NEWS: Stay At Home Mom Visits Disney World Every Day For A Year (in her head!)

[SlippinFalls]

PTR For September 2015! Let It Begin!

We are finally one year until our September 2015 trip and I decided that this is the appropriate amount of time to obsessively plan our family's first trip with the kids!

My husband and I last visited the World in 2011. I've been itching to go back for some time and have been dreaming of this special trip since I became pregnant with our second child.

I can't wait to see Disney through their eyes!

I have a lot of planning to do and need lots of advice about traveling with young children. Please share any advice out there!

I'll be back with more details about our family and of course our Disney plans. Please follow along if you like, I hope I wont bore you to death. ​

 

[moe10378]

It's never to early to start planning!! It's amazing how our kids can kinda take us back!!! I'll be following along! Can't wait to read more!

 

[SlippinFalls]

It's never to early to start planning!! It's amazing how our kids can kinda take us back!!! I'll be following along! Can't wait to read more!

I've planned so many imaginary trips in the past. It's a great way to pass the time in between visits!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Following along

 

[SlippinFalls]

I'm back with some introductions!

Bri (35 years old, SAHM of two boys)
So as you may have guessed, I am the stay at home mom who daydreams of Disney. Here is me in front of a famous fountain in France. (Epcot France that is) I love me some Disney fountains!


My favorite Disney movie of all time is Mary Poppins (i never get sick of it) and my favorite animated Disney movie is Pinocchio. (i'm classic!)

The Disney character I am most like in real life is...and I hate to say this but...The Queen of Hearts. I like things done my way and can lose my temper quickly if I haven't eaten in a while. Guess it's a good thing we are going during Free Dining! The character I wish I was more like in real life would be Rapunzel. She lives in the moment and enjoys life even though she's locked in a tower, bless her heart.

My strengths: Disney knowledge and planner extraodinaire!

My weaknesses: shyness and a bit of a control freak (Let it Go, Let it Go Bri!)

DH (35 years old, Money Maker)
Here is DH trying to knock over the Eiffel Tower in France. (Epcot France)


His favorite Disney movie is Wall-E and any of the Pirates movies.

The Disney character he is most like in real life is a combination of Bell's father Maurice and the Absentminded Professor. He is always tinkering away on something in his workshop and his memory isn't the greatest. I awlays have to remind him of our plans during the week, but if he ever asks questions about Disney I'm always eager to repeat myself!

His strengths: can carry a child for long periods of time, loves to eat.

His weaknesses: bad memory and gets agitated in crowds

Jackson (He will be 4 years old on our trip)


His favorite Disney movies are: Cars, Tarzan, and Beauty and the Wildebeest (wouldn't that be something?)

The Disney character he is most like in real life is Abu from Aladdin. He is playful but stubborn. He is very much like me. Cautious, smart, and very strong willed.

His strengths: good memory loves to be outside and running

His weaknesses: very stubborn and no sweet tooth (he'll probably never eat a Mickey Bar)

Sean (He will be 2 years old on our trip)


His favorite Disney movie is: none. He wont watch an entire movie yet, but I'm sure that will change by the time we leave. He does love Disney music, especially the theme song to Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

The Disney character he is most like in real life: Dumbo. He is so sweet and innocent and he's a big mama's boy! He is my fearless child and the phrase he hears most often (besides "I love you!") from me is "Sean, get down". If he had a "magic feather" I'm sure he'd try to jump off the furniture!

His strengths: his cuteness and he can climb anything

His weaknesses: picky eater and squirmy

So that's our little family! We will be staying on property and I'm trying to nail down a choice of resort. I'm leaning towards Pop right now because I know the boys will love the larger than life icons and I like the price. But I really want to rent points for Bay Lake Towers. Has anyone ever used Dave's Vacation Club rentals before? I would love to hear more about that.
Thanks for reading!

 

[SlippinFalls]

Chapter links:

Introductions
The Resort de Jour
A Week Full Of Disney Fun
This Just In!
The Trip Is On!
Changes To The Week Of Fun

 

[Arden01]

PTR For September 2015! Let It Begin! We are finally one year until our September 2015 trip and I decided that this is the appropriate amount of time to obsessively plan our family's first trip with the kids! My husband and I last visited the World in 2011. I've been itching to go back for some time and have been dreaming of this special trip since I became pregnant with our second child. I can't wait to see Disney through their eyes! I have a lot of planning to do and need lots of advice about traveling with young children. Please share any advice out there! I'll be back with more details about our family and of course our Disney plans. Please follow along if you like, I hope I wont bore you to death.

I'm already kind of planning our late Aug 2015 trip! Just got back from our first WDW trip two weeks ago and it's the only way to cope with the Disney withdrawal . My kids and I have never had so much fun in a vacation.

 

[SlippinFalls]

I'm already kind of planning our late Aug 2015 trip! Just got back from our first WDW trip two weeks ago and it's the only way to cope with the Disney withdrawal . My kids and I have never had so much fun in a vacation.

WooHoo! Glad you had such a great trip! Yes, the Disney withdrawal can be painful.

 

[SlippinFalls]

So after going back and forth. And back and forth. And back and forth again we've decided to stay at Pop Century this time around.



Although there is a slight possibility I might upgrade to Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter at the last minute! We also considered one of the Deluxe Resorts with the 30% off deal offered for that time of year or renting DVC Bay Lake Towers through Dave's Vacation Rentals.

Overall Pop will give us what we want. It fits into our (realistic)budget and I know the boys will love it. We will also get the Free Quick Service Dining Plan which will give us the most flexibility. We wont have to rush to make ADR's everyday. However I do plan on making reservations for Chef Mickey's and T-Rex. Those will be on non-park days.

If we upgrade to the Moderate and get the Basic Dining Plan for free, we will obviously have more ADR's. Don't worry I have planned every detail for the week twice! Once for Pop and once for Port Orleans! I'll share them both here in this report!

DH and I stayed at Pop on our first trip together when we were dating. We stayed in the 50's section and had a view of the bowling pin pool. We had a really great time there and I have no hesitations going back. The best part is we can walk over to AoA and eat or check out the Cars section which Jackson is obsessed with!

 

[SlippinFalls]

We are going to be in Disney the last week of September 2015. I remember from our 2008 trip that it was still very hot and humid that time of year. I am worried that the heat might be too much for the kids. We come from a northern place! I've scheduled many mid-afternoon breaks to help us cool down.

Our plan is to drive down on a Saturday which for us is a VERY LONG drive. 22 hours. Are we crazy? Yes. Lord help us! We will arrive mid-morning on Sunday. We are staying 6 nights, but I'm going to try and talk DH into leaving on Friday night instead and getting an extra day!

I have offered to do the night driving, as I'm sure the Disney adrenaline will push me through. It's just such a LONG WAY! I drove straight through once in college and we had to stop at a reststop for a few hours. It wasn't bad. My very first trip to Disney my parents drove us (me 5 y.o.; my sister 3 y.o.) straight though the night too.

Anyway, our visit is going to be a little heavy on the Magic Kingdom. It's our favorite park and there is so much to do that I normally plan 2 full days there anyway. We're only purchasing 3 day tickets (maybe four ) because we want to spend time relaxing at the resort, it is vacation afterall. Once we've done MK we want to visit one other park and that's it. DH wants Epcot. I think Jack would love AK (he loves dinosaurs and animals). And I want to do them all!!!!!!

Our current plan looks like this:

Day 1: Travel

Day 2: Arrival: Downtown Disney

Day3: Magic Kingdom (Rope Drop)

Day 4: Resort Day: Chef Mickey's Breakfast

Day5: Magic Kingdom

Day 6: Mystery Park???

Day 7: Resort Day

Day 8: Departure​

Besides MK what park do you think has the most for young children? I keep looking at the attractions in each park and Disney has done an awesome job at spreading out great attractions for little ones all over. That's how they get us to stay for a week (or more!).

Thanks for reading!

 

[SlippinFalls]

Great news!!!

We decided to add an extra day to the beginning of our trip!

We will leave on a Friday instead, which gets us there on Saturday afternoon and we will have a full day (Sunday) to acclimate ourselves and relax before we start in with the parks.

Yay! I'm so happy with this plan! At first I didn't think it would be worth it, but low and behold it was DH who decided we should go ahead with the extra day! ​

 

[SlippinFalls]

Wow!

Ok I know that it has been a long time since I posted anything (like before last Halloween!)

But I do want to continue this PTR, so I'm going to try and get on a more regular posting schedule. Hopefully some of you will want to follow along, but if not that's ok...I'm using this PTR as a place to keep track of my plans and thoughts for our trip.

I'm so excited for our trip! I am thinking about it more now that we are finally in the 8 months away range! I do have some new information about our trip and it's a BIG ONE!








WE ARE FLYING TO DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I couldn't be more happy! We're saving ourselves 40 hours of driving, wear and tear on our vehicle, traffic, and most importantly we will avoid the potential of my oldest getting car sick. He always feels ill when we go on the road for more than 30 minutes. I think we are dodging a really big bullet on that one.

Actually it's kind of amazing that we are still even going on this trip. One and a half weeks before Christmas the car my husband drives to work had major engine trouble. Like, time-to-get-a-new-engine trouble. We were quoted $3,100 for the repair.

Ultimately we decided to not replace the engine and sold the car as is. Then we were down to one car for about a month while we waited to buy my mom's old car from her. She was looking to upgrade in the spring but found something she liked sooner. We are soooooo blessed to have such great family!

I thought buying the car would sink Disney for us for sure. But with all the extra money DH earned during the holidays and an on-call weekend we already have the money saved up for our airfare! Again we are truly blessed, I really can't believe it.

Stay tuned for more...I really do mean that...I'll be back...soon...for sure.

Bye-eee!

 

[SlippinFalls]

As you have read above some of the details of our trip have changed a little. I wanted to update and post our sample itinerary here. I've been working on this sample itinerary for about a week I guess...it's so much fun for me! DH thinks I'm a little crazy, but he's excited and actually likes looking at restaurant menus and picking out what food he will eat in 7 months.
So lets get to the point shall we:

Day 1: Travel and Arrival

Day 2: Resort Day/Pool Day
Dinner at Kona

Day 3: Magic Kingdom Day

Day 4: Resort Day/Downtown Disney
Lunch at T-Rex Café

Day 5: Magic Kingdom Day

Day 6: Resort Day/Pool Day

Day 7: Epcot Day

Day 8: Animal Kingdom Day
Breakfast at Tusker House

Day 9: Departure Day
​

Nothing is set in stone yet of course. I need to wait for the park hours to come out for our dates and see when EMH's are and MNSSHP (which we probably wont do). I know that Food and Wine starts at the very end of our trip and we will miss it, but maybe they will have a few booths up early!

Click HERE for the next update!​

 

[SlippinFalls]

Found out the dates of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. There is a party Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday that week. It kind of throws a wrench into my plan above, but I am secretly glad I get to make a new plan! Muh ha ha ha haaaa!

I kind of want to upgrade to park hoppers and stick to the original plan. That would have us visiting MK until the party starts and then switching parks for the evening, but it's not really a big deal.

Does anyone know if Disney does the "Buy 4 Day Tickets Get The 5th Day Free" Promotion combined with the "Free Dining" Promotion? I'm assuming they don't, but if we could have another day in the parks I wouldn't complain! I'm so ready to book, I just need that promotion to release! Come on May get here already!

I have also been looking at flights and BIG bummer! There are no direct flights to Orlando International near us. We will have to change planes once on the way there and the way home. It freaks me out a bit because my babes have never flown and if they decide they hate it, we'll probably have to drag them on to the connecting flights kicking and screaming! I'm not going to make a big deal out of it to them beforehand, just act like this is something we do, like riding in a car. Does anyone have any tips on flying with little ones!? Oh and the flight down is SUPER early, like 5:55 am early!

Click HERE for the next update!​

 

[yeheyprincex2]

hello, some times you can find a layover with out having to change planes.
We have done this in the past. usually a 30 wait time between flights.
flying with kids can be over whelming, but it can be done. I usually pack a few small toys, books,play-doh, tablet.
snacks(god fish,small fruit, apple sauce in the pouch,some candy). wet ones,a small towel for messes(it will happen)
I do not think they will combine promotions. I am hoping for a promotion for our December trip. I prefer FD but they have not offered it the last couple of years during the time we will be going.
Our Disney trip are MK heavy too, I have two boys 4 & 2 so most of our trips center around what will entertain them the most.

 

[disneyaddicted]

Hi I'm heading to Disney in September too, this will be my first time going in hot weather, I've always gone in December but I want to experience MNSSHP. I'm looking forward to reading more of your plans.

 

[SlippinFalls]

hello, some times you can find a layover with out having to change planes.
We have done this in the past. usually a 30 wait time between flights.
flying with kids can be over whelming, but it can be done. I usually pack a few small toys, books,play-doh, tablet.
snacks(god fish,small fruit, apple sauce in the pouch,some candy). wet ones,a small towel for messes(it will happen)
I do not think they will combine promotions. I am hoping for a promotion for our December trip. I prefer FD but they have not offered it the last couple of years during the time we will be going.
Our Disney trip are MK heavy too, I have two boys 4 & 2 so most of our trips center around what will entertain them the most.

Thanks for the tips! I haven't seen any flights with short layovers yet. Today I'm looking at nonstop flights out of Detroit. We live on the west shore on Lake Michigan and I didn't really want to drive over there. I don't think my boys would appreciate a 2hr 30min drive and then get on a plane for a few hours. I think we'll stick to flying out closer to home. I will be sure to bring lots of snacks, boys love to EAT!

 

[SlippinFalls]

Hi I'm heading to Disney in September too, this will be my first time going in hot weather, I've always gone in December but I want to experience MNSSHP. I'm looking forward to reading more of your plans.

Yes hot and HUMID!!! Humidity like nothing I've ever experienced up here in the north! MNSSHP looks like so much fun! I hope to try it sometime when the boys are a little older and can appreciate it more.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

Thanks for the tips! I haven't seen any flights with short layovers yet. Today I'm looking at nonstop flights out of Detroit. We live on the west shore on Lake Michigan and I didn't really want to drive over there. I don't think my boys would appreciate a 2hr 30min drive and then get on a plane for a few hours. I think we'll stick to flying out closer to home. I will be sure to bring lots of snacks, boys love to EAT!

look for a flight that says no plane change if you decide on a stop. Non stop is better I think cause it a shorter flight.

 

[disneyaddicted]

Yes hot and HUMID!!! Humidity like nothing I've ever experienced up here in the north! MNSSHP looks like so much fun! I hope to try it sometime when the boys are a little older and can appreciate it more.

It's the humidity I am dreading, I heard it depletes you of all energy, I will have to get one of those water bottle spritzers.
My sister Bo will be flying out of Detroit, she has found a few straight through flights with Southwest and I know my Mom has flown straight through on Delta.