We're Back!!: Me & DS 12 bound for WDW and FREE Dining!

[eeyoregon]

I am a proud single mom to two sons ages 12 and 15.

It's hard to grasp how quickly they are growing up and how soon they will be gone.

We live in Oregon and have been fortunate enough to visit the world once a year since 2000 (I got in 2 trips without kids prior to 2000 ). Both of my boys LOVE WDW almost as much as I do.

In 2000 I made the voyage to the world w/ my oldest son, who was almost 8 at the time, but left his almost 4 yr old younger brother with the grandparents in Oregon.

I have always wanted to take DS12 on a "make up" trip but with one income and one vacation per year it just wasn't possible to do separate trips.

So along came the free dining buzz which got me thinking, planning and plotting a way to make a trip with just my youngest son a reality.

BOOKED IT!! Me and DS12 will fly out from Oregon late August 22. We will spend the 23rd at Animal Kingdom Park. On the 24th free dining begins...OK, not exactly free since I got wild and upgraded to Deluxe! We are staying at the All Star Sports for 5 nights total. His most favorite WDW dining is Ohana's so we will have dinner there on the 24th. I have 7 other ADR's in place too!

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to be able to take this special trip with him! His older brother is 110% OK with it and very excited for him. At age 20 months DS12 was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had a resection...thank God it was not cancerous!!!

In the past few years he has been diagnosed with OPD, ADD, SPD and high functioning autism. Life and school are a challenge for him and being a good parent is sometimes a challenge for me because I am just plain overwhelmed at times.

But the one thing we have in common, the one thing that soothes us when we are angry, sad, mad or frustrated is our love for Disney World!!

I can hardly wait for August!

 

[SunnieRN]

How wonderful! I bet you are having so much fun planning! Where are your other reservations??
That is so nice that you will be able to finally make your dream of taking your younger son on a solo trip, come true!!
Congratulations!!!

 

[eeyoregon]

Where are your other reservations??

So far we have ADR's at:

August 23: Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner

August 24: Crystal Palace lunch (the characters are for my benefit )
Ohana's dinner

August 25: Le Cellier lunch
Sci-fi dinner

August 26: Chef Mickey's brunch
Teppan Edo dinner

August 27: Yak & Yeti lunch
Hoop-de-Doo 9:30pm

August 28: Squeeze in a few hours at MK before flight home = counter service at Peco's Bill's.

I booked the airfare today and was thrilled to see the fares had dropped since earlier in the week! $240 roundtrip Oregon to Florida per person is awesome!

gina

 

[jmskinner]

I have to subscribe to this one.

So glad to hear you are getting to take a trip just you and your younger son. Sounds wonderful.

My DS9 is ADHD, SPD, and possibly PPD-NOS, we see the doc this week to see if we can get a referral to get more testing done.

Being at amusement parks is such a joy for us, so I know how you feel.

Really looking forward to your PTR!

Melissa

 

[eeyoregon]

My DS9 is ADHD, SPD, and possibly PPD-NOS, we see the doc this week to see if we can get a referral to get more testing done.

Wishing you luck with your upcoming appointments.

gina

 

[eeyoregon]

Time is moving along nicely.

ADR's are in place, free fridge lined up and joined a photopass share.

I did decide to stay off property our 1st 2 nights. Friday night, August 22 we don't even land until midnight and will head straight to bed. Saturday we are going to Animal Kingdom and will crash at the cheapo off-site hotel that night too. We will head to WDW early Sunday morning, check-in and leave luggage and head for Magic Kingdom.

My best friend has kindly offered to pick us up at MCO and take us to our off-site hotel. I would stay with her but she has 5 children of her own and works full-time = doesn't need 2 more under foot!

We will just use the free hotel transportation to AK on Saturday. Hopefully my friend can take us to WDW Sunday morning.

If she can't, do you think the off-property place would weird out if we hopped on their bus/van Sunday morning with our luggage??? We would have to get off where ever it is they drop you and take WDW transport to the All Star Sports. Hmmm...maybe quicker to just take a cab.

 

[jmskinner]

That's great that your friend is picking you up at MCO.

I would probably take a cab with my luggage if your friend can't help you out. Wow, 5 kids and works full-time. I couldn't do it.

Can't wait to hear how your trip goes, not long now.

Melissa

 

[eeyoregon]

I would probably take a cab with my luggage if your friend can't help you out. Wow, 5 kids and works full-time. I couldn't do it.

If our hotel is closer to MCO then we may just take a cab back to the airport and hop the Magical Express. Haven't booked the off-site hotel yet.

Yes, my friend and her hubby are both in management at Disney World and work full-time and all hours of the day. I don't know how they do it plus three littles ones are under age 5!!

 

[eeyoregon]

Well, I made some changes today.

Downgraded from Deluxe dining back to Basic, free dining.

Added 1 more night to our stay so we will be flying home August 28 instead of the 27th.

 

[eeyoregon]

Used Hotwire last night and booked 2 nights at a 3 star Ramada for $72 total for our 1st two nights.

Decided to spend our first day at Blizzard Beach and do Animal Kingdom on the extra day I added .

 

[SunnieRN]

Wow, that sounds GREAT!!

 

[eeyoregon]

OH bother...downgraded back to free dining but don't want to give up any of our ADR's !!

I guess I still have time to decide. According to the CM that I spoke with today I can upgrade to deluxe dining up until 72 hrs before we arrive.

That would help me $$ wise because I would pay off the lower package amount July 10 and then add deluxe in August.

I did the math to see if it would be cheaper to just pay OOP for our extra ADR's but it's not. Plus with deluxe we get the refillable mugs and the extra snacks.

OK, I am done talking outloud....

 

[SunnieRN]

Nothing wrong with talking outloud!! Another thing about deluxe is that you get appetizers too!

 

[eeyoregon]

So I decided to rent a car for this trip.

Our flight doesn't land in Orlando until midnight.

My dear friend, who kindly offered to pick us up, is currently on her 5th day in the hospital with a collapsed lung and chest tube and although it's 8 weeks away, I just don't want to impose on her at that time of night. Please send her pixie dust and prayers as her lung is not responding well.

In addition we will need at least one taxi cab ride from our off-site hotel and I'm not hearing great things about the "free shuttles" from our off-site to WDW.

Plus I was going to spend the $12 delivery fee plus tax and tip to use gardengrocer so this way we can just stop and shop on our own.

I got a 5 night/6 day rental including tax/fees for $106.00 which I thought was pretty good.

It will be nice to be able to get around this time without waiting for buses which will help with some of our scattered ADR's.

 

[jmskinner]

for your friend. I hope she gets better soon.

I don't blame you for renting a car, that is a good deal.

 

[eeyoregon]

for your friend. I hope she gets better soon.

I don't blame you for renting a car, that is a good deal.

Thank you for the pixie dust for my friend. I HATE being 3500 miles away and unable to help/visit her.

I'm excited about the car rental. I would have spent the same amount on a couple of taxi rides and the grocery delivery fee/tax/tip. Really looking forward to the convenience of being able to get around on our schedule vs. Disney's buses (not that we won't use the bus at all, just nice to have options).

Now if I can just make it OUT of the airport! Let's just say I have had some issues in the past while trying to exit MCO...kept getting back in the same lane somehow and circling the airport (more than once!) ! Hopefully at 1:00 in the morning I won't have much traffic to deal with.

 

[jmskinner]

We did the same thing at Tampa's airport, "this looks familiar."

 

[eeyoregon]

Just talked to my Orlando friend and she is doing well but is going stir crazy at home! Off work for 8 weeks and unable to drive at this point. They removed a cyst from her lung and she is expected to be back to normal soon.

OK, just call me the Free Dining Yo-Yo. I switched back the the Deluxe Dining. Made some ADR changes and here is what we have planned:

Whispering Canyon Cafe dinner
Crystal Palace lunch
Ohana's dinner
Kona Cafe breakfast
Sci-Fi dinner
Le Cellier lunch
Teppan Edo dinner
Yak & Yeti lunch
Hoop-De-Doo Review 9:30 dinner
Lilo & Stitch Ohana breakfast

We will each have one meal (table or counter) credit left which we will probably use at Peco's Bill's at AK for lunch our last day.

No idea what we will do with snack credits as we will play it by ear on those.

 

[jmskinner]

No idea what we will do with snack credits as we will play it by ear on those.

I brought home 13 rice crispy treat Mickey Heads. Gave them to some of my friends as souveniers and ate a couple ourselves. All paid with my snack credits.

Glad to hear your friend is ok, but I know that is tough being unable to drive.

 

[eeyoregon]

It's DOCUMENT DANCE TIME!!!