"Disney Year of a Million Dreams" - or Disney with a Million People and Nightmares

[Blueyed Girl]

Subscribing! Great start on your PTR. You kids are soooo cute!! And your writing is so funny. Can't wait to read more.

 

[collcass]

I could have written your first two posts word for word with the exception being the aunts paying. In my case it would be an uncle name SAM. We gave him a ton of money in 2007 and he, therefore, has decided to give us back enough to pay for WDW!

You need Reservations for WDW?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Food for Thought

Well, by this time I'm about two weeks into planning our trip of a lifetime. My bedside table is filled with the UOG, WDW Pass Porter and a couple of the Birnbaum guides. I've read them all - cover to cover. My web browser pretty much opens to this board (and disneyworld.com) whenever anyone sits on the computer. Even my DS has asked that I "stop talking Disney" because it's really annoying and just making him want to go sooner!

My husband has literally said, "If I hear anything more about Disney World, I swear to God I will......" I clicked on my selective hearing at that point so I'm not sure which empty threat he used this time. I shut it down for a while, but shortly thereafter, I realized we had some serious decisions we needed to make.

While reading the books listed above, I saw the sections regarding ADR's, and I thought to myself, you've GOT to be kidding. Surely they are being ridiculous?! I mean, I can go to downtown Houston on a Saturday night and within twenty minutes find a decent table somewhere in a crunch, surely a theme park would provide less of a challenge!

But then something crazy started happening - whenever I would talk to people they say, "So, did you make your ADR's?" and "Where are your ADR's for?". Evidently, this was pretty necessary for any kind of successful trip. So, I plopped out the books, my tentative schedules and game plans and spread them all out in front of my husband. The conversation went something like this….

Me: “We’ve got to be prepared, Honey”.

Him: “Is this a vacation or an emergency evacuation plan?”

Me: “You’re going to need an evacuation plan if you don’t do this with me.”

Him: “Fine. What are we deciding?”

Me. “Where to Eat. And when…as in what day and what time. We need reservations.”

Him: “Reservations? Are we eating without the kids?”

We're on the Dining Plan and made the decision that we'd only worry about the Dinner's. Lunches we'd do in the theme parks, and we'd be spontaneous and flexible with that. Well, we did do one lunch, so we'll be flexible with dinner that night.

We read up on all the options, checked out the menus on allears.net and picked our top two for each day.

Had to since this sounds exactly like me. I ran out of books to read cover to cover so I ordered more.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[NMAmy]

Great report so far! Your children are adorable. I agree with all the others--take the camera! There will be things you want to remember with no PhotoPass photographer around. Do use the PhotoPass so it will actually appear as though you went on vacation, too, though! I'm very rarely in any of our vacation pictures because DH is hopeless with a camera.

I have a feeling your DH will love WDW once he gets there. DH was very ambivalent the first time we went--now he loves to go because it makes dd and I so happy. How lucky you are to have such wonderful aunts!

 

[PPH93]

Herasmus B Dragon, except for the Aunties kicking in the $$$, you story sounds like mine, We currently have a trip booked for september, my DD(10) and DS(4) are so excited but my husband (anti vacation) sounds abt like your husband...Everytime I mention the idea of going he rolls his eyes! What a mess...I'm like u I tear up at the just the thought of looking into my kids eyes when they see disney! I will be interested to hear your reports, please keep us posted of any pointers, at this point in time I am trying my best just to figure out what to do and when and eat where with who and what...We will be there Sunday afternoon and plane flys out early sat morning...Lots of stuff to plot and plan...GOOD LUCK!

 

[Herasmus B. Dragon]

Well, a lot has been happening since the last time I wrote. Work has been crazy, baseball season has begun and I seem to have little or no time to work on my WDW trip! I am so glad I jumped the gun and got as much done as I did early. All that's left is the manual labor (packing, shopping, etc).

Below is my checklist of things I've mananged to accomplish in this short time period (Jan 15 - now):


1. Book the paid in full trip @ POR, 6d/7n, with 5 day MYW w/DDP & Airfare.

2. Read the following: 2008 versions of Unofficial Guide, Birnbaum's (Adult & Kid book), Passporter, & Fodor's WDW w/Kids.

3. Researched the following sites: Disboards (which I now come to daily), Allears, Mousesavers, & DisneyworldMoms.

4. Booked my ADR's for each and every day. I got everything I wanted and am so excited about our choices we made.

5. Created my itenararies for each day highlighting everyone's must see's, our ADR's, and break times back at the resort. We've got a gameplan and an extrememly flexible schedule that is sure to at least save us a little time from the crowds and exhaustion.

6. I've also worked with the kids to decorate Mousekeeping money envelopes and have them filled and ready to go.

7. I've also completed the following checklists for our home while we are away, our weekly Housekeeper Instructions, Pet Sitter Instructions, and having our mail put on hold.

8. I've compiled a checklist for the clothes that each person would need and even gone through the closets to see what still fit the kids. Luckily, almost all of their clothes from last year should be perfect, bathing suits included!

9. I've begun doing a little shopping for Disney themed items and have made some great purchases. So far, the Disney items I've bought include PJ's, t-shirts, stickers, lip gloss, shampoo, lanyards w/pin, autograph books, coloring books/crayons, mouse ears, & hats! I've also bought my daughter custom Minnie Mouse shirts with matching bows, flip/flops, etc (3 cute sets). Most of these items will be in their custom Easter/Welcome basket that I'm mailing to them for our arrival, but some I will give them on the plane.

10. As a family we have been watching a different disney movie every weekend(sometimes more than one). We started with Cinderella, Ratatouille, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, A Very Goofy Movie, and Monsters Inc. We watched Finding Nemo again last night.

11. I've received the following in the mail....My DME luggage tags & vouchers, my WDW Keepsake Luggage Tags & Resort check-in vouchers, & ticket w/DDP information. We then received custom Disney "heirloom" maps, which are beautiful! We've also received the WDW Vacation planning DVD. Which we watched last night.

After looking back at everything I did last night it appears I've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time. And I'm really glad I did. Now, I can sit back, relax and just count down the days until it's time to go. I'll start packing at day "14", so I probably won't have an update until then.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, your first trip, how exciting!!!!! I hope you all have a great time when you go...can't wait to hear how you liked it! I've been to WDW 12 times and I still get excited, so I can only imagine how you must feel! It'll be here before you know it!

 

[babyruth]

hey there! i've "run into" you on another thread or two and decided check your PTR out! I've been through the same ups and downs about the trip, I didn't realize it was going to be so packed either. I went to Disney every Easter as a child and never noticed the crowds though, I don't remember them at all, so hopefully the kids won't be bothered by them! Did you notice the EMH for MK are EVERY SINGLE DAY of our trip now? We are going for a shorter trip, I wish we had booked for longer. If I had known it was going to be so crowded we would've extended. My DS is 6 and I'm also 28, maybe we'll see you around the pool!

 

[BrittBritt]

Where did you find those precious Minnie flip flops? I absolutely love them!

 

[Herasmus B. Dragon]

Ebay!

Where did you find those precious Minnie flip flops? I absolutely love them!

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

Food for Thought

Even my DS has asked that I "stop talking Disney" because it's really annoying and just making him want to go sooner!

My husband has literally said, "If I hear anything more about Disney World, I swear to God I will......" I clicked on my selective hearing at that point so I'm not sure which empty threat he used this time. I shut it down for a while, but shortly thereafter, I realized we had some serious decisions we needed to make.

This was us on the first trip 2 years ago. So, I stopped talking about it and planned the whole thing. When we got there, they were so appreciative for all of my hard work. You should see the stuff they bought me when we were there. All I have to say is "boy, I like this" and then put it back down.

Like everyone else, take the camera.

We loved the boat ride to DTD on the first night. Have you thought about trying "The Earl of Sandwich"? We also bought our newest Disney stuffed animals so that Mousekeeping would have something to arrange all week.


Have a great time.

I can't wait to hear about your trip.