We Fly Down in 10 Hours..the kids are in bed and have NO IDEA! ** 3/9: Final Thoughts

[wild papayas]

We haven't gone with the kids during the holiday season, but my dh and I were there then many many years ago. My kids love going during early fall so we can hit MNSSHP but they have been really wanting to do the xmas party next. My kids will be 12, 10, 7 (turning 8 while we are there!), and 6 for this trip. My two oldest and I were there two summers ago for a brief trip. We all agreed we like the fall much better. I am soooo excited for them all to experience Disney during the holiday season! My oldest two will really enjoy planning - they got the obsessive planning gene from me - so we'll have to tell them soon. Can't wait to read your next trip report - do you know when you'll go next?

 

[schriverl]

Wow! I loved reading your TR. It sounds like you went the perfect week for crowd levels and MVMCP! I really want to go to Disney to see the Christmas decorations but love going in January for the lack of crowds. You may have helped make up my mind on this one! And I NEED a pic with Santa in front of the castle like that! Wow! It is so beautiful!!!!
Also the kids guide to Disney sounds like a wonderful idea. My DD7 loves to read and I think she would really enjoy it.

 

[BlueEyes78]

We haven't gone with the kids during the holiday season, but my dh and I were there then many many years ago. My kids love going during early fall so we can hit MNSSHP but they have been really wanting to do the xmas party next. My kids will be 12, 10, 7 (turning 8 while we are there!), and 6 for this trip. My two oldest and I were there two summers ago for a brief trip. We all agreed we like the fall much better. I am soooo excited for them all to experience Disney during the holiday season! My oldest two will really enjoy planning - they got the obsessive planning gene from me - so we'll have to tell them soon. Can't wait to read your next trip report - do you know when you'll go next?

Oh, I hadn't thought of how much fun they could have helping with the plans when they're older...maybe that'll be just as fun as surprising them when they're young.
We don't have plans to go back anytime soon, but we definitely want to do it as a large group again - even my dad is voting for it. With my SIL due any day now, and us having #3 in August, I'm guessing it'll be 2-3 years out. BUT we did just enter a contest with HGTV to win a Disney backyard makeover AND a free trip. If it's free, I'd deal with the hassel of taking a newborn!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Wow! I loved reading your TR. It sounds like you went the perfect week for crowd levels and MVMCP! I really want to go to Disney to see the Christmas decorations but love going in January for the lack of crowds. You may have helped make up my mind on this one! And I NEED a pic with Santa in front of the castle like that! Wow! It is so beautiful!!!!
Also the kids guide to Disney sounds like a wonderful idea. My DD7 loves to read and I think she would really enjoy it.

Thanks for reading. I do love that picture also!
As for the January to November comparison...according to my SIL it might be slightly less crowded in January, but not much, and the weather was much warmer in November. But you have to pick the week just right - make sure you don't go Jersey week, or Thanksgiving week - apparently a lot of folks go then since the kids are out. I was on the fence about pulling Caden out of school for a whole week, but after our experience, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
Here is a link to the Kids' guide we got. Caden is STILL reading it nearly every day:
http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-Walt-Disney-World-Kids/dp/1423117026/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299361187&sr=8-1

 

[BlueEyes78]

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[MickeyLover20]

Found your TR last night and just finished it. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Your boys are adorable! I enjoyed reading your TR and it is making me really want to go to Disney. Glad that you had a great time with your family and your children got to experience Disney with thier grandparents.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Found your TR last night and just finished it. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Your boys are adorable! I enjoyed reading your TR and it is making me really want to go to Disney. Glad that you had a great time with your family and your children got to experience Disney with thier grandparents.

Glad you enjoyed it! I am SO glad we decided to invite the whole family. I was really skeptical that anything would come of it when we did, but it all came together! It is definitely a memory all eight of us will treasure! We're looking forward to going again with our two newest members in a few years!

And thanks for the compliment on the boys. I DO adore them!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Your TR was great. I am so glad you linked the book at the end. I am going to wait a wee bit and see if the 2011 one comes out, but I know my 6 year old would adore it. Reading is her fav thing, well that and maps. She loves to read about places we are going and once we are at an amusement park she looks at the map non-stop.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Your TR was great. I am so glad you linked the book at the end. I am going to wait a wee bit and see if the 2011 one comes out, but I know my 6 year old would adore it. Reading is her fav thing, well that and maps. She loves to read about places we are going and once we are at an amusement park she looks at the map non-stop.

Thanks! Your 6-year old sounds a lot like Caden. It was almost funny at Disney, I had to get him to look around at his actual surroundings once in awhile - "you're HERE, stop reading about it for now!" But it did give him something do do in the few lines we did wait in. And now he has a ton of ideas about what he wants to do on our NEXT trip and is even talking about sending in his own reviews. It's a great book.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to post some images of the journal I made for him - your daughter might like something like that too.

 

[schriverl]

Thanks for reading. I do love that picture also!
As for the January to November comparison...according to my SIL it might be slightly less crowded in January, but not much, and the weather was much warmer in November. But you have to pick the week just right - make sure you don't go Jersey week, or Thanksgiving week - apparently a lot of folks go then since the kids are out. I was on the fence about pulling Caden out of school for a whole week, but after our experience, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
Here is a link to the Kids' guide we got. Caden is STILL reading it nearly every day:
http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-Walt-Disney-World-Kids/dp/1423117026/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299361187&sr=8-1

Thank you. I just realized there were a few different kids guides out there. She will love this. Thanks for letting me know which weeks not to pick. I had kinda figured the Thanksgiving week one. I pulled DD7 out for a week this January. All her teacher wanted her to do was keep a journal. So I made sure she wrote about all the educational things we learned which was too much for her to write everything!!

 

[BlueEyes78]

I got the idea for Caden to do a travel journal from a few other posters, and then I found this site:

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/journal.shtml

It gave me some great ideas, but none of the pages were quite tailored to the experience I had planned, so I googled some images and created this in Word:

http://www.themccollums.net/Disney2010TripReport/My%20Walt%20Disney%20World%20Travel%20Journalpublic.pdf

He really loved filling it out and it's a great keepsake!

 

[schriverl]

I got the idea for Caden to do a travel journal from a few other posters, and then I found this site:

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/journal.shtml

It gave me some great ideas, but none of the pages were quite tailored to the experience I had planned, so I googled some images and created this in Word:

http://www.themccollums.net/Disney2010TripReport/My%20Walt%20Disney%20World%20Travel%20Journalpublic.pdf

He really loved filling it out and it's a great keepsake!

I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much for sharing! I wish I had known about this 2 months ago!! LOL! Will definitely be doing something like this for next time also!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Love your journal! I know my DD will adore that. What a great memory to look back on in years to come when their hand writing changes and they are more grown up.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Well, first I want to thank everyone who took this journey with me - literally, my family, and figuratively, those of you who have been reading along and enjoying our memories of it!

Here are some parting thoughts on our amazing trip:

First, Romancing the Mouse. I'd recommend them to ANYONE - and if you want to message me for a referral, we both get a discount! Here is their website:
http://www.romancingthemouse.com/

Would I stay offsite again? In a heartbeat!!! Now, mind you, I've never used the Disney meal plan but the price of it just pains me to think about it. The only other real downside was paying for parking in the parks each day...but the savings at RtM MORE than made up for that amount. Romancing the Mouse was CLEAN, had a ton of space, bathrooms and amenities, and you just can't beat having your own pool. If they had a smaller house I'd use them even without taking the extended family, but when you're taking a big-group trip like this, I can't imagine doing it any other way. We all had our own private spaces and the shared spaces were HUGE. We all discussed the place over dinner and could only come up with one complaint - the TV wasn't HD. Given that we only watched it a little bit each evening, it was definitely something we could live with. And of course, having our own pool made the trip really special for the boys.

For anyone NOT staying on property, this was the only place we found that gives legitimate discounts on Disney tickets:

http://www.undercovertourist.com/

We saved quite a bit buying the 6-day package through them. We also still had our subscription from 09 for Tour Guide Mike - and while some of his touring plans needed updating, it's very useful for the crowd estimators. Also, I'm told that users on the site have "shared" photopasses to split the cost. I need to research that some more, but I really wish I'd known about that earlier! We did have one snafu with the photopass that occurred after our trip was over. We hadn't ordered it in advance, and although we meant to get it, didn't actually purchase it until Wednesday. When we got it, none of our photos from our first day at MK or Epcot were on it. We assumed it was an error, wrote them, and found out we could only get pictures from the time AFTER the purchase (unless, of course, we wanted to fork over more cash). We weren't thrilled with that response, and offered to pay some of it, but not the entire amount, and amazingly, for some reason they decided to send us a whole new CD at no charge. Sometimes the squeaky wheel does get the oil!

Here were the highlights of the trip for each of us:
Me: Favorite moments were definitely telling the boys at the airport, having our own hot tub, and the first day when we all went to MK together. We all got to do so much, most of it together, because the lines were so short. The weather was great and it was just all-around a perfect day! My third "favorite" is riding ToT 3 times with Caden! Loved sharing my favorite ride with my little buddy.
My "worst" moment was definitely losing Connor in the boneyard. NOT something I'd care to repeat. Other than that, it was trying to steer a stroller through a giant throng of people on the Pangani trail. That was not fun, and the animals in our zoo at home are way cooler!

Casey: Casey also really enjoyed our day at MK, but she had to say her favorite day was the day she and Nathan spent at Universal (though it shames her as a Disney-officiando to admit it!). Guess love of Harry Potter trumps love of Disney! She really enjoyed the butterbeers!
Her low point was when she and Nathan tried to walk around the showcase but her feet were sore and his back were sore, and they didn't make it through 3 countries.

Mom: Mom really enjoyed her first trip to Animal Kingdom. She thought the tree of life was REALLY amazing.
Her low point was leaving, which I told her was a cop-out, so she changed her mind to when she had to go to Hooters in Atlanta on the way home, because it was the only place they could watch the UK game near their hotel. Guess she didn't like their wardrobes!

Caden: His was a toss-up between Space Mountain and Tower of Terror. He could not get enough of those two rides! His worst moment was seeing the Yeti on Expedition Everest!

Connor: He told me just the other day that his best moment at Disney was "when I played with Goofy and he made me laugh." I said, "What was the worst thing that happened?" And he immediately responded, "When the camel SPIT on us!" That cracked me up because I hadn't really mentioned it since it happened, but apparently it made an impression. I'll also add that he had two other "lows" - Mickey's Philharmagic and Lego Land!

Dad: Dad insists he's so even-keeled that he had NO ups and downs, so based on what I've heard him mention I'm going to pick some ups for him at least - he really enjoyed their day at the beach and the fresh seafood...he was also pretty excited when he "made a profit" at MK by finding that dollar... And I think he liked the Tree of Life also. He spent quite a bit of time meandering around and taking pictures.

Nathan: His best day was also the Universal day - that was also the day they went to Fuddruckers and played putt-putt. He just enjoyed kicking back and having just a fun, unplanned day full of "cool" stuff to do. His low was chugging the Beverly!

Shawn: His "high" was Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. He LOVED getting to see Santa, and I think he liked the parade a lot too. His "low" day was Animal Kingdom when our plans kept diverging. I hope he salvaged it by getting to see his characters!

And finally, Bananahead.... well, she'll officially be "Bailey" once she gets here, which should be any day now, so I'll be sure to interview her first thing...

Well, that's about it. I really look forward to planning another trip, but we have nothing official in the works yet. We did enter a local contest to win a backyard makeover and a trip, but we'll see. If we don't win that, we'll probably have to wait until our own new addition (or Flooter, as Connor has named our baby) is at least two before we muster up enough courage to tackle the world with THREE kids! Whew, I'll need some advice on that one. But I do know we'll go again. Caden still reads his Disney book every day and has big plans for when he goes back, and Connor loves to look through the pictures. It was an incredible week that gave us many memories to cherish!

 

[Krissi225]

Hi,

I really enjoyed reading your TR sounds like you all had an amazing time, my boyfriend and I were there for MNSSHP and our next ambition is to go for MVMCP..your report has made me far too excited for a trip we've not even booked yet! Hoping to get back in 2013 after some long hard saving!

 

[BlueEyes78]

Hi,

I really enjoyed reading your TR sounds like you all had an amazing time, my boyfriend and I were there for MNSSHP and our next ambition is to go for MVMCP..your report has made me far too excited for a trip we've not even booked yet! Hoping to get back in 2013 after some long hard saving!

Thanks for reading and for your comments. I think I'd really like to try MNSSHP next time - I've heard Sept/Oct is a good time of year both weather and crowd-wise. We'll be doing some saving as well to get back!

 

[Krissi225]

Yeah it is, we went on the 5th October for 17 nights and the weather was perfect, not even one little droplet of rain!! the only problem was it got a little crowded during the Columbus Day holiday but with a bit of planning it turned out ok, we did the food and wine on the busiest day and just ambled around world showcase eating and drinking..if you havent done F&W before I highly reccomend it

 

[WayTooExcited]

What a great trip report. I really like that Casey character. She seems like an upstanding citizen.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Haha! I was looking at my profile and saw that someone had commented on my 6-year old report and was like "whaaa?" Now it makes more sense.

 

[JonesFamilyTravels]

I love stories like these! This is so amazing!