Wait till you see what Grandma got you for Christmas!! 11/12

[Ckmommy72]

Hi everyone! So, I have read so many of these PTR/TR’s that, being sick with a cold on a chilly Saturday afternoon, I decided it was time I write one of my own! So, the title of this PTR come from the fact that I have the best MIL in the world, who decided that after her Mother passed away, she would use some of her inheritance to buy her Grandchildren, my Children, a trip to WDW for Christmas. So, one day, this past July, she calls me and tells me that she is at the travel agent’s office and how does a week in January at Port Orleans Riverside sound? Ummm….it sounds amazing!!!

Now, DH and I had been loosely throwing around the idea of a WDW trip in January, but we were looking at trying to go pretty skimpy on the plans. The economy has hit us somewhat hard, DH was out of work for awhile, and while he is working now, and has been for over a year, he is in sales, and like a lot of people, our income has gone down. Therefore, we were looking at possibly staying offsite, and waiting to book until the January YES schedule came out so we could get the discounted tickets. Well, MIL changed all that with one phone call. Not only were we going, but we were going to stay onsite in a moderate, not even a value!! Also, she insisted that we needed a preferred room and the dining plan (this was before FD was announced for our dates.)

So, back in February 2006. DH and I took DS to spring training at Dodgertown in Vero Beach…DH is a HUGE LA Dodgers fan, though we live in NJ. DD was and infant, and stayed home with Grandma. Spring training is not my idea of a great time, but I went, on the condition that we could spend one day at WDW before driving to Vero Beach. DH’s answer? Sure, the Dodgers have a game against Atlanta at the Wide World of Sports anyway! So, DS and I spent the day at Magic Kingdom while DH went and watched the Dodgers play the Braves and then joined us after the game was over. That is the only experience any of us have had at WDW. It was a great day, but it only left me wanting more!!


This is the 4 of us…Individual photos/profiles to follow in next post!

 

[Ckmommy72]

Ok, so I suppose I should introduce all of us. Sorry for the size of the pics - i don't know how to resize them in snapfish!

This is me, Cari, and though MIL booked the trip through her travel agent, the control freak in me has done all the planning since...

This is DH, Michael. He just goes with the flow, and says whatever you want, honey...

This is DS, C - he's 10 and has high functioning autism, and is the smartest, most loving, sweetest 10 year old boy you'd ever meet. He teaches me something every single day...

He has a mouth full of orange, pumpkin cookie in this picture.

This is DD, K - she is 6 and as feisty as they come! She's curious, creative and fiercely loyal. She tells me i'm her BFF! ...

 

[Ckmommy72]

So, as I said, although MIL booked the trip through her travel agent, I am a bit of a control freak, and have done everything else since then.

The details are:

We are flying from Newark, NJ on Saturday, January 21, arriving in Orlando around 3:00pm. We will be renting a car if I can get a good enough rate (like at or below $100 for the week.) We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside the whole time, and have booked a Garden View room. Originally we were booked in preferred, but that would have put us in an Alligator Bayou non-refurbished room, and honestly the theming of the Mansions just appealed to us more, and I am really hoping we'll be able to get a refurbished room. We leave on January 28th, later in the afternoon. We have 7 day park hoppers. We also have the dining plan. They announced the FD promotion not long after we booked, so I called the TA, and that saved MIL around $900...YAY!

Our ADR's are:

Saturday, Jan 21 - None, we will most likely just go to DTD or maybe MK if there is time, for a QS meal and to catch the MSEP.

Sunday, Jan 22 – This is our AK day, so we have an ADR for breakfast at 10:30am at Tusker House and one for an early dinner at Yak and Yeti at 5:15pm

Monday, Jan 23 – This is our Epcot day, however, we have reservations at ‘Ohana at 6:40 for dinner. No ADRs for breakfast or lunch

Tuesday, Jan 24 – We are going to HS this day, and have a reservation at H&V for breakfast at 8:00am, then a reservation for dinner at Rose and Crown in Epcot at 7:45pm to hopefully catch illuminations from their patio since we will miss it the day before.

Wednesday, Jan 25 – This is our MK day (wish we could schedule it earlier in the week, but it just didn’t work out that way with crowd levels/other scheduling. Both kids have appointments at Pirates League at 9:00am, and we are going to Chef Mickey’s for dinner at 6:40pm. We will do a QS lunch at the park.

Thursday, Jan 26 - This is sort of a free/rest/hopper day. We might book the Bayou Pirates Cruise at POR for the kids, giving the DH and me some time to relax. We have reservations for the kids at the Sandcastle club at the Yacht Club Resort, and DH and I are going to Teppan Edo alone for dinner. Then, depending on how we feel, we might see what nightlife on the boardwalk we feel like checking out!

Friday, Jan 27 – Another free/hopper day. We will hit our favorite rides/attractions again, within reason, of course and we have reservations for Crystal Palace at 7:00pm.

Saturday, Jan 28 – Departure day we have reservations for 1900 Park Fare breakfast, but may cancel in favor of one more ride if that’s what we feel like doing.


A lot of this may change once the kids open their gifts Christmas morning and get a chance to have a say in what we do. Though I think they’ll just be excited to be going – they ask all the time to go – that I think they’ll be happy with whatever plans we’ve made.