We did it! Booked for last week of daughter's winter college break!

[trvlqueen]

My 17 yo daughter, who is (like her Mom) a fanatic for all things Disney, has a college break a week longer than her other college sister's and three weeks longer than the 13yo who is still at home. Rather than have her sit around home being bored, when we saw the Stay, Play, Dine special, we decided to make good use of that week and sneak off to WDW - just the 2 of us!

Booked Pop for M-F with the intention of driving on the weekends, and then Southwest ran a special which makes it cheaper to fly than drive! WOOT! Booked airline tickets - we are still coming in Monday and leaving Friday, but now it's a 5 hour trip (counting drive to and from the airport and waiting time at the airport) instead of a 17 hour trip!

Dining reservations so far at O'Hana for Monday night - no TS for Tuesday as we plan to be at MK that day and will snack and eat QS (unless we can get into BOG) that day - Chefs De France on Wednesday, Teppen Edo on Thursday, and Boma (for breakfast) before we leave on Friday.

So excited I'm ready to pop! The rest of the family doesn't know yet - we haven't figured out how to break the news. Dad won't care (Disney isn't as magical for him as it is for us), 13yo will be ok because she doesn't want to miss school, but older sis (19) is not going to be happy that we're going without her - but she's had her share of trips without her sisters, so I'm thinking she'll get over it - especially since we're planning to go back in March.

Last time I took JUST Rebecca to DW, it was a surprise - and the first two days were close to a disaster. She was in kindergarten and pre-9/11, we used to be able to go out to the airport and watch planes take off. She loved doing that, so I told her we would go to breakfast at the airport and watch the planes. I packed for us in a backpack and a briefcase - a large rolling briefcase - because I told her I had a "meeting" to go to after breakfast and had her bring along a change of clothes, her swimsuit (because the "meeting" was at a hotel and maybe she could go swimming), some books, crayons and coloring books, and other things to pass the time so she wouldn't get bored during my "meeting" (read-flight, lol).

We got to the airport, grabbed donuts and went back to watch the planes. I asked if she'd like to see inside a plane (she hadn't flown since she was 2) and she excitedly said yes. We boarded and sat down and she about flipped when the plane took off - she thought we were going to get in HUGE trouble. I calmed her down and told her I'd explain things to the stewardess and that everything would be ok.

We got to Orlando and exited the plane. I told her we couldn't go home until the plane was ready to go, so asked if she wanted to drive around a little before that. She agreed and we rented a car - and headed straight to the Swan. When she realized where we were, she was really excited for about 10 minutes, then burst into tears. I asked why she was crying and she said it was because she missed her sisters and she knew they would be so sad not to have gone. She cried for her sisters for TWO DAYS! Even Tigger couldn't get a smile out of her - but breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table on day 3 broke her out of it and after that we had a fantastic trip.

Hopefully this time, we won't spend two days crying for her sisters ... and if we do, I'm putting her on the next flight home and enjoying the week by myself!


More to come ...

 

[trvlqueen]

Next big decision - should we rent a car to make the most of what I call a really short trip, giving us the flexibility to park hop, head to DTD at will (understanding the parking constraints) and squeak an extra hour out of the last day - or should we do Magical Express?

Thoughts and opinions welcome - car rental can be found for $17 per day (a tiny little car, but there are only 2 of us and we don't tend to pack a lot) ... ME is, of course, free and the big upside is not having to think about the bags - not having to stand in the rental car line, and not having to spend the money - which I could then use for Cirque tickets ... thoughts??? We have 3 day park hopper tix now - thinking of going to 4 day - arrive at MCO at 9:30am and our flight out on Friday is at 5.

I think ME would have us leaving the World around 2 for the 5pm flight. True, false, close? If we drive ourselves, since we can check in online (SW) we wouldn't have to leave until 3 - not a big huge amount of extra time - but wondering if the time saved in park hopping would be worth the rental.

 

[foxyroxy40]

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