Are we really planning a trip during Thansgiving '22? Yes, yes we are!

[ZeeWP]

OMG, I can't believe I finally get to write a Pre-trip report! I have been lurking for quite some time on these boards, planning for my eventual Disney World Trip. But now it's becoming a reality!

My name is Zeenat, I am 38 years old, and the last time I was at Disney World was for the College Program back in 2005. I will be visiting nearly 18 years since I had last been there! It's mind-boggling because it is one of my favorite places in the world. But life happened and we just couldn't make a trip happen before now. We've been to Disneyland in between a few times, but not Disney World.

My favorite Disney movie is a tie between Tangled and Moana, I am not a fan of the original princesses, but I live for Mickey and Minnie. My favorite ride is Soarin', Favorite Restaurant 50's Prime Time.

In this first post, I will add the links to updates. Enjoy!!

Table of Contents:
The Rest of the Crew
Quick Update

 

[wconn1979]

We are planning on a Thanksgiving trip next year as well. It will be our oldest daughters senior year, one last trip together as a family.

We are looking forward to seeing the Christmas decorations, we have always went during the summer.

 

[ZeeWP]

The Rest of the Crew:
​

My DD, Verity, 7 currently, will be 8 and in 3rd grade during the trip. She is an extremely picky eater and incredibly sensitive. She is the kindest person you could ever meet. She says she's scared of roller coasters, but she has been on Gadget's Go Coaster in Disneyland and loved it. She still loves princesses, especially Frozen.



My DS, Aunik, 5 currently, will be 6 and in 1st grade. He is super smart and clever, and a big pain in my butt. But he's super cuddly and loves hugs more than anyone else I know. He's getting out of the Preschool aged entertainment, but is a huge Donald Duck fan.



Gene is my wonderful husband of FOREVERRRRRRR, or you know 12 years. He's a helicopter pilot, therefore finds even the most thrilling ride a bore (insert major eye roll here). He adores spending time with us though and just watching the kids will be fun for him. It's so hard to find a new picture of him, but he's always falling asleep wherever he can, so this is what he will probably look like on the trip whenever he can.

Also coming with us:
My sister, Keara
My aunt and uncle
My cousin Ariana, who will be almost 16

 

[ZeeWP]

We are planning on a Thanksgiving trip next year as well. It will be our oldest daughters senior year, one last trip together as a family.

We are looking forward to seeing the Christmas decorations, we have always went during the summer.

If it was just our immediate family, we would probably find some time during the school year to go. But my sister is a school teacher and my cousin is in High School, so during the school year is too hard for them.

I too am looking forward to the Christmas decorations!

 

[LifeTheDisneyWay14]

Your family is so adorable, this sounds like it's going to be a great trip!! I absolutely cannot wait until my DD is Verity's age, having a 7 year old and Disney sounds so magical.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Hello! Happy to be joining in. I'm looking at a couple of trips in fall of '22, though not Thanksgiving week proper. I can't wait to hear what you have planned.

 

[ZeeWP]

Your family is so adorable, this sounds like it's going to be a great trip!! I absolutely cannot wait until my DD is Verity's age, having a 7 year old and Disney sounds so magical.

I miss baby cuddles, but I love this age because we can talk about stuff fun and otherwise She watches ride videos with me and it's so fun.

Hello! Happy to be joining in. I'm looking at a couple of trips in fall of '22, though not Thanksgiving week proper. I can't wait to hear what you have planned.

That is probably for the best After hearing all the nightmare stories about Thanksgiving and Christmas week, I am crazy nervous about going during a busy time!

 

[ZeeWP]

Quick Update
​

We went to Los Angeles, CA for Winter Break. Celebrated Christmas day. The plan was to go to Knott's Berry Farm the day after we got there. Didn't happen cause my son ended up with a nasty virus. THANKFULLY not COVID, but we were definitely freaking for a little bit.

By Christmas, Aunik was much better, and they got a buttload of presents to carry that I had to figure out how to pack into 3 suitcases LOL.

We ended up going to Knotts this past Tuesday and OMG it was so crowded and COLD. I can deal with one or the other, but the combination of the two was MISERABLE. On top of that, people are SO RUDE. Like you ask anyone a question or do something small wrong, and people rip your head off. Like there is NO grace to be had. Maybe it's an LA thing and I have lived in TX for too long, ha ha. It has me extremely worried for our Thanksgiving trip and tolerance to everything.

We did some mild planning for the Disney World Trip that I will updated you guys on in my next post about "where" we are staying.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Sorry you had a rough virus, but glad to hear everyone is on the mend.

On top of that, people are SO RUDE. Like you ask anyone a question or do something small wrong, and people rip your head off.

I feel like this is even worse in those cold, crowded days. You're in a grump, everyone around you is in a grump, and then no one has grace for anyone else.

 

[ZeeWP]

I feel like this is even worse in those cold, crowded days. You're in a grump, everyone around you is in a grump, and then no one has grace for anyone else.

Such a good point! It's why when I go to theme parks, I don't let that stuff bother me. The cold, sure that made it slightly miserable, but I just ignore idiots and move on LOL!

 

[ZeeWP]

Location Location Location​

As the country goes through a freeze, we in TX are holding on to hope that we don’t have a repeat of February ’21. We lost power and water for about a week, came back home to a floor completed flooded. Took months to get the floor replaced. But SO FAR, everything is staying on! Wheeeee!! I don’t think I can take another freezing week with a destroyed home.

We haven’t been able to do much planning because I got a new job. Did I tell you guys that? I am working for the city. I haven’t had a real job for 14 years! It’s going on week three now, but it’s been good so far. Still working from home cause of the ‘Rona. It's been taking up a lot of my planning and daydreaming about Disney time, though!

Buttttt…..I can’t believe we are going to be in Disney World 288 days!! I am so excited!!

Right now our group is discussing locations on where to stay during our trip. Here are options:

• Caribbean Beach Resort. This is our top pick and our current reservation. It’s also the most expensive so far. Everyone complains about how big and spread out it is, but with the Skyliner and Riviera Resort, it’s an optimal location for us within our budget.
• Pop Century Resort. A little bit cheaper and the resort is fine, but I really don’t like that we have to transfer to go to HS or EP. I feel like any gains made by trying to get to the parks ASAP will be lost when during the transfer. So while we would be saving money, the time lost doesn’t seem to be a big gain.
• A good neighbor hotel. This may be an option, but will it be cheaper? And I heard those shuttles are nowhere near as good as Disney Transportation. It will be hard enough to take busses to MK and AK, but the Skyliner was really going to be a bonus “ride” for us. (I’ve been looking forward to riding it ever since it was announced!)
• Something offsite and cheap. This is by far the least likely option. Most of us want to stay on-site at Disney and the money saved wouldn’t be worth the time and energy for an already expensive trip.

Guys—what do you think? Splurge or save? Something in the middle? LMK!

 

[Woth2982]

Following! My DH and I stayed at Pop a couple years ago, and did not find the transfer to be too terrible, we agreed we would stay there again. In fact we are going on May for my 40th and staying at Art of Animation, so basically the same thing. That said, we had no kids/will have no kids with us. My family initially was going to book Caribbean Beach, but with 6 of us going it made more sense to get two AOA rooms, verses 3 CB rooms (DH and I in the bed room, my sister in the main room) and (My parents in the bed room and my brother in the main room), my brother snores so this was the best for all of us lol. I realize I am probably zero help, but if I had kids your kids ages, I would probably opt for CB as it is the sky liner hub,

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Guys—what do you think? Splurge or save? Something in the middle? LMK

Rent points!

So, my situation is a little different since we're a family of 5. For on site, CBR is our "cheap" option and it only gets worse from there. But, we had an excellent time in 2019 at Boardwalk on rented points and are doing it again for August. Our points rental actually came in *lower* than our CBR placeholder reservation and we're on Crescent Lake!

I know it's a lot in terms of big being fully refundable, cancelable, etc but I'd definitely look into it if your dates are set in stone.

 

[ZeeWP]

Following! My DH and I stayed at Pop a couple years ago, and did not find the transfer to be too terrible, we agreed we would stay there again. In fact we are going on May for my 40th and staying at Art of Animation, so basically the same thing. That said, we had no kids/will have no kids with us. My family initially was going to book Caribbean Beach, but with 6 of us going it made more sense to get two AOA rooms, verses 3 CB rooms (DH and I in the bed room, my sister in the main room) and (My parents in the bed room and my brother in the main room), my brother snores so this was the best for all of us lol. I realize I am probably zero help, but if I had kids your kids ages, I would probably opt for CB as it is the sky liner hub,

OMG if it was just us 4 and my sister, we would have definitely stayed in the AOA suites. I want to stay there so bad! It would be worth the money and my kids ages were prefect! But since we are a group of 8 it's either an expensive BIG suite or two standardish rooms, so I then wonder if the POP is worth it or not. If it was a smaller group of adults, I think it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but a group of 8 with two littles, I think That will make a big difference in wait times and speeds.

Rent points!

So, my situation is a little different since we're a family of 5. For on site, CBR is our "cheap" option and it only gets worse from there. But, we had an excellent time in 2019 at Boardwalk on rented points and are doing it again for August. Our points rental actually came in *lower* than our CBR placeholder reservation and we're on Crescent Lake!

I know it's a lot in terms of big being fully refundable, cancelable, etc but I'd definitely look into it if your dates are set in stone.

I did look into renting points! It wasn't working out for us. It's too expensive for a larger suite of 8, or even smaller suites it wasn't saving any money. I wish I could have rented points and stayed at Beach Club or Animal Kingdom suites.