We planned our family around a trip to Disney!

[Finally - A Vacation]

Welcome to my PTR! This PTR goes waaaaay back, all the way back to late summer 2006. But, before I get started, let me introduce the cast of characters.

ME30: Dena - The planner. Completely obsessed with planning the perfect trip. So annoyed that no one else (at least in my family ) shares this new obesession! I work as a dental hygienist. I don't really have any specific hobbies, unless lurking around the DIS boards counts! As far as food goes, I'm not really adventurous. I'm not much of a cook, we don't go out much, and if we do it's either Red Lobster or Texas Roadhouse. So, just your typical steak and potatoes kind of girl.

DH29: Nathan - Could care less about planning this trip! He's the type that just replies "Uh huh" anytime I mention anything about it. He just doesn't get the need to plan ahead. Nathan is a diesel mechanic and has a ton of hobbies: deer hunting, target shooting, softball, golf - just to name a few. Now, Nathan is slightly more adventurous when it comes to food, but not much. Again, thrilled with steak and potatoes.

DD5: Mikayla:- Just started Kindergarten. Reported that she has a boyfriend! Up until now, she had no idea what a boyfriend was and she wanted to marry her Daddy. They grow up so fast once they start school! She loooves rides, roller coasters are her favorite. Her favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty. Mikayla is my picky eater. She will not eat pizza, hot dogs, or even peanut butter and jelly. Actually, it was just recently that I got her to eat any kind of sandwich at all!

DD3: Camryn - Our little daredevil. Definitely more outgoing than Mikayla. She just started preschool. Also shares a love of roller coasters. Her favorite princess is Cinderella. Camryn is not as picky of a eater as Mikayla, but still not very adventurous.

DD: Karli:- Our newest addition. She is 2 months old right now. Such a sweet baby!

Also starring:

Dsis28
Dbil30
Dniece6
Dnephew4
Dnephew3
DM
Dsd

 

[Finally - A Vacation]

OK, so as I mentioned, this PTR goes way back. So let me set the stage for you. Now, if this sounds familiar to anyone, I did attempt this PTR not too long ago. After reading so many other PTRs I realized I enjoyed reading the ones with a lot of details so much more. So, here we go again! Unfortunately, Nathan and I do not have much of a vacation history. Neither one of us took family vacations growing up. The annual trip to Six Flags was about the extent of it. The first trip we planned together was our honeymoon which we had to cancel. Originally, we had planned a week trip to St. Lucia. Unfortunately, the factory where we were both working had a big lay-off, and since we were paying for the wedding and honeymoon ourselves, we decided to go for something a little cheaper! We decided to go to Gatlinburg, TN. We stayed in a chateau in the mountains. It was beautiful. Although, I will say, there wasn't much planning required for that trip. OK, so that was almost 8 years ago. Since then, we have only taken one other trip. It was just a weekend trip to St Louis. This was in the summer of 2006. We had had 2 kids (3 year old and 18 months) by this time, so we were a little leary of traveling too far. We went to the zoo, the children's museum and a couple of other kid friendly places. We all enjoyed our short little trip. This is when the wheels started turning!

Once we got back, I told Nathan that we needed a real vacation! The first place to pop in my head was Disney World! Now, I have never been to WDW but Nathan has - when he was in high school he went with the marching band. So, I start asking him questions. "If we go next summer will the girls be old enough to enjoy It?", "Will they be able to ride any rides?", "Which park should we go to?" and so on. His respone: "I don't know. That was a long time ago. I don't even remeber which park we were in". After that respone, I immediately turned to my sister for help. Her father-in-law lives near Cocoa Beach and I knew that they had gone to Disney World a couple of times while visiting him. As my sister and I are talking, I come up with another bright idea (at least I thought it was at the time). "Hey, why don't we all go together?!?!", "We can even ask Mom and DsD if they want to come too". Little did I know, that one little question would lead to my planning nightmares!