Was 15 family members now 11 EEK!?!? July 2011 - *updated* 6/24/11

[Becky2005]

Let the family drama begin....... Not really trip planning but more big family planning vent ahead. LOL!!!!

EGADS.....I called my SIL regarding something totally different and just general chit-chatting about the trip. She tells me after 4 days she is going to be sick of "Disney World" -- me...thinking "Hmm...does she think we are going to just Magic Kingdom?" -- I then tell her you know there are 4 parks right? I explain the 4 parks and then I get asked about Harry Potter! I tell her that is at Universal.

Next up, comes asking about rides? She tells me niece doesn't like roller coasters (yet I talked to niece on FB just a couple weeks ago, asked her if she liked roller coasters and she told me yes).

I'm 99.9% my SIL has no clue what rides/shows/attractions there are at Disney she she had no idea what EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were -- so I ask if my brother has ordered the planning DVD? Nope!

I know my brother is laid back but I'm convinced they are just going to show up, open the map and go now what do we do? If the pictures I saw of the Toy Story Mania line in July last year is any indication, that is NOT going to work out too well.

I already told her what we will probably do is give everyone an agenda, see how we can follow it but by lunch time we will be splitting up more or less.

I think they think we are going 4 days to Great America (i.e. Six Flags) -- which it would be insane to put that much planning into that park.

This DOES explain why my brother thinks I'm nuts for wanting to plan now and why the last time they went they didn't have that great of a time and can't figure out how I like it so much.

Can I just start hitting my head on the brick wall now? At least my sister gets it and I highly doubt my brother is going to send me a list, so when I hand him "here is what we are doing" list it's going to be his own fault if it's missing something he wants to do.

Similar to my DH when we nearly left Magic Kingdom on our last day without having done the Teacups. We were walking past it and he said "you can't do Disney without doing Teacups" -- *I* most certainly can and I asked him for years/months to let me know what he wanted to do and I always got a negative/whatever/I don't care response.

 

[disneywatcher]

Let the family drama begin....... Not really trip planning but more big family planning vent ahead. LOL!!!!

EGADS.....I called my SIL regarding something totally different and just general chit-chatting about the trip. She tells me after 4 days she is going to be sick of "Disney World" -- me...thinking "Hmm...does she think we are going to just Magic Kingdom?" -- I then tell her you know there are 4 parks right? I explain the 4 parks and then I get asked about Harry Potter! I tell her that is at Universal.

Next up, comes asking about rides? She tells me niece doesn't like roller coasters (yet I talked to niece on FB just a couple weeks ago, asked her if she liked roller coasters and she told me yes).

I'm 99.9% my SIL has no clue what rides/shows/attractions there are at Disney she she had no idea what EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were -- so I ask if my brother has ordered the planning DVD? Nope!

I know my brother is laid back but I'm convinced they are just going to show up, open the map and go now what do we do? If the pictures I saw of the Toy Story Mania line in July last year is any indication, that is NOT going to work out too well.

I already told her what we will probably do is give everyone an agenda, see how we can follow it but by lunch time we will be splitting up more or less.

I think they think we are going 4 days to Great America (i.e. Six Flags) -- which it would be insane to put that much planning into that park.

This DOES explain why my brother thinks I'm nuts for wanting to plan now and why the last time they went they didn't have that great of a time and can't figure out how I like it so much.

Can I just start hitting my head on the brick wall now? At least my sister gets it and I highly doubt my brother is going to send me a list, so when I hand him "here is what we are doing" list it's going to be his own fault if it's missing something he wants to do.

Similar to my DH when we nearly left Magic Kingdom on our last day without having done the Teacups. We were walking past it and he said "you can't do Disney without doing Teacups" -- *I* most certainly can and I asked him for years/months to let me know what he wanted to do and I always got a negative/whatever/I don't care response.

See this right here would make me go grrrrrrr.

WDW has WAY more then Universal by far! They should go buy a Passporter or Burnbaums or something like that. Sure you can go all "I have no plan and I'm just going to go!" when you do Disney but then you dont really understand the rides and the attractions! If you do your research (like we all to do on this board ) then you have a better idea of what the popular rides (and those you are more likely in need of getting FP's for)are, which ones you want to try this time, which ones you can wait until another trip for, ect. I'm sending you Lots and LOTS of 's right now Becky. Dont bang your head against a wall, just vent it all out to us

 

[miprender]

There are two categories of people:

1. Those that get Disney and 2. Those that don't.

I say go with your plans and they can come along with them if they want


DH keeps trying to talk this sister into going to Disney. They have a 4yr daughter who would love it but my brother in law said he has been there and didn't like it (but he only went to MK for 1/2 day and that was in the late 80s) and my sis-in-law thinks it is probably like Universal Studios that she visited in LA.

 

[Becky2005]

The good news is I have my sister & her clan's ride lists. The bad news is I have to put them in some sort of order and have a killer cold that is making nothing coherent for me.

I still have to get my kids to finish filling the stuff out. I have NO IDEA how my sister is going to fit all her MUST DO's in for one day for Magic Kingdom...I'm hoping she will be happy with oh, watching Wishes from a beach on Sunday night arrival night vs. being in the parks. LOL!

I'll see what I can do but she was the only one to put that as a must do on her list.

 

[disneywatcher]

Hope you start feeling better soon Becky!

 

[cadek]

Great PTR! Followed you from July thread. It's so hard to plan, I can't imagine having to plan for so many, especially when met with resistance.

My SIL wants to go to WDW with us sometime, and would ask a ton of questions about a trip that was over a year away and not even definate... I was still planning our own trip prior to that one! I usually try to make everyone else happy. I'd do things with her to a point, but when it comes to WDW, we are doing our thing, and if it works for her great, if not, see ya later! I think that trip is off now for her due to $$.

Good luck with your planning, and I hope you keep your sanity with the family!

 

[Becky2005]

Thanks. I still haven't done much because the cold is now a sinus infection and the medicine is making me groggy! I did attempt to make some semblence out of my sister's lists and well...I need a way for excel to organize things more than just 3 columns. LOL!!!

Then I realized we weren't too smart with EPCOT....we should have broken it up into Future World/World Showcase but just ended up doing it alphabetically (basically I pulled it off the website). OOPS. So I need to organize it more.

Once I can think more clearly I will see where we are at. I'm tempted to give my brother my planning DVD, I'm just afraid I won't get it back if I do that.

 

[Becky2005]

I'm now back among the living and into planning. I hope I don't get something like I had at Disney or I'm going to be a killjoy for the trip. Remind me -- pack LOTS of medication just to be on the safe side for everyone.

I did talk to my brother the other day because we were in the do we fly or do we drive mode since I found airfare for $112 and then I read about Southwest's airplane having a hole and the concept of a plane I'm on in the air having that as a "feature" (the kids were joking that it wasn't a problem but was a new feature) - I prefer my planes to NOT be convertibles (sp?)....so I think we are back to just sticking to driving plus over $1500 for all of us to fly just still seemed so $$$$$$ compared to driving.

Then my dear brother asked why would couldn't just decide what we wanted to ride when they got there. I DID inform them they are most certainly welcome to do that BUT.....they will be standing in a lot of lines....in July....in the heat....possibly in the afternoon thunderstorm....he then asked me to e-mail him the ride list again so he could go over it. I'm betting 10 to 1 I will NEVER get a ride list from him, so I give up. I'm just going to plan and I guess they can figure it out.

I did at least tell him he really doesn't need to buy the hopper part of the pass and can add that on IF they need it when they get there. If he ends up getting the correct days for tickets it's going to be one miracle. He thought he needed 3 days -- ummm....we have 4 park days planned.

He really is a good guy but obviously the most laid back one of the group...is it any wonder the poor guy gets overruled by his sisters and he ends up just having to go along for the ride?

As of now....that's where we are with planning. Unfortunately I'm at the standstill phase. Not a lot of stuff to do right at the moment. Eventually we have to go vacation clothes shopping but it's a wee bit too early for that, ADR's are done and well other than keep checking on the college DD wants to visit and see if dates ever open up to schedule a visit....just at the hurry up and wait for time to go by phase & harrass people for information.

 

[Becky2005]

Not so much with the family but with just my little group.

We are planning to do a college visit to Vanderbilt University since it's on the way. I have been waiting for the July times to open up so I could reserve our spot (I got shut out during other times we planned to go but I think it was one of those blessings in disguise since it ended up being VERY bad winter weather that I'm glad I didn't have to drive in).

The tours have pretty much been at 10 AM with occassionally a 2nd tour put on a day so that is how I pre-planned it. I was wrong. The tours for the summer are at 1 pm. We are driving so our original plan was do the Monday tour after vacation and then just head home. That won't work with the tour getting done around 3ish...it would but we still have a very long drive. We switched gears and are now leaving on Thursday to get part-way down so we can make sure we get to the college before 1 pm, doing the Friday tour, staying at our hotel we planned on previously in Chattanooga and basically will arrive in Florida on Saturday instead of Sunday.

Now I just have to figure out what we are doing on Saturday!!! I really don't feel like adding on a day to our resort at Disney. I'm debating if I just want a cheap off-site hotel or maybe even seeing something on the way down and stopping before Disney OR I could go extreme the other way and book a 1 night hotel at say the Contemporary or Grand Floridian or something like that. I have no idea as this was not in the original plans so now I have to go back to the drawing board and figure that out - any suggestions?

 

[tinkerbell60]

I have found that some of the offsite hotels are not that much cheaper than onsite by the time you add resort fees and parking. We love trying new Disney hotels, so my vote would be to spend a night at one of the resorts you have always wanted to try. If you do decide to go off site, we really liked Buena Vista Suites.....they have a great breakfast buffet that is included in the price. There are also several nice hotels in the Palm Parkway area, which is not too far from DTD.

 

[Becky2005]

It has been a while since I have updated this PTR, so I thought I would do so.

Really not a lot has been going on at the moment....shocking I know.

On to the before we get to Disney part - Vanderbilt college visit.

AFTER I jumped on the registering for the college visit since I didn't want to be squeezed out, I got a postcard in the mail that July 15 is "Pre-Vu" day which is geared specifically for upcoming Seniors and it starts at 8:30 AM and goes until 2:30 PM....so THAT changes plans all around again. Yes that IS my head spinning from the changes.

Now, looks like we are leaving Thursday morning early because we are going to get stuck in Nashville rush hour traffic which I heard is horrible. THAT should be fun. Then I've heard the area around Vanderbilt isn't real great so we don't want to go out at night - wonderful! (NOT!). I did reserve a hotel for Thursday & Friday so that we can walk to the college in the morning.

We will be leaving early Saturday morning to get to Disney and I'm still on the fence about what to do there.

I talked to my brother again the other day & they did get the planning video I sent but once again, he is bah humbug about telling me what he wants to see. I give up!!! I think I'm just going to make a plan based on what we want to do & my sister wants to do with "we will meet up HERE" timeframes included in the plans.

Hard to believe I'm under 80 days and just kind of sitting here doing nothing! That is not normal! I think I just have to get through all the end of school stuff. Yesterday was Prom, then we have an ice skating show, dance recital and end of school year play to get through. My brain is dealing with all of that plus I started with my own home business and focusing more on that.

I do think I should clean out the car soon though and see how I'm going to fit everything in it. I also have to figure out how we are dividing up stuff to do a picnic at our cabin with everyone, that way I'm not trying to bring enough for 15 people in my car (nor footing the entire bill!). Animal Kingdom did extend their hours to 8 pm on that day though but I still don't think we are going to close that park down. I wonder if we should do lunch and then go back to the park later? Hmm...that's an idea too.

 

[tinkerbell60]

It is always hard to get through the end of year stuff. That is one advantage to going on vacation later in July. Last year we went the end of June, and time really flew by.

I think you are smart just to plan a schedule, then it is up to your family to fit it in, or not.

I love the idea of the family picnic- that is great!

 

[Becky2005]

I went to Great America with my older 2 yesterday and Disney should thank them!!! I had thought about doing a VIP tour ever since I read about a trip report here but of course that is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I toyed with the idea and then dropped it. THEN I went to Six Flags. I had one that wanted to do the bigger rides and one that didn't (basically I dragged him on a couple coasters -- one he hated with a passion and the other one "wasn't that bad" but didn't really want to ride it again!). Then he liked the spinning ride and my DD did not....but she didn't want to wait at the exit by herself either, so she rode the ride and then complained.

I was going crazy trying to make everything work out and that was just with the older 2...I can't imagine all 4 by myself.

So....on our free Friday when it's just my little family and not dealing with the extended family, I booked a Premium VIP tour for us. It will be in the afternoon so we shall see how it goes. I may change the time around as we figure things out but right now it's set for the afternoon -- I figure that will give the kids the day to sleep in and since we pretty much get "instant" FP it won't matter if the line is 3 hours long in the afternoon in the middle of July.

That's the extent of any new planning going on.

 

[cadek]

VIP Tour sounds interesting!

 

[Becky2005]

Only a couple more days until school is out and I can go into vacation mode, although I do have one big event to get through that is happening on July 9....but I think I can do both!

I changed our Norway Princess breakfast because I had a panic attack that 10:30 AM might be too late for a breakfast ADR and they would be switching over to the lunch menu! Normally this would be a bonus but looking at the menus and having a family of umm....plain eaters (me included!)...didn't think that was a great idea. So now we are eating breakfast at 9:30 AM instead. THAT should be more than enough time and no issues.

I was able to sort through my sister's family's must do's so now I get to put those in order.

The only downside is my oldest son keeps getting strep throat or something else is going on. I have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow instead of taking him for a THIRD time to the urgent care! They would look at me like I had 2 heads if I did that. He just finished anitbotics up on May 25 and he's complaining about his throat hurting again, etc... I'm wondering if he needs something a wee bit stronger than Amoxcillian or ?? Whatever it is, I hope it gets dealt with completely before vacation.

 

[tinkerbell60]

Only a couple more days until school is out and I can go into vacation mode, although I do have one big event to get through that is happening on July 9....but I think I can do both!

I changed our Norway Princess breakfast because I had a panic attack that 10:30 AM might be too late for a breakfast ADR and they would be switching over to the lunch menu! Normally this would be a bonus but looking at the menus and having a family of umm....plain eaters (me included!)...didn't think that was a great idea. So now we are eating breakfast at 9:30 AM instead. THAT should be more than enough time and no issues.

I was able to sort through my sister's family's must do's so now I get to put those in order.

The only downside is my oldest son keeps getting strep throat or something else is going on. I have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow instead of taking him for a THIRD time to the urgent care! They would look at me like I had 2 heads if I did that. He just finished anitbotics up on May 25 and he's complaining about his throat hurting again, etc... I'm wondering if he needs something a wee bit stronger than Amoxcillian or ?? Whatever it is, I hope it gets dealt with completely before vacation.

Only 5 more days of school here - they get out next Wednesday - not soon enough

I know what you mean about Norway - we are eating dinner there this trip but we have put off trying it for a long time. Breakfast is safer....

I hope your son feels better soon, that sounds really frustrating.

 

[Becky2005]

Here's the scoop on the pre-trip plannings so far:

May change our Crystal Palace lunch to breakfast due to my brother not knowing when exactly he is going to get there. So at this very moment we have a breakfast reservation and a lunch one until we figure it out.

Today in the mail I got our Disney package documents along with our luggage tags so I'm excited.

Then my Cub Scout den was extremely nice and got me a Thank You gift for being their leader of Disney Gift Cards!!! Couldn't be a more perfect gift for me!!! It was awesome!

Slowly we are getting everything in order....there will always be something else to do.

I think it might be a tad bit TOO early to start actually packing for the trip. Hee Hee!!!!

 

[Squidgyness]

Here's the scoop on the pre-trip plannings so far:

May change our Crystal Palace lunch to breakfast due to my brother not knowing when exactly he is going to get there. So at this very moment we have a breakfast reservation and a lunch one until we figure it out.

Today in the mail I got our Disney package documents along with our luggage tags so I'm excited.

Then my Cub Scout den was extremely nice and got me a Thank You gift for being their leader of Disney Gift Cards!!! Couldn't be a more perfect gift for me!!! It was awesome!

Slowly we are getting everything in order....there will always be something else to do.

I think it might be a tad bit TOO early to start actually packing for the trip. Hee Hee!!!!

Sounds like they did a bit of covert gift research

I know the excitement.

In terms of family arguments/issues, don't worry too much about the 'Disney Grumps' as I like to call them. Even me, a fervent Disney addict (despite trying to book elsewhere once in a while ) has suffered from them on occasion. I remember thinking that the world was over one day, and then the next I was enjoying a nice day at DHS. Once people get back to an AC'd room and sleep, they will calm down.

A key way to ensure happiness would be to keep everyone cool at all times. I was watching a documentary about rioting and it said the warmer the better for riots, must affect people in a certain way so florida can be ground zero for hot weather temper tantrums (adults as well as kids!)

Oh, and I can really emphasise with the picky eating stuff. I am in no way adventurous. I also can't eat cheese (not allergic or anything, just a rather 'physical' reaction to eating it) so I have to plan my meals ahead of time. Oh well, at least everyone likes breakfast food.

Rambling over. Nice updates, good luck!

 

[Flowers4]

I found you on the 2,000+ miles thread that goes on and on and on.... I noticed however that a majority of those fine people are from the east coast.

We are going on our first trip in August and have decided to drive (much cheaper then flying and we can pack more to be cheaper during our trip).

I have really enjoyed your PTR so far and look forward to more..... I was however wondering if you have any gotten a route planned for the drive? (I apologize if i am getting ahead of the PTR "Plan".

 

[Becky2005]

I have really enjoyed your PTR so far and look forward to more..... I was however wondering if you have any gotten a route planned for the drive? (I apologize if i am getting ahead of the PTR "Plan".

I have no plans for this PTR -- I'm winging it as things come up! I've never done one before so have no clue what I'm doing. I figure if people follow great, otherwise it's just me babbling into cyberspace. I'm GREAT at babbling!

As for the route....still arguing over it other than we are going to hop on 57 down to 24 and then over to 75 that way. We avoid Chicago traffic though by taking a back route way down to 57 - that's the part we are debating...I am NOT convinced it's faster but pretty much everyone tells me it is but it's NOT scenic that's for sure (as if the interstate is any more scenic? LOL!) -- I just get tired of going "beans/corn" "corn/beans" "oh look a cow".....makes for a tiring drive but we do have specific McDonald's we stop at (it's just that usually it's a good pit stop place & there isn't another bathroom for a while because you hop on the interstate not too long afterwards)...not that it has to be THAT McDonald's....just one of those things that is how it worked out.

We used to go this way before I-355 existed but now that exists and it goes all the way to I-80 which can then swing over to I-57 I'm not convinced the other way is faster but it IS a straight line on the map and there isn't much traffic since it's a 2-lane road with basically very few stoplights (unless you get behind a tractor.....that can slow you down).