Disney or Bust: A Lesson in Patience PTR (Aug 19-27) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Disney or Bust: A Lesson in Patience PTR (Aug 19-27)
This is the first time I have written a PTR or a TR for that matter. I have been to Disney World MANY time over the course of my life. However, in 2009 we took our first trip as a family. Back then our girls were 12, 4.5, & 11 months. For this trip they will be 17, almost 9, & 5. I was the Disney veteran when we went back then but I totally got DH hooked! We had planned to go back a couple of years later but we ended up buying a house, which put that plan on hold. We have been talking about going again for years, and finally this past fall we took the leap! I got a pin code in the mail and we knew we wanted to go this year. So in October I called our travel agent priced out the different options and dates and we booked it! This is where the lesson in patience comes in. Not only have we been talking about this for years, the kids have been asking to go back for years. Our youngest doesn’t even remember the last trip – she wasn’t even 1 yet, so for her this would be her First Trip. And Once we booked the trip we were approx.. 282 days out from departure. We have a Disney Chalkboard magnet for our countdown, and I have been writing the numbers on there since that day (not every day, but 5 out of 7). We are at 122 days!!! The girls, and us adults, have definitely learned patience!
So this trip is very similar to our last trip, with a few changes. We are taking an additional adult with us. Last time we brought a friend of mine, this year we are bringing our neice. Not only will she be there to help with out younger girls (they don’t listen to their big sister – SHOCK!), but she loves thrill rides like our 17 yr old and DH & I don’t. So DD 17 will have a ride buddy! Plus it wouldn’t be the same without her.
Last trip we stayed at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We loved it!!! But this trip we wanted to try a different place, and we felt we needed more room. We have 2 fully mobile kids, plus a teenager and a 20 yr old. So we booked a 2 bedroom Villas at Old Key West. We are really looking forward to it! Last trip we drove down and this trip we are doing the same. However, last time we took 3 days down stopping to see friends along the way and 3 days back. We are road trippers, we love it! But this trip we added on a day to our Disney stay and with it being so close to the return to school we don’t have that kind of time. So this time we are taking 1.5 days down and back (I’ll get into more of this later)
So once we booked, we started in on the budget of when will we have it paid off – we wanted it paid off as soon as possible. And I am happy to say we paid in full this week!!!! WOOOHOO!!!! I ordered all the new versions of my favorite Disney planning books, and got to work on the planning of our days and dining. I took into account things we loved and things we didn’t – OK there really wasn’t anything we didn’t love about Disney but there were things we rated a little lower therefore to experience different things they might have to be dropped. This led to 2 lists: the “Cannot Wait To Do Again” list & the “Cannot Wait To Try” list. The kids all had input, this is their vacation too! But in the end DH and I made the final decisions – OK I made the decisions, but I have been married long enough to know that letting him feel like he is part of the decisions making is best for everyone ☺
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Well we briefly looked into flying, but the cost to fly and rent a car (we like to have our own transportation, especially staying out at OKW) didn’t fit in our budget. Plus as I mentioned before we love to road trip. We drive up and down the east coast at least once a year and shorter road trips to NY & NJ multiple times a year. So the decision was made – ROAD TRIP! Now, based on the timing we couldn’t take our normal leisurely 3 -4 day drive to FL. SO I pulled out the map…OK I pulled UP the map on the AAA TripTik site. We determined in the past we can do a 12 hour stretch without issue. So the decision was made to stop in Fayetteville , NC for our 1 night layover. We need to get there by 5pm so there it time to eat dinner, swim to get out the kids energy, and unwind before bed. Also, after about 5-5:30 the kids start getting antsy in the car. Therefore we needed to leave around 4:30-5am. However, that would get us to the Merritt Parkway right before the turnoff for the Tapanzee Bridge during rush-hour. So we said if we are leaving at 4:30am what’s another hour! So we are leaving at 3:30am that will get us over the Tapanzee Bridge before rush-hour starts, and thus through DC well before their afternoon rush-hour and to the Hotel by mid-afternoon. So the kids will get plenty of pool time before dinner and bed. We put the kids to be on the night of 18th in comfy clothes for the car ride. we'll carry them to the car at 3:30am and let them sleep in the car. I’ll have juice boxes and mini-donuts in the car for when everyone wakes up. The only thing we haven’t decided on is roughly where we might stop for lunch. That is going to have to be one of those play it by ear things. I have a great book: IDrive 95 that I can use to find the best exit for lunch. It looks like we will be in the DC area at lunchtime, but I don’t want to linger in that area too long as their traffic is very unpredictable! We’ll just have to see where we end up.
The morning of the 20th we will hit the road in Fayetteville, NC by 7am. We are staying at the Residence Inn there so they have a complimentary hot breakfast PERFECT! Also, we don’t touch the suitcases in the back at our layover hotel. I have a bag (on the floor in front of the 5 yr old) with a change of clothes and toiletries needed for DH, DD 5, DD 8, and myself. DD17 and DN will have backpacks in the car that they’ll have a change of clothes in to bring into the hotel. The drive to Orlando should be about 8 hours and we hope to arrive between 3 and 4 pm.
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We shall see -- you know what they say about best laid plans! But the planning helps me enjoy the excitement of Disney and I enjoy it so it makes me happy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KHarrod
So excited for your trip! Can't wait to hear more!
Thanks! I am so excited - I love that I can share this excitement with other people who get it! DH loves Disney but this extended excitement is a bit much for him..we have 122 days to go I think if I didn't have this outlet he would go crazy with me constantly talking about it
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So we are going to arrive in Orlando at about 3pm on the 20th. First stop is the grocery store to get a case of water, and some food for the mornings we will need to make breakfast. We’ll check in to OKW and get up to our room. Get unpacked and settled in. Then off to explore the hotel. We won’t be going to the parks this day so we thought we would go to Downtown Disney. Last time we went on the last day to get our souvenir shopping done, but this time we will do the shopping first ☺ And I made dinner reservations at Paradisio 37. I tried for T-Rex, my girls love dinosaurs, but I couldn’t get anything to come up and when I finally did 7:30 was the earliest dinner time and that is too late for us.
We haven’t eaten at Paradisio 37 before, so I am looking forward to trying it. There were a bunch of restaurants we tried last time that we loved but we wanted to try new ones this time. So what we did was create a nice mix of new and favorites. Plus I added a TON of Character meals – this way I don’t have to wait in line for the Characters in the park. If we come upon once of them I can say, “We are having Breakfast with them tomorrow, lets let the kids who aren’t eating with them say hi” – we’ll see if it works.
Here are our picks (I’ll follow with our daily plans):
Tuesday Dinner: Paradisio 37
Wednesday Breakfast: Play’n Dine at Hollywood & Vine (Disney Jr Characters)
Wednesday Lunch: 50’s Primetime Café
Wednesday Dinner: (Kids doing quick service at hotel with DN) DH &I
going to Le Cellier
Thursday Breakfast: In our Villa – prob scrambled eggs
Thursday Lunch: CRT – our 8 and 5 yr old won’t know about this until we
arrive in the Castle. I cannot wait to see their faces!!!
Thursday Dinner: 1900 Park Fare
Friday Breakfast: In our Villa – prob scrambled eggs
Friday Lunch: Counter Service where ever we are
Friday Dinner: Garden Grill with Chip & Dale
Saturday Breakfast: Goofy Breakfast Cape May Café
Saturday Lunch: Mama Melrose
Saturday Dinner: Quick Serv for the kids at the hotel with DN, for DH & I
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Sunday Breakfast: Pooh Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Sunday Lunch: Olivia’s Café (at our hotel)
Sunday Dinner: Tony’s Town Square
Monday Breakfast: Chef Mickey’s
As I mentioned our first day there is only a ˝ day so we are going to do Downtown Disney. Wednesday is our first full day at Disney, so the plan is to go to DHS. Character Breakfast, fun in the park, then lunch. After lunch we will head back to the hotel for our mid-day break. The girls will end up staying at the hotel with DN and around 3pm DH and I will head to EPCOT to do the World Showcase and then our “date dinner” at Le Cellier.
Thursday we are heading to MK and from the looks of it that might be a morning extra magic hours. Since we want to take advantage of the extra magic hours, we will have some light breakfast in our villa, and grab a snack in the park later. I have booked CRT for lunch. But we are not telling the girls. It is going to be a surprise. Then after lunch we will head back to the hotel for our daily break, maybe a swim in the pool. Then over to 1900 Park Fare for early dinner. After that to MK again for some more fun!
Friday if our EPCOT day. The World showcase is not enough “entertainment” for my girls. Last time they were bored. So this time we have planned to just do the Future World. DD 5 is tall for her age so she can go on all the rides and she is our adrenaline junkie so she will love them! I don’t know where lunch will be, either at counter service at the park or back at the hotel. We are not sure if we will do Soarin’. I have a fear of heights and DD 8 get car sick (not on short rides), so I don’t know. I have to do more research on it – read reviews, etc.. We will take our mid day break and then head back to EPCOT for dinner at Garden Grill. DN & DD 17 want to do the World Showcase alone, so they will head off after Dinner to do that and the younger girls, DH & I will hang out in Future world and then head back to the hotel. The older girls will take the bus back together.
Saturday we are going back to DHS. But first we will go to Beach Club’s restaurant Cape May Café and have a character breakfast with Goofy and friends. Lunch will be at Mama Melrose. Then back to the hotel for some swimming. The girls will stay with DN and have dinner at either the quick service or table service restaurant at the hotel. DH & I will have our second “date night” Dinner at The Yachtsman and then possibly Jelly Rolls or over to Downtown Disney.
Sunday is our second MK day. We will have a Character Breakfast at Crystal Palace wit Pooh & Friends ( DD 17 & DN are BIG Pooh Bear fans so this meal is for them!). We plan on having lunch at our hotel and while the kids go swimming I will do laundry and pack. Dinner back at MK (Tony’s Town Square) and stay for the Parade.
Monday we check out and leave. However, not before we have one final Character breakfast…and what better way to end our trip but breakfast with Mickey! So Chef Mickey’s it is! Then we hit the road for the 8 hr drive to NC. And the next day the 12 hr drive to Boston!
WHAT’S NEXT?
I have to make a packing list. This is key. We have a Ford Flex. It has 3 rows of seats but with the 3rd row up there isn’t a ton of storage so we can only have 1 medium suitcase for DH, DD 5, DD 8, & myself, a small duffle each for DD 17 & DN. This will give us enough room to put souvenirs on the way back. I have a list of items I need to get and I am getting them slowly one here, one there. I have to create and put together the girls “road trip guides”. I make them maps of where we are traveling and they can help keep track of here we are on the route. Helps teach geography and answer the age old question: “are we there yet?” I need prizes for the winners of the MANY rounds of Road Trip Bingo. And have to start strategically borrowing DVDs from the library to make copies of bring with us for the girls to watch on the ride (to any Copyright lawyers out there, you didn’t hear that).
I have fireworks seating & storytime reservations to make through AAA. Gift cards to get for DD 17 & DN for their spending $$. I think that is about it…I am sure I will find other To-Dos between now and then.
We are all just so excited!!! Thank you all for “listening” to me go on my Disney tangent ☺
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world
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