The way We do a Disney Re-Do ~~ Beach club Aug 13-22 - FINISHED!!! 1/20 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The way We do a Disney Re-Do ~~ Beach club Aug 13-22 - FINISHED!!! 1/20
The way We do a Disney Re-Do ~~ Beach club Aug 13-22
Before I begin, I want to offer a special thanks to those of you who found and read my pre-trip report. It was very cathartic for me to write, and incredibly encouraging to know there were so many people connecting with my story . If you want to read about a Disney World trip with any of the considerations listed below, or if you want to read more detailed descriptions of my cast, you can scan the PTR found below. Otherwise, welcome (or welcome back) to my story! http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ted-8-2-a.html;
Things discussed in Pre-Trip Report:
· First visits
· Grand Gatherings
· Deluxe Dining
· Thanksgiving
· Kids ages 7, 5 and 2
· Aspergers
· Severe food allergies
· Bickering in the “happy place”
· GAC
Cast Members:
Me-Shelly (35)
DH- Ross (37)
DS- Ben (8)
DD- Hannah (6, with aspergers)
DD - Delaney (3, with a severe food allergy)
Thursday August 12, 2010
The day before we left…
In the last week, I had become more concerned about 2 things that could affect our trip: The FL weather and the health of the family. DH and all the kids have seasonal allergies, and MN pollen counts have been high. For DH and the oldest kids, fall is the worst allergy season of the year. The 3 of them have been a stuffy, sneezy, swollen eye bunch! I have started all of them on their allergy medicine and we had been boosting out fluids and vitamin C. I was hoping that it really was allergies and not the start of something else...
It had been very hot and humid by MN standards. For the past 2 weeks, we had temperatures in the low to mid 90’s with humidity levels pushing the heat indices to 100 and above. Although I could appreciate that we were getting ready for WDW weather, the more warm days we had, the more I started to wonder what the heck I was thinking planning a trip to Orlando in August! My northern blood has a hard enough time with the heat in a typicalMinnesota summer! LOL!
I have spent so much time thinking about and planning for this trip. I wanted to learn our lessons from the past trip, as well as some new tricks picked up from the passporter message boards.
By the day before our trip, I had packing pretty much under control. We were flying Delta and because we have a sky miles AMEX card, we could check up to 5 bags for free. It was such a relief to not have to worry about dealing with too many carry-ons or having to leave things behind. With 5 bags packed, we were able to fill one with food, one with toiletries, 2 with clothes and 1 with the miscellaneous “other” stuff (like shoes, hats, ponchos, etc. In addition to the checked bags, we would each have one small carry-on.
With packing under control, I even had time to set out outfits for the first days after our return home. Woohoo!
Next post: Did the evening go as smoothly as the packing?
The night before we left, DH got home from work by about 5:30pm. He had some outside chores to finish; I was making dinner and the kids needed baths. DH started on baths while I was finishing dinner. Later, I was very glad we did baths first and then the chores--it made the night go much smoother! My plan was to have the girls in bed by 7:30, so they could be sleeping by 8pm. The boy is easy to get to bed once the girls are out of our hair.
By the time DH was finishing up some outdoor stuff, the skies turned ominous. Our hot weather was about to break--and with a bang. Around 7:30pm, a severe thunderstorm alert was issued. I gathered the kids in the basement while DH finished up his outside chores (MEN!).
(side note: I am an admitted storm-o-phobe . When my oldest was 8 months old, our house was hit by a tornado, although we were all fine and the damage resulted in new roof, siding and windows, as well as carpet and couches, I have been left way more nervous about storms.)
By 8:15, the first of the storm lines had passed, and I took the kids upstairs to get ready for bed while DH went outside to gather and secure some things that had blown around (a garbage can, the pool cover, etc.). Luckily, there was no severe damage for us. The storm put us about an hour behind, but by 9:30, all the kids were in bed and DH and I worked on a couple last minute house things (like cleaning bathrooms and doing dishes).
Although we were exhausted, neither one of us was able to sleep. Around midnight, it was not just WDW thoughts that kept us awake, the second line of storms was moving through. Although this line was not technically “severe,” the thunder, lightning and rain were some of the most intense we could recall. The thunder shook the house. The lightening lit up our bedroom for what seemed like minutes at a time. It went on like that for hours. We were shocked the kids were not in our bed yet. (May have something to do with the Benadryl they all got to help them with their “allergies”…)
By 3 am, the littlest joined us, with the middle child following at 4. With alarms going off at 4:30, it was proving to be a very short night!
Next up: Travelling can be hard when fully rested…how did it go on so little sleep?
I can understand why you'd be nervous over storms, dang girl, your house was hit by a tornado! That is scary...we don't have tornados here, just hurricanes. I hope you were able to get to WDW and enjoy your time that day without the crankies getting to you all!
As soon as the alarm went off (I was, of course, already awake), I went downstairs to check our flight status. It had been raining at a rate of 1-2 inches per hour, and there were still scattered places where the storm was reaching severe limits. If our flight were to be delayed, I wanted to know that before I woke the crew! The computer said…
Our flight is still on schedule…and so were we.
In an hour and 15 minutes, 2 adults had showered, 5 people had breakfast, kids were and ready and the car was packed. The kids were very cooperative, despite some whininess which was understandable due to the sleep deprivation--heck--DH and I felt a bit whiny as well! We were pulling out of the driveway at 5:50am--10 minutes ahead of schedule. We thought the rain may have impacted the roads, but the morning commute on a summer Friday in MN is generally light thanks to all the folks with cabins up north.
We drove to my in-law’s house, where we would pick up a passenger (to join us on the drive to the airport and drive our car home to store for the week). We continued slightly ahead of schedule, and arrived at the airport at 7:15am.
All of our luggage was just slightly overwhelming as we tried to make our way from car to baggage check. We considered renting a cart, but decided to load up the kids and stroller as best we could and push forward. As soon as we checked our luggage, we were fine to manage the few carry-ons we had along.
I learned about something new that made life at the airporta bit smoother for our family: One of the airport people directed us to use the family security check point. Although it was a long walk, and past about 5 other security checkpoints, it was definitely a good call. The sign said it was a special line for families, people who need assistance, new flyers, etc. Not only was this line much shorter, I did not feel we had to rush too much out of fear of inconveniencing others.
Another thing that went well here was my packing strategy. Although probably second nature to frequent travelers, I packed all of the electronics items together in one bag. Even the kids’ video games. This made the security checkpoint so much easier than the last trip! When we got to the gate, we rearranged the items, so that the kids and adults had “their” items in their carryon.
Our flight went as well as it could have. The kids stayed entertained with the DVD player and video games. The descent seemed to be really hard on the ears of the little girls. I had hard candy to suck on and tried to get the girls to blow out their ears. But they seemed pretty uncomfortable most of the way down. When we arrived at the airport, if they were still uncomfortable, being so close to Disneyworld was a good distraction!
The airport was as empty as we had ever experienced. We arrived about 1:15 on a Friday afternoon. I will definitely try for this arrival time again. It was easy to make our way to the DME area. All along the planning phase, it felt that this trip was something we were destined to do, do make up for the stressful and overwhelming last trip. The airport experiences so far did nothing to deter my positive attitude and my sense that there was something else at work here.
We walked right up to the DME gate where they scanned our passes and directed us to the line for the bus to the BC. We were the first in line, so I expected our wait to be pretty long. (For anyone who read my pre-trip report, you may recall that our prior DME experience was not pleasant…we had no wait for the bus, but it barely waited for us to get on board before it took off. There were 4 seats left [recall that we are a family of 5 ], spread throughout the crowded bus. It was such a stressful start to the trip that we skipped DME for the return to the airport and took a cab.)
Enough reminiscing…back to this trip…
Next up: Our experience on the DME just HAD to be better than last time... right???
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About This Page: 
. If you want to read about a Disney World trip with any of the considerations listed below, or if you want to read more detailed descriptions of my cast, you can scan the PTR found below. Otherwise, welcome (or welcome back) to my story! 
LOL! 
Woohoo!
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Pixie Dust
The night before we left, DH got home from work by about 5:30pm. He had some outside chores to finish; I was making dinner and the kids needed baths. DH started on baths while I was finishing dinner. Later, I was very glad we did baths first and then the chores--it made the night go much smoother! My plan was to have the girls in bed by 7:30, so they could be sleeping by 8pm. 
The boy is easy to get to bed once the girls are out of our hair. 
. When my oldest was 8 months old, our house was hit by a tornado, although we were all fine and the damage resulted in new roof, siding and windows, as well as carpet and couches, I have been left way more nervous about storms.)
and DH and I worked on a couple last minute house things (like cleaning bathrooms and doing dishes). 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
overwhelming as we tried to make our way from car to baggage check. We considered renting a cart, but decided to load up the kids and stroller as best we could and push forward. As soon as we checked our luggage, we were fine to manage the few carry-ons we had along.
I had hard candy to suck on and tried to get the girls to blow out their ears. But they seemed pretty uncomfortable most of the way down. When we arrived at the airport, if they were still uncomfortable, being so close to Disneyworld was a good distraction!
Susan
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