WDW or Bust...or Both

[nancycg56]

I know you’ve seen us ~ The Griswold’s (not really our last name but I’m thinking of changing it). We think big, something goes wrong, we laugh about it for years. That’s us.

I really and truly appreciate everyone who writes a PTR or TR ~ they have helped me immensely and this is my way of thanking everyone. Ultimately, I hope someone can use this info to make their trip "un-Griswold"

Readers Digest condensed background: We’re a military family, now retired. We’ve been to WDW and Disneyland (depending on where we were living at the time) many times ~ usually without DH. Our kids are grown but I have been wanting to do another WDW trip for a few years but between jobs, college, etc., we could never get everybody in the same place at the same time. Well, the stars aligned, we found dates that worked so here we are.

Nancy (me) , 52 ~ a huge Disney lover and sometimes a semi-planner but more of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal. I think I rebel against planning because of all the moves we’ve made and all the planning that goes with that. Or I could just be lazy. You make the call. I have done some planning but not a ton.

Gerry, 52 ~ NOT a Disney lover by any means but decided that since we followed him around for forever, the least he could do is humor me and go to Disney whenever the spirit moves me. Since I know he’s not that thrilled with WDW, I am letting him bring along a friend ~ his brother.

Mike, 27 ~ College grad, restaurateur extraordinaire, currently working on degrees #3, 4, and 5 while working. I guess he lives here ~ I never see him.

Libby, 25 ~ College grad, currently writing her master’s thesis and graduating in December. Her degrees are in museum studies/art history and she currently works at the Museum of the Marine Corps up in Quantico ~ HOO-RAH! She does not live here.

Dean, 50ish ~ Gerry’s brother, lives in Florida so he will be driving up to meet us. He will keep Gerry occupied. Because of that, I apologize right now!!!

What are we celebrating? Gerry and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on May 26. Unfortunately, I was waiting for surgery and was pretty sick so we never got to do anything. We are also celebrating Libby getting her masters. It should be a fun time!

We will be leaving behind:

Zippy is our Jack Russell and Zoey is Libby’s Boxer/Terrier mix. They are going to the doggie spa but I still feel bad leaving them. They are both rescues with varying degrees of problems from whoever had them before. Yes, I will worry about them and yes, I will call or email to check on them. How lame is that? What I will relish in is the fact that I don’t have to go to the dog park for 8 days!

That’s us in a nutshell ~ on to my semi-planning.

PS ~ I am right in the middle of getting ready for a yard sale (think "Clean House" type yard sale) so my posts may lapse a little bit but I will continue!!!

 

[nancycg56]

WHEN are we going?

Libby was supposed to go to Spain for an art conference the first weekend in November. She absolutely hates to fly (keep this nugget tucked away for future reference) and decided not go. That left her with some time open so coupled with the fact that her rough draft of her thesis is due at the end of October it meant she had some vacation time!

Mike can really get off whenever he wants as long as he puts in for it early, Gerry is not a “good” vacationer so he has lots of vacation days, and I don’t work so I can go at the drop of mouse ears.

After many phone calls, checking of calendars, checking with advisors, and supervisors, we picked the dates ~ November 7 -15. Hooray!

It was at this point, I said to my DH “why don’t you see if Dean wants to go” and he did and he does.

WE HAVE THE DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up Next ~ WHERE are we staying and how many times is Nancy going to change it?

 

[Raecheal]

ohhh.. I"m completely in on this one.... I can't wait to hear where your staying!!!

 

[nancycg56]

WHERE are we going to stay?

I admit it ~ I’m a hotel snob (I’m also a restaurant snob but that’s another story). I can’t change it, that’s just how I am. Some hotels just give me the willies and I won’t even go in. Drives my long-suffering husband nuts ~ and to the poorhouse. That said, I’ll stay ANYWHERE in WDW no problem, LOL! We’ve been in moderates and deluxes and they are all fine by me.

We definitely need 2 rooms ~ boys room/girls room. Makes sense when there were just four of us but with his brother joining us, it’s become the old guys room and Mom and the kids room. Sorry, Ger, but nobody can stand your snoring!

I looked up Shades of Green for availability knowing I wouldn’t be able to get a room there and I was right. There were no rooms to be had for our dates. We really like Shades of Green so I was a little bummed about that.

Then I saw something about a 40% military discount off room rates. Being mathematically challenged, I decided to pick my resort and let Dreams Unlimited find the best deal for our trip.

After hemming and hawing, we decided on Port Orleans French Quarter. We’ve stayed there before and love the ambiance. We also love the boat to DTD (the kids will probably spend a bit of time there so I like the availability of the boat) and the fact that it’s not a huge resort appeals to us. We don’t care about the view out the window since we are hardly in the room except to sleep and change clothes to go to the pool so standard rooms are fine.

Beth at DU is our agent and she’s been great. The 40% discount will save us the most money since we need the 2 rooms so no dining plans or free dining for us. More about eating in another post

And yes, I have plugged our dates into the WDW site a zillion times to see if I can come up with a better rate or upgrade and I can’t.

It’s a miracle that I haven’t bugged our agent to death about changing hotels.

Up next: HOW are we going to get there?

PS~I was going to post photos from our last stay there but all the good ones are in frames and I am too lazy to take them out and scan them into the computer, LOL.