Closed - reopening on PTR board -Hail, Hail, the Gangs All Here! - September 2014 PTR

[lsenquiz]

Welcome to my third PTR. I am proud to say I completed the first two! This PTR is for our trip coming up in September 2014. We also have a two week trip scheduled for May 2014 but I simply do not have the time to handle two PTRs at the same time so I am just doing a PTR for this one. The main reason I chose this one instead of May is because we have several family members that are going to be joining us for this trip that have never been to Disney with us (some have never been at all!!!). I plan to send them the link for this PTR so they can following along and make suggestions along the way.

First up as always the cast:

Me(Lisa) - I work fulltime in IT but have the luxury of working from home. My only hobby is planning vacations. I prefer Disney but am happy as long as I have a vacation in the works. I turn 50 in November 2014 and the celebrating for that special birthday started December 1st 2013 and will continue until my Birthday. Thats right, I plan to celebrate turning 50 for a whole year. I am calling it Lisapalozza. My favorite park is Hollywood Studios with EPCOT a close second, favorite attraction is Soarin and I really dont have a favorite character as I love them all. For those that have not followed my previous PTRs or TRs I am a BIG character hunter. We always reserve plenty of time on our trips to spend with them.


. by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

DH(Kenny) - He also works fulltime in IT(same company as me) and could have the luxury of working from home but prefers to go into the office. All of his hobbies revolve around sports and Boy Scouts with my DS. His favorite park is Hollywood Studios, I dont think he has a favorite attraction and his favorite character is Grumpy.


wdw20132596422110_6853118644_copy by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

DS9(Gabriel) he will turn 10 right before this trip) - He loves Star Wars, video games and Super Heroes. His hobbies usually involve a screen of some kind (TV, Tablet, Laptop etc) although he is showing a real interest in Boy Scouts. His favorite park is Hollywood Studios, favorite attraction is Star Tours and favorite character is Buzz Lightyear.


wdw20132586210953_6853115833 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

DS26 (Ryan - he will turn 27 while we are on this trip) - The last time he was at Disney with us was to celebrate his 21st Birthday. He recently moved to Virginia with his Fiancé. His favorite park is Hollywood Studios, favorite attraction is RNR, and I am not sure who his favorite character is? Perhaps he will follow along and let us know.

Future DDIL21(Alexis) She is currently serving in the Navy. She has never been to Disney in her whole life. Boy do I love taking people that have never been before. I hope she falls in love with it like I did because I see many trips in her future especially when the grandchildren come along. Since she has never been before she has no favorite park, attraction or character.


ryan and alexis by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

DD22(Chelsea) Chelsea comes to Disney with us as often as possible but college has gotten in the way for the last couple of trips. I think her favorite park is probably Magic Kingdom, I am not sure she has a favorite attraction but she does love Soarin as much as me, and her favorite character is Eeyore.


Photo0058FourBySix by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Chelseas DBF23 (Ashton) Ashton has been to Disney with us once before. However, I have no idea what his favorite park, attraction or character is. I do remember that he loved collecting the vinalmations and suspect he will be doing some of that again this trip.


ashton and chelsea by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

DNiece27 (Emily she will turn 28 while we are on this trip) I know that Emily has been to Disney (or at least MK) at least one other time in her life for a one day trip but she was a young teen at the time and it was definitely not her thing. However, I hope that all changes with this trip since she will be seeing Disney through the eyes of her 3 year old daughter who will be going to Disney for the first time. Like Alexis, she does not have a favorite park, attraction or character.

Emilys fiancé (Justin) I actually have no idea if Justin has been to Disney before or not? He does strike me as the type that will be an immediate Disney lover. He tends to enjoy new adventures to the fullest and IMO there is no better adventure than Disney. Again no idea what his favorite Park, attraction or character is but have no doubt they will be firmly established by the end of this trip.


emily and Justin by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Finally the star of this trip my Great Niece (Caroline) She will turn 3 years old while she is at the happiest place on earth and I think that is just the perfect age. I plan to encourage Emily and Justin to watch Disney movies with her frequently leading up to the trip so we can have some idea of what her favorites are.


caroline by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Kenny, Gabriel and I are Disney passholders and go often. As I mentioned above we will be there for 2 weeks in May (just the three of us). I will make sure that Gabriel gets to see and do everything that is important to him then so our focus for this trip can be to make sure that the family members that have never been to Disney or don't get to go often get to see and do everything that is important to them. We will also be celebrating four birthdays while we are there, Emily, Ryan, Gabriel and Caroline's. I cannot wait to see Disney through the eyes of our first timers!

 

[lsenquiz]

Just realized I posted this PTR on the TR board instead of the PTR board so I have asked a moderator to move it.​

Chapter 1 - Introductions
Chapter 2 - Trip dates & Resorts (part 1)
Chapter 2 - Trip dates & Resorts (part 2)
Chapter 2 - Trip dates & Resorts (part 3 - final)
Chapter 3 - Changes already!
Chapter 4 - Training has started - Diet & Exercise

 

[lsenquiz]

Chapter 2 - Trip dates & Resorts (Part 1)​

First our trip dates. The dates for Kenny, Gabriel and I will be September 11th - 20th. Gabriel has the third week of September off from school for fall break. We will also take him out of school for Thursday the 11th and Friday the 12th because I simply cannot do Disney in one week. Although I have not confirmed dates for everyone else I suspect they will all have to limit their trip to Saturday to Saturday so their dates will be Sept. 13th - 20th.

We will be coming from all over the United States. Some farther away than others. Emily, Justin and Caroline will be coming from Ohio so their trip if they drive would be about 14 ½ hours. Ryan and Alexis are coming from Virginia so their trip to drive is 12 ½ hours and Chelsea and Ashton attend college just 5 hours from Orlando. Our trip is 7 ½ hours and very manageable even with a 10 year old.

So for the first time ever I will be watching airfare very closely. If there is any way I can manage to get a good deal on plane tickets for Emily, Justin and Caroline I will definitely snap them up. I think 15 hours in a car with a 3 year old would just be too much. If I cannot find reasonable tickets I will see if they can leave on Friday, drive half way and then come the rest of the way in on Saturday. I also hope that Alexis and Ryan can leave on Friday and drive at least 8 hours then stop for the night and drive the rest of the way in on Saturday. Chelsea and Ashton can leave Saturday morning and be fine. It would be great if everyone could be in Orlando by 3pm on Saturday because I want to plan a special dinner that night.

Since it will just be Kenny, Gabriel and I Thursday and Friday night our plan is to stay in a studio at Boardwalk for the first two nights. Boardwalk is my favorite resort and I do not like when we take a trip to Disney and dont spend any time there. Below are pictures I took of our studio during our September 2013 stay:


DSC04558 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04567 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04563 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04569 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04572 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04571 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04577 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04576 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04573 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04574 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04575 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04592 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04587 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr


DSC04583 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Up next: Where will we settle in at when the whole gang arrives?

 

[lsenquiz]

Chapter 2 Trip dates & Resorts (Part 2)​

We will move to a 2 bedroom at Bay Lake Towers on Saturday. This will be our resort for the rest of the week for Kenny, Gabriel, Emily, Justin, Caroline and I. We will be staying on DVC points. We have never stayed at BLT so are very excited to see how we like it. As I mentioned earlier, BWV is our favorite resort (besides BWV we have only ever stayed at BCV, Key West, the cabins and ASM so that is what we compare it to - although we do have a week at WLV planned for the second week of our May trip). This time it seemed better to stay at an MK resort since we will have a 3 year old with us this trip. I dont have any pictures of my own of BLT so I had to borrow from the internet.


baylake living room by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake dining room by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake master bedroom by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake master 2 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake master bath by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake master bath 3 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake studio bed & couch by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake studio tv by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


baylake studio bathroom by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet

Kenny and I will sleep in the master bedroom and Emily and Justin will sleep in the studio. I always bring a 2 person pop-up tent for Gabriel to sleep in because I like to keep the sofa beds free for sitting. I bring Disney window cling decorations with the tent and let him decorate it. We usually set it up in the master with us because I like to have the living room completely free of sleepers. That way early risers like me have somewhere to go before everyone else wakes up and late nighters like Kenny have somewhere to go when everyone else has gone to bed and most importantly the little ones can go to sleep even if the bigs ones want to stay up! I suspect Gabriel and Caroline will both sleep in the tent. Caroline can decorate half the tent in a Disney girls theme and Gabriel can decorate the other half in a boys theme.

I also love that the two bedroom will be a lock-off. That way Emily and Justin will have their own entrance door and can close the connecting door to their studio when they want privacy. They will also have their own kitchenette and bathroom.

Up next: Where will the rest of the gang sleep??

 

[lsenquiz]

Chapter 2  Trip dates & Resorts (Part 3)​

Although a BLT 2 bedroom sleeps 9 plus one child under 3, Ryan, Alexis, Chelsea & Ashton will be checking into a cabin at Fort Wilderness on Saturday for the week (hopefully using free dining). Although we stayed at a Cabin during part of our stay during our September 2013 trip I have absolutely no pictures of it so had to borrow from the internet again.


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-outside1 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-dining room by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-murphy bed by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-kitchen by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-bedroom by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet


Ft-Wilderness-Cabin-bunk beds by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
Borrowed from the internet

I did add Ryan, Alexis, Chelsea and Ashtons names to our BLT reservation so they can use the BLT resort pool. Our plan is to spend all of our resort time at BLT however I cannot imagine all of us sleeping in a 2 bedroom even though technically we fit. I also added Kenny and myself to the cabin reservation because - 1) I wanted my name as head on the reservation because if anything changes I know I will be the constant and 2) Adding two additional adults does not change the cost of the room and allows those two additional adults to qualify for free dining. We do have to buy a 2 day ticket for both of us but that is no big deal because we will just use it as a credit when we renew our annual passes.

Up next; Day 1 plans

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[lsenquiz]

Changes already ​

What fun is it to plan a Disney vacation if you don't change the plans occasionally? This is what gets me through the months of wait until the actual trip starts .

So I have already made a couple of changes to our Resorts. After doing alot of reading I decided that it would be worth the extra cost for us to have a water view at BLT instead of a standard view so I upgraded our reservation .

Second, our original plan was for Kenny, Gabriel and I to check into a BWV studio Sept 11th & 12th (Thursday & Friday) then move to the 2 bedroom at BLT on Saturday when everyone else arrived. We would also be checking Ryan, Alexis, Chelsea and Ashton into a Cabin at Fort Wilderness on Saturday (hopefully using free dining). My plan was to put 6 adults on the cabin reservation even though only 4 would be sleeping in the cabin. That way we would get the most out of free dining.

So after thinking about it a lot , we decided it made more sense for Kenny, Gabriel & I to just skip BWV and check into the cabin on Thursday. Doing this will give us a few extra dining credits that we can use for some signature dining we want to do. We will not use the dining plan on Thursday and Friday for the TS credits which will allow us to save 12 TS to use later in the week.

It is also looking like Ashton won't be going. He is just starting college in the fall and working fulltime so it just does not make sense for him to miss the week of school. Chelsea is in her 4th year of college and has no trouble missing a week So there will just be 3 people actually sleeping in the cabin now but we will still put 6 adults on the reservation. That means we will just be paying out of pocket for one adult and Gabriel. Caroline can eat off our plates since she is under 3.

Checking into the cabin before everyone else gets there also allows me to precook some breakfast items that I can leave in the cabin fridge when everyone else arrives. Our plan is to eat breakfast in our rooms every morning and I know the kids will not do that if I do not make sure a good select is available. Instead they will arrive at the park of the day hungry and I will end up feeding them out of pocket

So I will miss staying at my beloved BWV (even if it was just going to be for 2 days) but I comfort myself with the fact that we will be spending 9 days there in May. Plus the cabins are Gabriel's favorite resort so he will be glad to be staying there the first two nights.

 

[lsenquiz]

Training has started​

Yep that’s right, I train for my Disney vacations. To anyone that has never been to Disney that probably sounds strange, training for a vacation. Well it is a must for me unless I already have a steady exercise program in place (which I definitely do not). Sadly I have gained 25 pounds over the last year and that extra weight is going to take its toll unless I get it off. In fact, I was carrying the extra weight for our trip last September and it made touring much harder than it has been in the past. So my goal is to get back to the weight I was at for our 2012 trip. I have included pictures from both 2012 & 2013 trips to compare.

Before(2012):


P1010235 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr
I am on the right. The person on the left is my cousin who usually travels with us to Disney in September but can’t make it this year.

After(2013)


DSC04887 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Unless we are going for 2 weeks we follow a semi-commando touring plan whenever we go to Disney. We always arrive for rope drop and remain in the park until 8-9pm. We usually take a day off from the parks midweek to enjoy our resort but rarely take breaks to return to our resort on park days. This results in us walking an average of 10 miles per day which is why our 9 year old who has not had a stroller since he was 3 still rides in one while we are at Disney (admittedly he is very small for his age which is why he still fits in a stroller). That way he can take all the breaks he needs without slowing us down. I will be renting a double stroller this trip that both Caroline and Gabriel will fit in.

So with the start of the New Year, I have started eating healthy and exercising. We actually have a 2 week trip to Disney planned for May so I need to be back where I was by then. Right now I have 25.4 lbs. to lose in 4 months to reach my goal. I will update on my progress regularly to help keep me motivated and accountable. Feel free to share your strategy if you are in the same boat.

 

[lsenquiz]

Closing this PTR since I opened it on the wrong board and can not seem to get it moved. Reopening a new one on PTR board​