My First Ever Trip...Reed/Crunk Vacation May 2012 PTR - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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My First Ever Trip...Reed/Crunk Vacation May 2012 PTR
So yeah this is my first ever trip report so here it goes.
Reed/Crunk 2012 Family Orlando Vacation SUPER SIZED
This time I am going to commit to a trip report. So I guess maybe starting a PTR before we go will put some pressure on me to finish the trip report once we get back.
When: May 19th – May 27th
Introducing the craziest cast of characters :
Me(Daniel) So I turn 35 on this trip and it will be only my second trip to Disney World. I am a crazy Disney nerd and pirate lover(I am addicted to Jake and the Neverland Pirates) My favorite Disney Movies that are non-pirate themed include: The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers and Brother Bear.
Robin (DW, 31) My wonderful wife and best friend. Robin does not really get into the planning that much and leaves it all up to me. I think this is Robins 5th trip to Disney. She loves Beauty and the Beast and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Skylar (DD, 2) Yeah her first trip to Disney World. Skylar is addicted to all things Disney but right now Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell our tops on her list.
Ty and Trenton (DBiL29 and DN 6) Robins brother and our wonderful Nephew this will also be Trenton's first trip. He is currently most excited about the Buzz Lighyear ride but he is also Lego addict and has no idea were going to Lego Land.
Sheri and Mike - Robins parents, they are Disney Veterans, Sheri and I do most of the planning, we love planning so much that we will obsess over every little detail sometimes. She is also a major foodie and is looking forward to a second trip to V&A. Mike is the quite type but looks to challenge all to other round of Disney Miniature Golf.
So we started thinking that Trenton was getting old enough to really enjoy a trip to Disney World. It has been nearly four years since my first trip so I was itching to find any excuse to make the trip. The main monkey wrench was when to go. For various reason Summer break was off limits. We thought long and hard about taking him out during school but here in NC they frown on this heavily at his age. We finally narrowed it down to three dates. Spring break, the end of May right after school lets out and middle of August right before school starts. We spent months trying to decide which dates to set but finally chose May 2012.
Next time: Picking the parks, trip planning with kids!!
(p.s. Cant add images yet but will update post when I can)
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Once we had the dates set me and Sheri put on our made scientist caps and started planning. This ended up being hard then I had anticipated. Once we found out that the new Lego Land Florida would be open during I visit we just had to go.
Trenton like I imagine most 7 year old is a Lego nut, he has somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 legos. The question was do we try and squeeze in 5 parks or do we drop one of the Disney parks. In the end we felt like the kids at there age would enjoy Epcot the least. This was a very hard choice for me to make because Epcot is my favorite park.
As we continued to throw out ideas a few times Universal Studios got mentioned. At first I don't think we had any serious consideration but the seed had been planted. We started asking for opinions, trying to gauge what the others in the group wanted and Universal quickly started to become a front runner. I think mainly because no one in are party has ever been. Once again I struggled with this the most.
If we went forward with this new plan it would only leave us one day for a Disney Park.
I spent weeks doing research on Universal reading reviews and after awhile I must admit I got pretty excited about giving it a shot, mainly on my crazy love of Harry Potter. So which Disney Park did we choose, well for us it was a no brainier. The kids had to experience Magic Kingdom.
So with the parks sorted out I turned my attention to lodging. Early in the planning phase I had been pushing real hard to stay at a Disney Resort, but now with only one Disney park it seemed less like likely an option. We tossed around several ideas but Mike's parents ended up making the decision easy for us. They have a non-Disney resort time share in Orlando. This was going to end up saving a large chunk of money.
Tickets and lodging out of the way we could turn our attention to food. Since were doing Magic Kingdom I really wanted to the breakfast at Cinderellas castle so I started calling super early to make sure I could book a spot for us. I know Skylar is going to get such a kick out as she loves to play Princess. On our first trip we enjoyed V&A's so we knew wanted to go back. I really wanted to try for the Chef's table but once again it was booked for the week. But I was able to set a date for new Queen Victoria's Room and I getting so excited. As a added little benefit were going to V&A's on my birthday. No one belives me when I say that it was a coincidence.
The most fun about planning this trip has been with my daughter. It's such a treat to watch her reaction as I am planning on the internet. Every time she notices Mickey our Tinkerbell her face just light up in excitement. I know she is going to have some much fun and I can't wait to see her reaction at Magic Kingdom.
Next up: Picking the right park for the right day my obsessive quest to find the perfect day with the smallest crowds!!
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
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