" again. lol! Last year I typed up a letter welcoming the kids to Disney from their favorite character along with some really neat toys that I had picked up over the year and when my husband was checking in I ran to our room to set them up on their beds. My babies faces were priceless!!! It was a great way to start our trip. I have also started trying to cook some of the amazing food we had last year. My father in law absolutely loves bread pudding. So, for memorial day I made a huge pan of the bananas foster bread pudding from Ohana. He absolutely loved it and guess what...it got him excited about Disney

 

[Leger13]

This is Chris' Wife Jonilee and I have decided to take over the post
One of my favorite things to do for my kiddos is to put together a "Disney travel bag" and a "present from their favorite characters" for each child. Not only does it pass the time but they absolutely love it. The great thing about making these goody bags is Disney is everywhere!!! I went to our Target's dollar section a couple of months ago and found these adorable princess pens with glitter and beads for .30 on clearance!! They are perfect for autograph books! Today I found tinkerbell snack containers for .30 too!! Our Target dollar section always has a bunch of cool Disney stuff. I got a great tip from one of our fellow Disers a few years ago when you have a car full of kids saying "are we there yet" every five minutes you need something to keep them occupied. So, you make them a goody bag with books, coloring books, toys, etc. but you give them one new thing every 30 min- 1 hr so they dont tear through the whole bag in five minutes and then start up the "are we there yet" again. lol! Last year I typed up a letter welcoming the kids to Disney from their favorite character along with some really neat toys that I had picked up over the year and when my husband was checking in I ran to our room to set them up on their beds. My babies faces were priceless!!! It was a great way to start our trip. I have also started trying to cook some of the amazing food we had last year. My father in law absolutely loves bread pudding. So, for memorial day I made a huge pan of the bananas foster bread pudding from Ohana. He absolutely loved it and guess what...it got him excited about Disney

That's a great idea Joni on the goody bags. I'm planning on doing something similar for Alex when we go down in December although he's relatively easy to entertain on long car trips. I've never attempted to make any of the Disney food. I do have one of their cook books though.

 

[agmmbolam426]

I wish I could remake the avocado margarita!

 

[shalom]

I'm wanting to hear more about why the grandparents might be "grouchy." It looks like we aren't going to be able to go in May next year and I'm thinking about trying for January instead, in which case I'm going to try to talk my Florida-hating parents into going. Talked with my dad yesterday when we met up to retrieve our last kids and he said he'd go if I could talk mom into it. Mom always said she'd be glad to come if only dad would agree to it; we'll see what happens when she finds out he said "yes"!

So, you make them a goody bag with books, coloring books, toys, etc. but you give them one new thing every 30 min- 1 hr so they dont tear through the whole bag in five minutes and then start up the "are we there yet" again.

Not sure how long a ride you're facing, but my problem with this when the four older ones were little was how fast the debris would stack up! So I'd try to deliberately plan for stuff that'll wear out fast. For instance, the little dollar Dover books (I think they're $1.25 now) with the stickers are often pretty "played out" after a few hours anyhow -- the stickers don't stick anymore -- so the kids are fine with clearing those out at lunch time or whenever. I'd use the retrieved storage space for souvenirs coming back.

I also got little stuff for them to run off energy with when we'd stop -- those little balsa-and-rubber-band planes (before you put them together they're not much bigger than a fat bookmark), blow-up paper balls they could bat around, etc. Some dollar stores have a lot of that sort of thing. Some states have really nice playgrounds at the freeway rest areas, and some states... don't.

It's mostly the second kind where your own toys help, but some of the nice ones the playground isn't shaded well enough, so the stuff gets so hot the kids don't want to play with it anyhow. Coming back I'd sometimes track down a nice park for playing off the highway somewhere, but going down everyone just wants to get there, so no one wants to drive ten minutes off the highway and if I insisted they were driving me nuts and needed to move around a bit, would rather keep their energy to complain about the delay than run around. But the balsa planes and balls would get them moving around a bit if we'd just pulled into a rest area "for a minute." On the way home they were tired and liked getting away from the road a bit, I guess is the difference, because the city parks worked better then.

 

[agmmbolam426]

Well I have some of the best in-laws in the whole world! They are the sweetest people and I actually love spending time with them They are not big Disney fans like DH and I and last time they did go they had a horrible time due to a certain person (chris' ex) making everyone miserable. So, needless to say they are not that excited...yet! They have no idea what plans we have in store for them!!! I am going to do everything in my power to make this the best vacation they have ever had I definetly think getting a house compared to a small room at the pop will make all the difference in the world! I was actually thinking about even making them a cool goody basket to put in their room to help get them in the Disney mood. Heck, if it works for the little kids why not the big kids too!!! I have been showing my father in law all kinds of videos and pictures of all of the fun stuff we are planning to do. My father in law loves star wars so he is really excited to ride the new star tours. I love listening to our kids tell their grandparents about all of the rides and fun stuff we are going to do. They are all like mini disney experts...oh the monsters we have created.lol!

If anyone has any ideas on how to make this trip more memorable for my in laws I would love to hear them. I want to make sure everyone has a blast!

 

[emmysmommy]

Sounds like a great family trip! I have no in-law advice for you (I may be a grouchy in law! ) but I think you are doing all the things to make it a wondeful experience - especially the bread pudding for your FIL! Way to go!

BTW: I saw the video of the AI experience! You can sing beatuifully!!! Did you win?

 

[agmmbolam426]

Thank you! I went to the final show and came in third. But it was fun, only down side to it is it takes up almost the whole day.

 

[emmysmommy]

Thank you! I went to the final show and came in third. But it was fun, only down side to it is it takes up almost the whole day.

But how COOL is that that you even got to participate!! You must have felt like a celebrity with the cameras following you around. I would have made sure they met the demands of my contract and had Mickey treats waiting for me in the green room!!!

 

[shalom]

If anyone has any ideas on how to make this trip more memorable for my in laws I would love to hear them. I want to make sure everyone has a blast!

With my parents, seems to work best to give them plenty of space, plenty of time with the kids, and plenty of quiet time in the evenings to recuperate. So I think the house instead of a room at Pop is an excellent start.

Since your kids know the parks and the grandparents don't, one thing you might try is to make sure each kid gets to sit with their grandparent on a favorite ride. And have the kids share with the grandparent why this ride is special and why they particularly wanted to share it. When my kids were the age of yours, my parents loved it when the kids would take charge of them like that. They remember that sort of thing with my managing child as an early indicator of her personality, and remember it with my shyest child because she was making an effort to connect with them.