What she lacks in experience, she makes up in enthusiasm! (My first PTR!)

[MeridaLove]

Well hello my fellow DISer's and a HUGE to my VERY first Pre-Trip Report!!! I am brand-spanking new to the DIS, but not at all new to the World of Disney. I've been a certified addict for coming up on 10 years now, and this PTR is a project in part to help me get through the LOOOOOOOONG wait until our next trip in August (20th-29th) and in part to help keep my husband's sanity - my pre-trip excitement is a little...shall we say....obsessive? I am just so excited to be going back in 130 days, spending 10 days together with my family and experiencing the joy and wonder of Disney! To get me through these next few months, I thought I'd come here and share my excitement and planning with all of you amazing folks!

ANYHOOO....I guess to start I should introduce my little Disney family!

First off there's my AMAZINGLY patient, fun-loving, big-hearted, laid-back husband, Wayne. He went to Disney for the first time in his life at age 36 and became a convert - he loves Disney!! To help finance our obsession he works in a Software Start-up company as a Software Engineer:


Yep...his eyes are closed. But it's one of the only pics of him I could find of him without other people in it. AND it get's extra points because that smile on his face is because he just helped finish off our very first order of POFQ beignets

Next up is my adorable, sweet, and TRAVEL-HATING 17 year old son Ryan:


Yes - you heard that right - he HATES to travel!! (I'm pretty convinced he was switched at birth). He's been to WDW with us three times, but the last two trips he has asked to stay with his grandparents instead of coming. We hate not having him with his, but we respect his feelings, and his grandparents LOVE the bonding time they get with him, so it's all good
(P.S. That extremely macho hat/scarf/mitt combo he's sporting was made by me for him for Christmas, but HE specifically requested it! He loves it and wears it every day and his friends now want me to make them some. They're a kooky bunch!!)

Next is beautiful princess #1 - our 15 year old daughter Makayla (Kylie for short). Kylie is an exceptionally creative dreamer who goes to a high school for the arts and majors in Music (violin) and Drama. She is our laid-back, no-stress, flower child Lastly we have beautiful princess #2 - our 14 year old daughter Katelyn. Katelyn is also a creative wonder, who was just accepted into the school of the arts, but will be majoring in Music (Vocal) and Dance. Kate is our high-energy, follow the rules, girly-girl princess.

(Katelyn is on the left, Kylie on the right)

Then there's me! I'm the mom of this rag-tag group of adventurers, as well as the chief planner and holder of ADR's, Maps, and bandaids WDW is my absolute Happy Place, and the place where we bond together as a family, and keep our joy and child-like wonder alive. To help pay for my happy place, I manage an Accounting Team at an insurance company for Teachers, as well as run my own home-based cruelty-free health and wellness business. I hope that soon my business will make my job obsolete so that we can have more free time for travelling

That's me on the far right with my life-long BFF's:


Phew!! Well that's a lot of info for my first post! I don't want to bore you all with my life story. Tomorrow I'll write more about what resort we ended up picking for our August trip. Now you'd think that would be a fairly straight forward decision, wouldn't you??

Not for this family.....

 

[reelmom]

Welcome to the DIS! Excited to follow along with your plans. Totally understand needing a place to celebrate your excitement. My husband shuts down when I bring up Disney. He enjoys going but does not enjoy the ever changing plans. We aren't going back to Disney until 2015, so I look forward to following along.

 

[MeridaLove]

Well holy cow, I am REALLY bad at this PTR writing stuff! It's only been, what? NINETY-EIGHT DAYS since my last update??

Ummmm...yeah...total fail on that one!! So I shall attempt to redeem my sad self and get back on the trolley here. We are now 22 days away from our trip and getting CRAZY EXCITED!!!

So, first, I figure a little bit of our Disney background is in order. As a family this will be our sixth disney trip. Our first trip was in October 2005 and included my parents at an off-site Florida vacation home. I don't remember a whole lot about that trip, I think because I've blocked it out (note to self: never travel with my mother...)


My kidlets with Aladdin & Jasmine in 2005

However, it was amazing enough that we were eager to go back with the kids on our own, but this time we were staying on site! So in October 2007 we were back, this time at All-Star Music in a family suite. We had an AWESOME time, but definitely overdid it a little, spending hours in the park and taking almost no time to rest (I know, rookie mistake!) By the end of that trip we were exhausted and not quite sure if we would be back so soon.


Kidlets @ TOT in 2007 (can't tell that one's in Theatre, can you?

But, then along came December 2009 and my parents gifted us with a 3 day bahamas cruise that left out of Fort Lauderdale. But there was a catch - it was with THEM. Since I was going to have to travel with my mom again (I love her, I really, really do - she just does not travel well!) and I didn't want to resort to alcoholism to get through the trip, I figured adding on 3 days at Disney would at least give me a "reward" at the end of the trip. But the joke was on me - my parents decided to join us

Anyhoo, off to the Poly for 3 days we went, and it was stressful - to say the least. It is the only time in my life that I have thought 4 letter words in the Happiest Place on Earth. But we made the best of it...


All of us in Front of the MK Christmas Tree 2009

Unfortunately, that would be the last time my son Ryan would come with us to Disney. I think it may have soured him on travel
Not us though! We took a bit of a break, but in August of 2012 the Free Dining offer lured us back for a Mom, Dad & girls trip at Port Orlean's Riverside in a new Princess room. It was AMAZING! The girls adored the room, and despite a tornado in the area and a LOT of rain, we loved it


My girls in front of the Muppets 2012

We had SUCH a good time that we decided to come back in August 2013!! This time we picked Port Orleans French Quarter. We absolutely ADORED POFQ and for the first time the girls felt comfortable navigating the resort on their own to go to the food court to refill drinks and check-out the gift shop. We had our best trip ever, and so we BOOKED A BOUNCEBACK!! YAY!!!


My girls in front of the castle 2013. I know this isn't the best pic, but I love it. They were dancing in front of the castle and it makes my heart happy

So we booked a bounceback to POFQ because we loved it SOOOO much!

But of course....that wasn't the end of the story...oh no, no, no....because Mama had over 365 days to think, to over-think, to second-thought myself to death. And that resulted in me doing some investigation into the other Mods that were available and that we hadn't yet been to. And THAT got me thinking about Coronado Springs Business Class...hmmmmm....

Soooooo...after conferring with the family, and checking for availability, we paid another $300 and upgraded to a Business Class room at Coronado Springs We're not a family that has ever stayed concierge or club level, so this will be a real treat for us and we're really excited!

Next up: ADR's and Fast Passes - Where are we going to eat and what are we going to ride?