Who's camping, 2013? How do you plan "your" trip?

[Main Street Matilda]

I start planning a year in advance - not that you need a year to plan, but it makes it feel like that next trip is not so far away. I actually have a spreadsheet that I use which "maps" out our food, dining reservations, park plans, etc.

I find that aside from booking our fort or other resort reservations that food is the most important decision. When we stay at FW, we make a point of going to dinner in the parks at least a couple of times and the rest of the time eating at the RV.

I also cook ahead a few meals while at home for the RV. My family is not big on just BBQ, so I make a couple of meals and freeze them for meals towards the end of our trip (for foods that won't keep) so that all we have to do is defrost and heat them. Some of them I just stick in a crock pot and they are ready to eat when we get back to our site. As much as I love to cook, I hate cooking and cleaning while on vacation.

 

[Jennifer41]

Hey y'all!! I'm planning a Dec '13 trip!

I'm currently struggling with whether or not I want to keep this a secret from my boys (9 & 12) who have NEVER been to disney, or to let them help me plan..

 

[Main Street Matilda]

Hey y'all!! I'm planning a Dec '13 trip!

I'm currently struggling with whether or not I want to keep this a secret from my boys (9 & 12) who have NEVER been to disney, or to let them help me plan..

Jennifer41 - there is nothing better than planning for a Disney trip and as for keeping it a secret, that depends on your kids. Mine would have found out - I pack well in advance and they would have caught on that I was planning something. There is also something so nice about including them in the decisions. My kids help me pick out restaurants, things to do in the parks, etc. It's one of our favorite discussions while I'm driving them to school. I actually tried to keep it a secret on one of our trips but they found out a couple of months in advance - I just can't seem to help giving it away.

As for planning, I find these boards to be a great place for advice.

 

[DentalDana2]

We are going the fort for the first time his August. I booked back in October and have been keeping a running packing list ever since. I just hit 180 days on 2/9 and made ADRs for 6 out of 9 days. I plan on doing more intensive lists (that is break down my lists by category) around the 4 week mark. Around the same point I'll probably make some sort of fun count down for the boys! My sister is my Disney parks Sherpa and she will help me with my touring plans in the weeks leading up to our departure.

 

[Jennifer41]

Mine would have found out - I pack well in advance and they would have caught on that I was planning something.

Well, here's the thing. We drive from PA to my Dad's (Punta Gorda) every Christmas, and every Christmas we drive past Disney & say "Oh look! There's Disney!" and keep on driving... I was thinking that THIS year, we'd say "Oh Look! There's Disney!" Except this time we'd actually PULL IN!! Then watch them poop their pants!!

I can easily get by with our regular planning & packing without suspicion..

But this planning is SO HARD to not tell them about all the cool stuff I want to do!!

 

[JanL]

My girls were better off not knowing about major treats in advance. The excitement just seemed to make them more hyper than usual (both have ADHD). The year I took them to Washington, DC and Williamsburg, I told them we were camping in Tallahassee (a 6 hour trip). When we continued north on 95 and passed the "Welcome to Georgia" sign, they were beside themselves. I told them we must have missed the turn, but as long as we were in GA we should see Savannah and eat at Paula Deen's "Lady & Sons." After lunch, we hit the "Welcome to SC" sign and I told them I had misplaced the road map.

It was a wonderful trip and they have lots of memories with less stress than if they had to wait for months knowing they were going. The best part was at the motel in Williamsburg when they were tucked in for the night and I told them I had to get my phone from the car. I left the door slightly ajar so their sisters from Toronto could enter. That really freaked them out!

As for Disney, your kids can help plan after they arrive surprised, by being able to choose restaurants, activities, etc.

 

[Jennifer41]

As for Disney, your kids can help plan after they arrive surprised, by being able to choose restaurants, activities, etc.

 

[indimom]

We're going to surprise our kids also. My sister lives in a small town near Destin/Navarra so we plan to tell them we are going for a visit with family. If all goes well, they'll be fast asleep when we cruise on past that turnoff and head further south into Florida. If they find out before then, I'm okay with that. But, it will be a lot of fun if they wake up in Orlando!
My only concern with this plan is that my kids know we typically go to the beach when visiting their aunt and I don't want them to be dissapointed when they find out they won't get their beach day. I think the water parks will make up for that, but... I'm a worrier.

 

[North of Mouse]

First we decide when we want to go and make our reservations and pay a one night deposit. (which we have done for over July 4th week) Just in case we have to cancel our vacation for some reason, we have always bought our tickets after we arrive at the campground. Only time we haven't is when we stayed at a hotel and recieved the dining plan free when buying a package . We have always bought the theme park ticket for every day of our stay along with the park hopper & water park option. We think this year we are going to buy the tickets with just park hopper because we have a better water park at home that we have passes for. We also think we are going to leave a day or two off of our tickets and add them later at end of the week if we want them.
I like to visit M K & Epcot first thing. Then HS & AK. We usually like to re-visit MK & Epcot our last day. I like to do the safari at AK early in the morning before it gets to hot and the animals are out. We enjoyed eating at Tusker house for breakfast before the safari and Rainforest for dinner after we left. So we will probably do this again. We have watched fire works on July 4 at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. This year I plan on seeing them at Epcot or stay at the camper! LOL! In 2011 Magic Kingdom was terrible! It was so crowded we went to Tom Sawyer Island for relief! If you do go do not expect to ride many rides and we were so glad we had a reservation to eat at Crystal Palace for that evening. Epcot(2007) handled the crowd better or it was alot less people! We enjoyed Epcot much better!
I would like to make one to two character dining reservations but I haven't done that yet! I have enjoyed, Chef Mickeys, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine in the past. Didn't care as much for food at Garden Grill because I thought the Seasons inside the land was actually better. But...if you have children it is nice to be able to sit down with them and be served for a change! We will eat at the camper and inside theme park we visit that day. We have ate outside disney for dinner. I enjoy that at least once. We have never done so but are considering renting a golf cart and we need to do that soon.
For extra spending money I have been giving disney gift cards to family for birthdays, Christmas and will continue to do so for other holidays until we leave for vacation. We belong to a vacation club (like a Christmas club not disney) so that pretty much takes care of our main expenses. We just use our key card for our shopping, eats , pictures, or whatever and then my husband gets at sheet from disney telling what we spent where and he pays it off with his credit card. Then he takes our vacation club and pays off the credit card when we get back home.
As far as our camper it stays packed with linens, dishes, camping supplies etc., but in the spring I will make a list and start restocking the camper with can stuff, mayo, mustard, catsup, plates, napkins, paper towels, etc. I will make vacation list of clothes, cameras, bathing suits, personal items, etc., in June and try to have everything packed a few days before we leave. My husband always says be packed at least a week before we leave! LOL! But... HE is lucky if I'm finished packing a few days before I leave!LOL!
We usually buy steaks, bacon, pizzas, waffles, water, gatarade, orange juice, etc., at Sams a month or so before we leave. I usually go to the grocery store a day or two before we leave and buy milk, bread, snacks, lunch meat, fruit, cereal, etc., to pack in the camper. My husband always prefers to wait untill we get to the campground to go to the store to buy the more perishable food. But I like to go right before we leave home so I don't have to run out to the store as soon as I get there. We have done both.
My husband always checks the camper for leaks, that everything is working correctly, he has all his tools, tires in good shape, water tank is clean, our tanks are filled with gas, etc., Packs the bikes, life jackets and toys for kids and whatever else we come up with. LOL! Outdoor chairs, his step ladder, canopys, grill etc., stay in the camper all year. He will cut the grass, wash the camper and truck a day or so before we leave. I will do laundry, clean the house, stop the mail before we leave. Thats about it! LOL!

For future reference, *please* break up your post into separated paragraphs. I enjoyed it, but is *very* hard to read. Thanks! Enjoy your Fort visits. We sure do! Our next trip of 10 nights is in April for F&G Festival.

 

[indimom]

I've quoted myself because we had to change our dates! Moved them up a couple weeks. We will now be at the Ft. from Saturday, June 30th to Thursday, July 4th.

This will be our third trip to Disney and our first camping trip at the Ft.

This time, I'm getting my research done so I can avoid major glitches, but I'm not going to have concrete plans. I just want to go-with-the-flow on this trip. Our day-to-day life is very rushed and hectic right now, we need to relax and enjoy our family.

This is the basic outline...

July 20-25 at the Ft. (June 30-July 4)
Two days at major parks (Epcot and probably DHS).
Two days at the water parks.
One day to relax at Ft. Wilderness and/or visit DD.

On check-out day, we're packing up early and moving to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal. We have three day passes to those parks, which should be more than enough with the Express Pass to just take it slow and enjoy.

We are not scheduling any sit down meals. We have done quite a few during our last two trips and enjoyed them (Hoop Dee Doo was a lot of fun, we were right by the piano), but we don't want to take that much time out of our days on this trip. We'll just eat on the fly, so to speak.

All in all, we are looking for a more relaxing and go-with-the-flow type of trip.

Good Luck to everyone with their trip planning! I will gladly accept any tips or advice, especially in regard to Ft. Wilderness. Other than stepping off a boat and walking a few steps to HDD Review. We haven't been there.

Hope everyone is enjoying their trip planning! I can't wait to arrive at the Ft. Only a few months to go.....

 

[DisneyDiva8401]

We will be at the fort June 28 - July 6. First thing first, decide when you want to go and for how long. We generally have to decide by the beginning of the year so everybody can put in vacation requests at work. We always go in the summer since the husband and my sis work for the school system.
If you plan on making advanced dining reservations, you may need to plan your park days in advanced so you arent hopping all over the world to eat. we are going to the hoop de doo on a non- park day so we dont have to waste time coming back to the fort for dinner.
We keep a clip board in the camper with a check list of everything we could possible need while camping. My sis and bro-in-law go down a day earlier and get things set up so when we arrive everything is done! It takes about 12 hrs to get there from Bama, we drive at night and arrive in the a.m. So that gives us an entire extra day.

My dad is retired military so he can get 6 -4 day park hopper tickets for like $150 each and we stay in a pop-up in a partial hook-up site. Divide that cost by 6 adults and the biggest part of the trip ends up being rather cheap for a Disney vacation. That's the good thing about camping....you can fit a lot of people in one site....we had 9 people one year!