Wayland10
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2018
Good morning, fellow Disney-philes!
I’ve been working on this trip for what feels like forever, and is actually very close - over two years at this point. I really want to chatter about it, but I think if I keep mentioning it to my husband and kids it will actually start to make the trip less exciting and less fun for them, and that is very much not my intent. So I’m going to chatter to you, and you can decide for yourselves whether to read or not to read… a choice my family doesn’t always have!
What: The mega-awesome-dream Disney World Experience! Normally when we travel anywhere I am the Budget Queen - stalking discount airlines, cheapest hotels, best cheap eats, free days at museums, etc. This once, I think I’ve saved enough that we’ll be able to do what we want, when we want. We’ll be there for my DH’s and my 15th wedding anniversary on our trip, and it’s the week before my DD’s 11th birthday, so we have a lot to celebrate.
When: July 29th to August 6th, followed by three nights at Disney’s Hilton Head Island. Yes, It Will Be Hot. Heard. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much I can do about the dates - it’s the only time we all have vacation together. So we’ll bring the cooling towels and fans, pack light-weight clothing, hats, sunglasses, and water bottles, and do our best. In my past life BK (before kids) I was an archaeologist specializing in the Caribbean, so I’m used to long days of physical activity in the heat and humidity. Still, it’s been a while, so we’ll take some time to figure out the best approach.
How: We’ll be driving, with the intent of making a road trip of it on the way back. We’re planning a day stop in Savannah, three nights at Hilton Head to lay on the beach and recover from our vacation, and then maybe a stop at Colonial Williamsburg, since we have annual passes from a conference I attended last October that we’d like to use.
Who: Me, Maureen, a college professor, archaeologist, voracious reader, lover of travel, books, good food, good drink, good music, board games which I usually lose, Pembroke Welsh corgis (we have 2), cats (2), backyard chickens (5), photography, beekeeping, quilting, and homemade jam.
Favorite Disney movies: Moana, Robin Hood, Lilo and Stitch, Brave, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beauty and the Beast, Black Panther, the Princess and the Frog.
DH, also an archaeologist turned college professor, lover of good restaurants, good wine and craft beers, books, video and board games, building incredibly wonderful over-engineered furniture that would survive a direct hit from a meteor, our dogs, cats, landscape architecture, superhero movies, sci-fi and fantasy and Legos.
Favorite Disney Movies: Lilo and Stitch, the Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Infinity War, the Black Cauldron, Moana, Brave.
DD10, crazy smart kid who is very much NOT a princess, loves books with dragons, music (plays ukelele and violin), manga, Japanese food, dyeing her hair, coding, video games, comics, long involved games with her friends that stretch for weeks and weeks, sleep-overs and ancient myths.
Favorite Disney Movies: 101 Dalmatians, Black Cauldron, Tangled.
DD7, princess sweetheart, loves pink, sparkles, unicorns, video games, ballet, making friends, pin trading, roller skating, kawaii, cooking and baking with mom, making cotton candy and any and all fuzzy animals.
Favorite Disney Movies: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Aristocats.
How it all happened:
So, I wasn’t a complete Disney novice when this all began. I’d been to the World twice as a kid, at around age 6 and again at age 13. I’d visited Disneyland for a day on a trip to LA right after college, and I had enjoyed all of those visits. But I hadn’t really caught the obsession. Then I had kids, and started planning when I would take them on their big once in a lifetime Disney trip.
In October of 2016, my mom called. There was a sale on airfare to Orlando, and she wanted to take us all to Disney. I said, “Yes, please!” And then things started to go wrong.
We were planning in the first weekend of December, but my sister wanted to go too. That was great, but she couldn’t go until the third weekend in December, which upped the crowd factor by more than a little bit. My mom got the airfare before realizing it was into Sanford instead of MCO. I rented a van and agreed to be the driver, given my experience driving Really Big Vans for archaeology digs. My husband couldn’t come, my brother-in-law couldn’t come…
Eventually it was my parents, me, my sister, and my two kids, ages 5 and 8. We stayed off site and drove, with three park days.
I had done some research on ADRs and FP+, but no one wanted to hear it.
My mom didn’t think a vacation should be too scheduled and wouldn’t rope drop anything unless her life depended on it and even then she’d give it a good long think, my dad was partially deaf and could care less as long as he got to hang out with the grandkids, and my sister had a tendency to wander off vaguely without telling anyone where she was headed. We missed Fastpasses. We got to the parks late. We stood in So. Many. Long. Lines.
We had a blast. It was great. Oh, it was hot, crowded, especially given or usual 11 AM arrival time, and there were a couple of… tiffs… but overall it was wonderful.
I was determined to come back again and this time to do it right, with my husband and my kids. I started planning.
Then in June of 2017, my father passed away suddenly of a massive heart attack. The spur of the moment, mostly unplanned, semi-chaotic Disney trip was his last vacation, and makes up one of the most enduring memories my kids have of their Poppi. I miss him every day, and I am so grateful that I had that last chance to travel with him, and that we chose to have a good time, despite all of the challenges.
So my husband and I talked about it, and in March of 2018 decided to invest a little money in a miniscule DVC contract, knowing that we couldn’t travel until 2019 due to family commitments. If we like it as much as we think we will, we’ll invest more in the future… maybe. The new restrictions are making us reconsider, and we might stick with what we have. We banked, we borrowed, and eventually we booked 8 nights at Animal Kingdom Jambo House and 3 nights at Hilton Head Island.
I’ve been stalking the Dis forums for a few months, and reading reviews and blogs, and I have a basic plan, complete with hoped-for ADRs and Fast Passes.
And that’s where we are now! ADR day is January 30th, and I’ve arranged my work schedule so that I can jump on MDE to make the ADRs. Then I’ll go back and adjust the plan, and try to convince my husband and daughters to stop finding new things that they want to add to the plan, since that is incompatible with their stated desire for lots of pool time. Still, I’m not feeling too stressed. We know that this time we’ll be back.
is an absolutely girly girl who will fall down in a swoon if she doesn't get the full princess treatment, while the other thinks pink is the color of evil 
and doesn't have any intention of getting a princess makeover - but still really wants to get dressed up. 
So they both have princess dresses AND pirate/mermaid outfits, but each will only get one makeover. So if I manage to get BBB, my anti pink-DD will go along in her Princess Eilonwy (Black Cauldron) costume, and I'll do her makeup if she wants me to. On Pirate League day, my princess will wear an Ariel costume while her sister is turned into a fearsome pirate. I love that my two children are both such self-confident souls!
