Cheaper by the Dozen – Lukas’ 1st Birthday Extravaganza! - Page 88 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Kelly, I hope you feel better after all you've written and all the great photos. You took on a gargantuan task -- that is a ton of planning & all the personalities involved, the heat, the humidity, the rain at DHS (which cracks me up, although I don't mean to laugh at your struggles ) -- I think you should feel proud of what you accomplished with that trip.
And I will be asking you for counseling when I start planning a group trip for 2015 that will involve twin 5-year-old boys, their parents, grandparents, aunt & uncle. I'm already telling myself "Don't get upset if everybody doesn't love Disney as much as you do" and "I am not responsible for everybody having a great time." I have that tendency, as do you, and even though we know we can't control anyone's mood or reactions, we still do all we can to ensure they'll have a great time. That's a lot of responsibility.
Now, you remind me in 2015 when I start having my meltdown, OK?
Love the Mickey cake all over Lukas's face, the sleeping on the bus pics, and so many of your stories. Thanks for sharing all this with the rest of us!
You all managed to get so much done on your last day! I'm impressed! I too do not enjoy the security line at MCO, just too crowded for my comfort. Luke thinks I'm funny about it because I dread it from the moment DME picks us up. Now I'm a bit sad because your trip is over, but Stefanie and I talk every day about getting to meet up with you all again in June.
I dread that line too - it's just not fun, not that any other security line is, but I think it's worse.
We can't wait to see all of you again too!! It'll be here before we know it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cindybelle
Kelly, I hope you feel better after all you've written and all the great photos. You took on a gargantuan task -- that is a ton of planning & all the personalities involved, the heat, the humidity, the rain at DHS (which cracks me up, although I don't mean to laugh at your struggles ) -- I think you should feel proud of what you accomplished with that trip.
And I will be asking you for counseling when I start planning a group trip for 2015 that will involve twin 5-year-old boys, their parents, grandparents, aunt & uncle. I'm already telling myself "Don't get upset if everybody doesn't love Disney as much as you do" and "I am not responsible for everybody having a great time." I have that tendency, as do you, and even though we know we can't control anyone's mood or reactions, we still do all we can to ensure they'll have a great time. That's a lot of responsibility.
Now, you remind me in 2015 when I start having my meltdown, OK?
Love the Mickey cake all over Lukas's face, the sleeping on the bus pics, and so many of your stories. Thanks for sharing all this with the rest of us!
Thank you SO much Cindy! I will help you as best I can for your 2015 trip. I'll let you learn from my mistakes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc507
Too bad! I would have liked to have met
It's always such a bummer when you just miss a PP meet.
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Upon arriving at the airport, we picked up our bags and I called my cousin that was picking us up. We said our goodbyes to the family, my FiL had tears. I joked with him that it’s not like we won’t be seeing each other soon and hadn’t just spent the last 8 days together! (I think we’ve only gone 10 days without seeing either set of grandparents since Dylan was born.) It took my cousin few minutes, but soon we were all loaded in the car and on the way home. Mike had to squeeze in the back between the car seats – good thing he’s tiny! All of a sudden I hear whimpering and I turn to see Dylan crying. And then he starts sobbing practically. Poor kid! I finally got out of him that he didn’t want to leave Disney. It took 3 more days before he wouldn’t cry. I guess he’s hooked!
We ate some dinner and got the boys to bed. Mike checked on bills and noticed that we’d been charged twice by Disney for the amount to close out our room charges. We tried calling but it was too late – they were closed, so we’d try first thing the next morning. By the next morning Disney had discovered their error and had processed a credit, but seeing as this was Sunday it wouldn’t take effect until Monday. It’s a good thing we had enough money in the account to cover it as it wasn’t a small amount (think about TS meals for 10 people over our week long vacation).
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think is this TR would’ve been written by another member of the traveling party it would have been happier (or at least that’s what the cards and notes I got after our trip from them say). But I told the truth of how I felt to other uber planners like myself. So here’s my advice for planning a trip with a large party, especially if it’s family: Make sure to schedule time to yourself and book separate rooms! Or at least no more than 5 to a room because we’ve done that before and it was ok.
Of course it was a great trip in the end and I have very fond memories (and some not so fond which I’m sure I’ll forget sooner rather than later). Being able to go with everyone to celebrate my baby’s 1st birthday was amazing. I love that my family will do whatever we ask if it’s for the boys (and now I’m all teary just writing this) and I hope I can pass that on to them in the future. I can’t wait to take my soon-to-be born niece or nephew to our happy place! That’s right folks, Kevin & Becki are expecting! And since none of you know them I can spill the beans to you since they won’t let us tell anyone else. Baby is due September 30 – that’s right in between my boys’ birthdays! We’re going to have great family parties! It’s so exciting!
The other thing that I’m so glad I took a chance on was the photo shoot with Lidia. I searched a lot for photographers in the Orlando area that would come to the WDW area with a reasonable amount of time to shoot and price for both the shoot and photos. I can say that the cost was totally worth it! And I’m glad I risked hiring her without a lot of information. When I saw a picture of her with the Roy & Minnie statue I knew we’d be ok and I was right! The pictures she captured were amazing and she got all the other family members to cooperate through their grumbling. I’m so glad we were able to go through Epcot and capture those photos in front of SSE too. I still have pure joy when I look at those and I now have them displayed all over the house and on my desk at work. I believe her prices have gone up but I’m sure we’ll book her again.
For those with little ones and the always up for debate stroller debacle: the sit-n-stand isn’t a good fit for WDW with 2 children where one can’t walk yet and the other one still falls asleep but is too big to ride in the front. I don’t regret buying the sit-n-stand (I got it for $50 off craigslist) as it’s a great stroller for the mall or zoo, etc. Upon returning home my mom bought Lukas a new umbrella stroller that we plan to use on our next WDW trip, which today is double digits away! So having 2 umbrellas will be a new thing for us to try and test out for you parents (Linny).
Thank you all so much for reading and posting and staying with me! Stay tuned for a new PTR for our next adventure that is 99 days away!!
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Great final thoughts Kelly! I will be holding on to your advice if we ever do a big family trip. Both my sister and her family and Justin's parents want to go to Disney with us. While it sounds like a lot of fun to share Disney with family, I can see how it would be stressful at the same time. I am glad your fonder memories are the ones that are sticking with you and the not so fond ones are fading to the background.
Congrats to your brother and his wife! A new baby in the family is always so much fun.
Great wrap up! Sorry Dylan was so upset about leaving, but I'll admit if I wasn't an adult I might throw a little tantrum/have a cry fest when leaving too so I know where he's coming from. Congrats on the new addition to your extended family. Nieces/nephews are so much fun.
Good luck with your next trip. Maybe with less people you'll be able to relax a little more and have a better time. Not that I actually think you had an awful time on this trip, but I know how stressed out you must have been and there were those little moments that were less than perfect.
Great wrap up Kelly! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us all. I have very much enjoyed all the wonderful photos, from the shoot (which were nothing short of spectacular!) to all the candid pics of your adorable boys.
We all have some downs on our trips and I think when you get home and have time away and to reflect, most of the bad spots are very much numbed...till they are almost forgotten. It's the happy memories that will shine through and you did have plenty of those too!
How cute that both your FIL and Dylan were upset about leaving. At least Dylan doesn't have long to wait!
Can't wait to hear all about your new plans! I'll keep an eye out!
Great wrap-up, Kelly! I'm glad your family seems to really appreciate all the work you did to make this happen. Some built-in alone-time would probably help, but when you feel the burden of making so many other people's vacations happy I'm not sure you can completely escape and have a care-free vacation yourself. You are lucky to have two sets of grandparents who get along so well and put your boys first. Congratulations to Becky and Kevin! What fun it will be to have a triple-birthday trip some day!
Great wrap up! Thank you for sharing your trip with us - looking forward to the next one (I'll try and join in sooner next time! LOL!).
As for the strollers - we didn't mind 2 umbrellas when our kids were smaller. We'd park them in the general vicinity of several rides, do them, then move on to another area. One of us was never alone having to push the kids, which would have been interesting
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
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) -- I think you should feel proud of what you accomplished with that trip.
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I too do not enjoy the security line at MCO, just too crowded for my comfort. Luke thinks I'm funny about it because I dread it from the moment DME picks us up. Now I'm a bit sad because your trip is over, but Stefanie and I talk every day about getting to meet up with you all again in June. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
to the family, my FiL had tears. I joked with him that it’s not like we won’t be seeing each other soon and hadn’t just spent the last 8 days together! (I think we’ve only gone 10 days without seeing either set of grandparents since Dylan was born.) It took my cousin few minutes, but soon we were all loaded in the car and on the way home. Mike had to squeeze in the back between the car seats – good thing he’s tiny! All of a sudden I hear whimpering and I turn to see Dylan crying. 
Poor kid! I finally got out of him that he didn’t want to leave Disney. It took 3 more days before he wouldn’t cry. I guess he’s hooked! 
That’s right folks, Kevin & Becki are expecting! And since none of you know them I can spill the beans to you since they won’t let us tell anyone else. 
Baby is due September 30 – that’s right in between my boys’ birthdays! We’re going to have great family parties!
It’s so exciting!
I searched a lot for photographers in the Orlando area that would come to the WDW area with a reasonable amount of time to shoot and price for both the shoot and photos. I can say that the cost was totally worth it! And I’m glad I risked hiring her without a lot of information. When I saw a picture of her with the Roy & Minnie statue I knew we’d be ok and I was right! The pictures she captured were amazing and she got all the other family members to cooperate through their grumbling. I’m so glad we were able to go through Epcot and capture those photos in front of SSE too. I still have pure joy 
when I look at those and I now have them displayed all over the house and on my desk at work.
and posting
and staying with me! Stay tuned for a new PTR for our next adventure that is 99 days away!! 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
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