My First Ever Mommy/Daughter Disney Dream Getaway!! - Pre-Trip Report - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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My First Ever Mommy/Daughter Disney Dream Getaway!! - Pre-Trip Report
As so it begins again. Another trip to the World, another trip report! Or in this case, my pre-trip report. For most of you who haven’t had a chance to read my trip report from my most recent visit, you would not be aware that this upcoming trip to the World will be my third trip in 12 months! Prior to that, my last trip to Disney World was back in 2001. My daughter has been lucky that when this trip is over, she will have celebrated her 4th & 5th birthdays at Disney World! I wish I could have said the same about my 29th & 30th birthdays! Here is a little background on this trip and the players:
This is the “The First Ever Mommy/Daughter Disney Dream Getaway!”
When: August 27, 2008 – September 4, 2008
Resort: Animal Kingdom Lodge (our first time at this resort and also our first time at a Deluxe Resort!)
Dining Plan: Absolutely! (And of course, we are lucky because it is FREE!!!)
Special Occasion/Celebration: The last trip before my daughter is officially a Kindergartener & Isabella’s 5th Birthday! Not that we need a special occasion to go to Disney…The last time we said we should celebrate my dad’s birthday at Disney, even though he didn’t turn 65 until three weeks after we came back!
Cast of Characters:
Me (Priscilla): I’m a 30 year old wife and mother. I’m a full-time Office Manager and a full-time wife and mother. My husband, Rick, and I have been married for almost five years and we are lucky enough to be blessed with two children (three if you count my dad!) only one of which is coming on this trip!
DD (Isabella AKA Princess Tiara): A spunky and rambunctious 4 going on 30 year old. She truly is her mother’s daughter. She has my personality (which I’m convinced is a good thing!) and my inane ability to talk….forever!
How this trip came about:
Well…this was sort of a plan for me to get back to the World as soon as possible. For most who have read my trip report from May, you will remember that 36 hours after coming back from Disney World, I was taken to the ER and had an emergency appendectomy (my second in 14 years…long story!). Well, that appendectomy was a week long storm that had been brewing, which began that day after our plane landed in Orlando. I had felt icky that whole time, and while I tried to put on my game face and charge through the countless rides on PotC and BTMRR, what I really wanted to do was go back to the resort, throw on my jammies, turn on the tv and drown my sorrows with some Ben & Jerry’s (Strawberry Cheesecake or Phish Food in case anyone was wondering)!
Since the appendectomy left me no choice but to take several more days off from work, I had time to reflect on the trip and it was while unpacking and looking at my newly acquired lanyard and pins (honestly, you can never have enough pins and I had no IDEA that there was a Pirate & Princess Party one…where was I????) that I got to thinking, this trip was so not as fun as I wanted it to be with me being so miserable. I needed to make up for it and I vowed that come Heck or High Water, I was going back. So after much discussion with my father & husband, it was decided that I could & should go back. My husband was actually encouraging my obsession!! The only trouble was that both he & my father had resigned themselves to not go back as they definitely thought that 3 times in 12 months was too much.
What was I to do? I felt as if this wonderful vacation was being dangled in front of me and as I reached for it, it was gone. I had never considered going by myself to Disney seeing as I just started going shopping on my own (please don’t laugh!). My husband suggested that I take Isabella. Isabella loves being with mommy and she loves Disney so it was an obvious suggestion. My husbad thought it was a great idea. A nice time to bond for us 'girls.' I decided that it would be a great 5th Birthday gift and since she shares my love for Disney and is such a big girl (or tries to be) it would be fun to enjoy this time with her.
So after taking time to sit and talk with her, she gave me her thoughts about what she wanted to do and where she wanted to stay. Before you ask, yes, my four year old gave me input. She was an expert on Disney afterall, she has been there twice in her short life. We decided (okay, I decided) that since we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, we would give the French Quarter a try. We were going to go for six days and leave on Thursday, August 28 – September 2. I decided that a six day Park Hopper ticket was our best option. We bought the Water Parks & more option last time, and only went to Typhoon Lagoon once. So I figured that since we had everything settled, I could go ahead and book our reservation. I called up Disney and after a few minutes we had our vacation booked and we were even able to take advantage of the Free Dining Plan.
Since I had taken care of the major part of the process with booking the vacation, I waited a couple of days before moving forward with dining, etc. It was while playing around on the Disney website a couple of days later, getting info on some dining possibilities that I realized that I could tweak our room reservations and only end up paying a bit more. I was back on the phone with Disney and before I knew it, I was able to trade our Moderate Resort for a deluxe one. I was so excited! I couldn’t believe that we were going to be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge! I was trying to explain the math to my husband, but I wasn’t sure if he understood. All I know is that the difference in price was only a little over $100.00. In case you are wondering, AKL has some of the lowest Deluxe Resort Rates (for the most basic of rooms, no savannah views) which made it an ideal choice.
I was on a roll, so airfare was next. Now as most of my fellow Bostonians know, flights from Boston to Orlando were running under $200 r/t and for our May vacation, it was no exception. We were able to get to and from Orlando for $180 r/t. Imagine my surprise when I started checking airfare and the rates were crazy!!! $154 each way!!!! I wouldn’t pay it. After about a week of surfing the web, I was lucky enough to spot Jet Blue flights (which were direct) at $94.00 each way. Hot Dog! The only trouble was that by the looks of the flights, it was $94.00 if I flew out the day before I was planning to be there. I posed the question "would my husband be upset if I left a day early and made the trip 7 days instead of 6?" The answer, of course, was no. He was perfectly fine with me staying 7 days/6 nights and commended my ability to search for better deals and wait until I came across a good one. A point for me! I booked the airfare right way and checked another item off my list. Next up was our Dining Reservations...
Next were our dining reservations. We took Card Stock from my scrapbooking tote and wrote down the names of several different restaurants and used her stickers (Disney & Princess of course) to reference if they were character meals or not. We placed them all in front of us and went through them one by one. When were satisfied with what we had come up with, I called Disney Dining. Here is how our ADR’s look:
Wednesday – August 27, 2008
6:05 PM (Dinner) at 1900 Park Fare
Thursday – August 28, 2008
5:05 PM (Dinner) at Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre
Friday – August 29, 2008
5:10 PM (Dinner) at Liberty Tree Tavern
Saturday – August 30, 2008
1:45 PM (Lunch) at Garden Grill Restaurant
Sunday – No ADRs using Counter Service Credits Only
Monday – September 1, 2008 (Isabella’s 5th Birthday!)
5:45 PM (Dinner) at Crystal Palace
Tuesday – September 2, 2008
9:00 AM (Breakfast) at Cinderella’s Royal Table
No bad at all and we got everything we wanted! I’m really looking forward to these restaurants as with the exception of the Sci Fi and Crystal Palace, all the other restaurants are new!
How awesome. I remember from your last TR how bad you were feeling and how much of a trooper you were to carry on so the family could enjoy. So glad to see you are now able to go back and enjoy the vacation you deserve. Plans look great.
__________________
Margaret
I am not a Disney employee. The postings here are my own and do not represent the positions or opinions of the Disney Company
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
How exciting for you and Isabella! I took my little girl on our 1st mommy/daughter trip when she was almost 3! It was the best time ever! I had only flown once and it was 10 years prior and I had never been out of town alone either. I wouldn't have traded it for anything. We had the best time and I'm sure you will to!
Have a great time. My dd and I did that this past december for 4 days and she was 4 1/2 at the time and we had a great time and just did what she wanted to do.
It's just my DD and I, so we always travel to WDW alone. It is such a fabulous bonding experience! Your plans look great! And 3 times in 12 months, wow... I'm . Have a magical time!
__________________
Saturday, October 9, 2014 - Kaitlyn and I before the Happy Haunted 5K at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Great introduction and plans, Priscilla!
Perhaps we'll cross paths... I'm there until the 29th.
That's great! I would love to meet another PP! You won't be able to miss me...I'll be the one either chasing after a mini version of myself (my crazy DD) or vice versa. Either that, or we'll be riding BTMRR for the upteenth time!
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