My mom thinks we're crazy! - a PT report for Sept

[linnell]

This is my first trip report and I've spent the day with a sick kid on my lap reading other trip reports and thought "I can't wait to write mine!" Then I said to myself, "Wait! I can start mine!" So here we go...

First the cast of characters -

This is us, our family portrait last Christmas.

There's me, Sandy. I'm 35, stay at home mom, just finished an MFA in Writing for Children. I love kids books, but my favorites are YA novels. If I could have been 16 forever I would have been happy. Then again, I would haven't met my DH!


Who is Noah. Noah's 36, an engineer and workaholic. Seriously, when I originally booked this trip, it was for 8 nights but he told me the thought of being away that long stressed him out. So I shortened it to 6 nights and he feels better. Hopefully this trip will turn him around!

Noah and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in May. We went on a Disney Cruise Land/Sea trip for our honeymoon. We had a great time at Disney, but I remember being really exhausted the whole time. We took a lot of naps! We went back in 2005 for a few days before a family cruise with my sister and her two small kids. We ditched them so fast because it took us an hour to make it down Main St! Now we're doing the trip with our own two small ones and that is why my mom thinks we're crazy!

My oldest is Lucas, he'll have just turned 4 two weeks before our trip. He has been diagnosed with mild PDDNOS (high functioning autism) and will probably end up with an Asperger's syndrome diagnosis but they won't give him that so early. Lucas is very very smart, has a memory recall that really freaks me out sometimes (like the other day he started telling me that the rental car we had last summer was gold, why would he remember that?). We really have no idea how he will react to the crowds and stimulation. He actually usually thrives in environments like that, but he does need his sleep and naps so that is going to be a challenge.

Ryan is our youngest. He'll be turning 2 two weeks after our trip. I squeezed this trip in so that he will still fly for free. He isn't talking very much yet, but he lets us know what he wants and as long as he gets it he's happy

We're going Sept 23-29th and staying at the Boardwalk Villas. We originally were staying at Wilderness Lodge. I've changed my mind a lot on this trip. Just this morning, I was saying to my husband "I was thinking about Disney..." and he just handed me his wallet. He jokes that every week I change something about our trip. I'm just trying to make this the best trip for the boys I can!

 

[onescgirl]

Your boys are cute! I hope your sick one is feeling better.

 

[linnell]

Your boys are cute! I hope your sick one is feeling better.

Thanks! It was the older one, he went to bed without a fight, so I know he wasn't feeling great. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be himself (though it is nice to get the snuggles!)

Back to the PTR!

I guess we can go back to last fall. I somehow was able to get a weekend away to visit a friend of mine that lives in Florida. She's a mom too, so we planned a kid free trip to Disney. We had a great time at F&W and even went to MNSSHP. The whole time I was thinking "I can't wait to take my boys here..." so as soon as we arrived home I started what I call my evil plans.

Another friend had told me about DIS, so I lurked before that trip but once I decided to take the family, I started coming here every day. I read about pincodes and decided I needed one. I signed up for GAD on Jan 1st. I started researching places to stay. At first, I was planning on going off-site and getting one of those condos with the pool but the lure of staying on property kept pulling me in. During the second week of January, I told my friend Trish (the one I had gone with in the fall) that I had a feeling I was going to get a pin that week. I checked my email obsessively. Then, the next day, guess what came in the mail? A 20/30/40 pin for the entire year.

I decided that I wanted to go deluxe, because at 40% how could I not? I did some research but still wasn't sure where I wanted to stay. My DH, BTW is one to "wait and see" and he wanted to hold off until we filed taxes but I knew we'd be getting a refund, we always get a refund. So while the boys were napping, I called Disney, just to get some price quotes. I started with the dream of all dreams, an MK view at the Contemporary. Even with the 40% off, the price tag was more than we could justify. The CM on the phone was great and went through the price for almost all the Deluxe resorts. I wanted to know my options! She mentioned Wilderness Lodge. I'll be honest, I had thought Wilderness Lodge was the campground, I didn't realize it was a Deluxe resort! While I was talking to her, I quickly went online and looked at WL pictures and while it wasn't my exact taste, the price and location was right and she told me it was kid friendly... so I booked it! Hooray!

I immediately called Trish and told her our plan and she decided she wanted to come visit us while we were there. I knew I could get another room with the pincode, so I called and booked her and her 13yo daughter a room as well. They will be joining us for two nights and two days at the parks. She also offered to watch the boys one night, so DH and I can have a break and a nice dinner out.

So it was all coming together, now I just had to convince DH that he wanted to go.

 

[linnell]

Well when Noah came home, I told him the news and he was ok with it, but not for 8 nights, he thought it was too much. So I called and changed it to 6 nights and he seemed better. The funny thing was, while I was calling Disney, his parents were watching our boys and I was trying to be quiet because I didn't want a lot of questions at the time, but little did I know his parents had booked their own trip that same day! They took advantage of the gift card offer, told Noah about it and how cheap the values were, so now Noah wanted me to find out about that! But I knew all about values and I am/was not interested.

I told him that the rooms are small and I felt we needed to be close to at least a few of the parks so that we can go back for naps. He agreed so now we were all set. I only had 2 1/2 months to wait until I could make me ADRs!!!

 

[linnell]

I set my alarm for 5:50am the morning of March 27th. My oldest is an early riser so I figured he'd up, but to my surprise, he wasn't. I came downstairs and loaded my computer and logged into the mouse's website. I had everything I wanted written down on a piece of paper, but I also knew it by heart. I wanted dinner ADRs in early in the evening, that will be better for the boys after a long day. I figure we'll have dinner in the five o'clock hour, go back to the hotel, swim, bath and bed by 8 for them.

My first reservation was for Le Cellier... score! Got it! Next, Chef Mickey's... yup! In fact, I got every reservation I wanted. Here is our schedule...

Chef Mickeys 9/23 (Thurs) 5:05pm
Ohana 9/24 5:30 (Fri) - MK day with Trish and her daughter
H&V 9/25 11am – (Sat) HS day
Citricos 7:05 (Sat) (Just me & DH)
Tusker House 9/26 8am (Sun) AK day
Boma – 6:10 (Sun)
Le Cellier 9/27 (Mon) 5:25 Party Epcot Day
Crystal Palace 9/28 4:50 (Tues) - going to Halloween Party

While I was making the reservations I made the TH reservation for the wrong day initially, so I was lucky to still get the 8am spot.

Now we were all set and only had 6 more months to wait!