jenanderson
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2003
- Messages
- 2,965
Part One: Your Wish is My Command or How to Plan a WDW Road Trip in 3 Hour (could this be a world record for planning, packing and leaving for WDW?)
An Introduction to the Family
The Whole Family: We LOVE Disney.
We talk about Disney, dream about Disney and we all believe that Disney is the most magical place on Earth.
Me: Teacher who loves to teach but also loves vacation time. I believe that it was a mistake that I was born in Minnesota and I know that one day I will live in Florida.
DH: Also a teacher who loves his days off. Always puts up with my crazy Disney planning and ideas.
DD: Age13 need I say more. Delightful girl most of the time but has the personality of Tink at times.
DS: Age 10 and might just be the most Disney crazed of the whole family. A totally crazy sort of boy think the energy of Tigger with the personality of Goofy!
Alright, a bit more about how our family plans Disney trips. Planning a Disney trip requires planning LOTS of planning. I have a 3 ring binder that holds maps, schedules, menus, ride tips and so much more. The 3 ring binder is the guide for the whole trip. We count our trips down in style. We make a paper chain, hold family Disney movie nights and so much more. I spend hours on the web finding the best deals, refining our plans and of course, updating the binder. Part of the fun is planning the trip and the planning almost always lasts a full year, sometimes two years!
What Happened This Time
It was Monday about noon, the start of our spring break. We were working around the house because there was so much we wanted to do on our week off projects, cleaning, laundry, etc. I told DS to put some Disney music on for all of us. So, DS starts the playlist and tried to skip the first selection the ride through of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Both DD and I told him he had to play it.
This caused DS to then sit down and say Fine but I am going to close my eyes and pretend I am on the ride!
So, then I laugh and say Wouldnt it be great to just get in the car right now and go?
Now, you should know that we live in Minnesota. WDW is 1,500+ miles from my house. It is a 24 hour drive by car.
DS and DD start screaming and jumping around that YES, they want to drive and go NOW!
I laugh at them both but then go outside to help DH who is hanging shelves in the garage. I tell him that the kids want to drive to Disney what does he think? He laughs. Then he is like, are you serious? I knew he was trying to figure out if we really are going to do this or not. I was trying to figure out if he thought we really could do this. The kids were sure we could do it and were now in the garage continuing to say we could do it.
Then, I went in to call WDW to see if there were even any rooms. Yep, there are rooms. Yep, I booked on at the Pop Century. Yep, we are going to go!
So, imagine it is now about 1:00 PM and we need to leave ASAP! We started flying around the house, throwing things in bags, feeding the cats, taking showers and getting ready. DH and DS ran to the store to get some last minute needed things while DD and I finished around the house.
We were ready to go at 4:00 PM. There was no preplanning, no time to change my hotel reservations several times, no binder, no trading pins, no planning what so ever! Just a crazy notion that we should go to WDW and so we were!
This trip had several objectives:
#1 Costs to a minimum I mean, we werent planning this which means we werent planning the costs either.
#2 Just enjoy the ride It is one of the busiest times of the year. Would we ever consider a short, last minute trip again?
#3 Dont gain weight I have been dieting since January and have lost 28 pounds. I do not want to gain it back.
#4 Get exercise DH and I have been running since January and have entered our 2nd race a 1/2 marathon in June. We were NOT runners but have stumbled into this newer, healthier lifestyle. We managed to throw in our running gear.
Alright, since we just got home at 7 AM today...after driving 25 hours straight from Florida, I had best sign off tonight and tackle this again tomorrow. You will get to learn how much money it costs to fill up the tank of an old van over and over again, what you can eat when all you see is fast food and how DS brings tears to my eyes every time we go to WDW.
Thanks for joining in!
Jen
An Introduction to the Family
The Whole Family: We LOVE Disney.
We talk about Disney, dream about Disney and we all believe that Disney is the most magical place on Earth. Me: Teacher who loves to teach but also loves vacation time. I believe that it was a mistake that I was born in Minnesota and I know that one day I will live in Florida.
DH: Also a teacher who loves his days off. Always puts up with my crazy Disney planning and ideas.
DD: Age13 need I say more. Delightful girl most of the time but has the personality of Tink at times.
DS: Age 10 and might just be the most Disney crazed of the whole family. A totally crazy sort of boy think the energy of Tigger with the personality of Goofy!
Alright, a bit more about how our family plans Disney trips. Planning a Disney trip requires planning LOTS of planning. I have a 3 ring binder that holds maps, schedules, menus, ride tips and so much more. The 3 ring binder is the guide for the whole trip. We count our trips down in style. We make a paper chain, hold family Disney movie nights and so much more. I spend hours on the web finding the best deals, refining our plans and of course, updating the binder. Part of the fun is planning the trip and the planning almost always lasts a full year, sometimes two years!
What Happened This Time
It was Monday about noon, the start of our spring break. We were working around the house because there was so much we wanted to do on our week off projects, cleaning, laundry, etc. I told DS to put some Disney music on for all of us. So, DS starts the playlist and tried to skip the first selection the ride through of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Both DD and I told him he had to play it.
This caused DS to then sit down and say Fine but I am going to close my eyes and pretend I am on the ride!
So, then I laugh and say Wouldnt it be great to just get in the car right now and go?
Now, you should know that we live in Minnesota. WDW is 1,500+ miles from my house. It is a 24 hour drive by car.
DS and DD start screaming and jumping around that YES, they want to drive and go NOW!
I laugh at them both but then go outside to help DH who is hanging shelves in the garage. I tell him that the kids want to drive to Disney what does he think? He laughs. Then he is like, are you serious? I knew he was trying to figure out if we really are going to do this or not. I was trying to figure out if he thought we really could do this. The kids were sure we could do it and were now in the garage continuing to say we could do it.
Then, I went in to call WDW to see if there were even any rooms. Yep, there are rooms. Yep, I booked on at the Pop Century. Yep, we are going to go!
So, imagine it is now about 1:00 PM and we need to leave ASAP! We started flying around the house, throwing things in bags, feeding the cats, taking showers and getting ready. DH and DS ran to the store to get some last minute needed things while DD and I finished around the house.
We were ready to go at 4:00 PM. There was no preplanning, no time to change my hotel reservations several times, no binder, no trading pins, no planning what so ever! Just a crazy notion that we should go to WDW and so we were!
This trip had several objectives:
#1 Costs to a minimum I mean, we werent planning this which means we werent planning the costs either.
#2 Just enjoy the ride It is one of the busiest times of the year. Would we ever consider a short, last minute trip again?
#3 Dont gain weight I have been dieting since January and have lost 28 pounds. I do not want to gain it back.
#4 Get exercise DH and I have been running since January and have entered our 2nd race a 1/2 marathon in June. We were NOT runners but have stumbled into this newer, healthier lifestyle. We managed to throw in our running gear.
Alright, since we just got home at 7 AM today...after driving 25 hours straight from Florida, I had best sign off tonight and tackle this again tomorrow. You will get to learn how much money it costs to fill up the tank of an old van over and over again, what you can eat when all you see is fast food and how DS brings tears to my eyes every time we go to WDW.
Thanks for joining in!
Jen
That's just the craziest, coolest thing ever!
