Shhhh ... A Very Merry Surprise! ~ PTR for 11/4 - 11/12 2011 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Shhhh ... A Very Merry Surprise! ~ PTR for 11/4 - 11/12 2011
Shhhh ... A Very Merry Surprise! ~ PTR for 11/4 - 11/12 2011
This is my first attempt at a trip report, so wish me luck! I've had so much fun reading others, I thought I would give it a try! So, here are the details:
WHO: Myself - 34 (Jenn)
DH - 36 (Chris)
DD - 7 (Kaeli)
DD - 5 (Abby)
WHEN: November 4 -12, 2011 our second visit during "Jersey Week".
WHERE: WDW ~~ Marriott's Harbour Lake Vacation Club (No, we're not staying on property, but more on that later!)
So, now that you have all of the details, I will start off with a little backround on myself and my family. I've been visiting WDW since as far back as I can remember. My grandparents owned a vacation home in Vero Beach, and every summer we spent two weeks there, and we always visited Orlando during those trips. In 1990 my mom went back to work, and I guess since both my sister and I were in high school, it made those family trips more difficult to make. That year would be the last trip I would make with my family, but I was able to go back to WDW with my friends for our high school's "Senior Trip", and one more time, years later with my DH (before we were married).
I had such great childhood Disney memories, that once we were married and had children, I dreamt of taking Disney vacations with my family. For a while I thought those dreams would not be realized, with me being a stay at home mom, and my DH taking a paycut to switch careers, it just didn't seem to be in the cards. But things would soon change! Back in 2007 my WONDERFUL Aunt had become a member of the Marriott Vacation Club, with her home resort being the Harbour Lake Resort in Orlando. My Aunt has no children of her own, and has always treated myself and my cousins as if we were hers, and I am forever grateful for her . She knew of my Disney dream, and decided to help us make it a reality! She offered to let us use one of her weeks, and of course we accepted! We started planning for a trip in May of 2009. This would be my DDs first Disney experience, and I wanted it to be perfect! Because my Aunt could also get discounted rates at her home resort, we decided to extend the trip, we would be staying for a full 15 days! And what a wonderful trip it was! We spent 7 full days in the parks, and the rest of the time we spent relaxing at our resort and exploring other "non park" Disney activities. We had such a great time, I started planning our next trip before we even left!
I knew that I did not want to visit during the summer because of the heat and crowds. Since my oldest DD would be starting kindergarten the following fall I thought that might be our only option because I did not want to take her out of school. Things would soon fall into place. Once we received our school calendar, I noticed something great! Our district is closed the first full week of November for election day and the NJEA convention that is held in Atlantic City that week. (Schools close so that all teachers have the option to attend the conference. Also, not all NJ districts are closed the entire week, but we are so lucky that ours is!) After seeing this great news, we decided that we would plan our next trip for the first week of November, 2010, again using my Aunt's Marriott VC. This worked out wonderfully, as Halloween fell on the first weekend of our trip, and we were able to attend our first MNSSHP! What a fun party! And it was great to see the transition between holidays in the parks. The first part of our trip, everything was decorated for fall, but by the end it was a winter wonderland.
That small glimpse of Holiday time at WDW made me hungry for more, and I knew one day I would like to take a trip to see all of the Christmas festivities that WDW has to offer. We knew we would be taking advantage of "Jersey Week" again in 2011, but only realized a couple of months ago that this year it will coincide with the opening week of MVMCP! Perfect timing!
So, again with the help of my Aunt, we are heading to the World. My DDs do not know about this trip, I am trying to keep it a secret and surprise them with it the morning we are leaving! Cross your fingers that I can pull it off!
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Our Plans:
We will be driving to FL from NJ this year, as we have done on our previous trips. My oldest DD has a severe peanut allergy, and at this point I do not feel safe letting her on a plane. I always drove with my family as a child to WDW, and I have some fond (and ok, I'll admit, some not so fond!) memories of those trips. Maybe all those years of long drives as a child is the reason why I love road trips so much now as an adult. Sometimes I look forward to the drive just as much as I do the vacation we are heading too! For our first two trips, we did the overnight drive, going straight through to Orlando in one shot. It was easier, my husband is a police officer, and at the time was working the overnight shift. It just made sense, he was already used to being up all night, and the girls would sleep most of the ride. This trip, however, we will be leaving in the morning. DH is no longer on the night shift, and we don't want to take any chances.
Because we want to arrive in Orlando on Saturday, we plan on leaving the morning of 11/4 and will be taking DDs out of school for just that one day. Assuming we can keep the secret that long, we plan on waking them up as if it were a normal school day, but instead pack them into the car and reveal our surprise! Usually it takes us about 17 hours to make the full trip to FL, we plan on driving as far as we can on Friday so that we won't have a long drive on Saturday morning. I'm hoping to arrive at our hotel by noon that day, so we will have time to unpack, relax and do some swimming!
I'll take this time to give a little description of our resort, Marriott's Harbour Lake. I really love it here. If anyone is considering staying off property, this is a great option for families! They have several room choices, One and Two Bedroom Villas, Studios and Efficiencies. All of the Villas have full kitchens, which is great for saving money on meals! There is a pirate theme to the pools and childrens activities, which are great! There are lots of places to play and have fun, between the playground, on site mini golf, water fountain splash area and two pools, you could easily spend lots of time here. The location is great too, it is right off of Rt. 4 near Sea World, about a 10 - 15 minute drive to the parks.
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Jersey week is great...I grew up in NJ and am just across the border from Trenton. Have to admit, love my commute that week as everyone in NJ is on vacation that week.
Good luck keeping your secret! It sounds like it is going to be a wonderful surprise!
Thanks, I hope I can keep it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Good luck with the drive!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Loads of and for the drive! Your resort looks very nice!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shydonna1
keeping the surprise - I know that it will be a challenge, but well worth it!
Yes, definitely a challenge! Writing this report is helping, atleast I have somewhere to vent all of my excitement
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzspal2
Great start and good luck with the suprise.
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mojjo
Great plans! I hope the surprise works out.
Jersey week is great...I grew up in NJ and am just across the border from Trenton. Have to admit, love my commute that week as everyone in NJ is on vacation that week.
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Let me begin by saying, I LOVE eating at WDW! I mentioned earlier that my oldest DD, Kaeli, has a severe peanut allergy. Because of this, we don't get to eat out at home a lot, simply because there aren't a lot of places we trust. We've got a couple of safe options, but have been to them all so many times it has gotten a little boring! Also, traveling can be challenging, but WDW is the one place we've gone where I feel very safe allowing my DD to eat. We've had some great experiences at WDW restaurants and have met several chefs who have really gone above and beyond for our daughter, they really try hard to make sure that everyone is happy and satisfied.
That being said, we tend to not make a lot of ADRs for our trips. We always get parkhoppers, and we have a laid back approach to touring the parks, so I don't always like to be tied down to certain parks and reservations all the time. I try to keep it to only on ADR a day, if that, and then we play it by ear and stop at counter service restaurants for the rest of our meals.
I was able to make my ADRs a couple of weeks ago, and I'm happy to say that I got everything I wanted. We've only got three for this trip, and they are all new restaurants to us, so please share your experiences at them with us. I'd love to hear what you all have to say!
We are going to start out with the character breakfast at the Cape May Cafe. We've done Chef Mickey's on both of our previous trips, so I wanted to branch out a little. I've heard good things about the Cape May Cafe, and I'm really looking forward to it. I know the Big Cheese himself will not be there, but that's ok, Goofy is actually our family favorite!
Next up, Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. DD's LOVE the princesses, but Cinderella is their top fave! We've done CRT and Akershus both before, and we did enjoy them, but I am looking forward to this meal. I think it will be fun to meet the step sisters too, I've heard they are hysterical. Oh, and the strawberry soup sounds delish!
Finally, we've got dinner at the Garden Grill in Epcot. Everything on the menu sounds so good,I get hungry every time I read it!
I may add another ADR to our trip, but at the moment nothing is definitley planned. We'll stick to what II've got so far, have breakfast in our room and visit some of our favorite CS restaurants for the rest of our meals. We love Sunshine Seasons, Flame Tree BBQ, Columbia Harbour House, and Cosmic Rays to name a few! I'm sure there will be a few Mickey Bars and Dole Whips thrown into the mix as well, can't go wrong with those!
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Shhhh ... A Very Merry Surprise! ~ PTR for 11/4 - 11/12 2011
. She knew of my Disney dream, and decided to help us make it a reality! She offered to let us use one of her weeks, and of course we accepted! We started planning for a trip in May of 2009. This would be my DDs first Disney experience, and I wanted it to be perfect! Because my Aunt could also get discounted rates at her home resort, we decided to extend the trip, we would be staying for a full 15 days! And what a wonderful trip it was! We spent 7 full days in the parks, and the rest of the time we spent relaxing at our resort and exploring other "non park" Disney activities. We had such a great time, I started planning our next trip before we even left! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
in keeping the surprise!
for the drive! Your resort looks very nice! 
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