“A Little Adventure, A Little Rebellion” | WDW With 10 Cousins! | Aug 2018 PTR (6/28Updates!)

[KJeff90]

Hey There Friends!

Life’s filled with stories of adventure, heroism, obstacles, and maybe even a little rebellion here and there. Take for instance the quote headlining this PTR; it’s from Tangled. The full quote is:

“This is just part of growing up.
A little adventure, and a little rebellion.”

Those are the wise words of Eugene, you know -the artist formerly known as Flynn Rider.

That quote couldn’t be more relevant with this trip. First of all, I’m taking on the crazy task of planning a trip for 10 people; a combination of: me, my brother, cousins, and some “cousins” (people who are awesome enough to be considered family). Did I mention we’re all in our 20s? Yup. We’re all grown up (or fake it very well) in the harsh reality that is life. But for one week in August of 2018 we're gonna let it go; we’re going to be rebelling and be the kids at heart that we all are.

I apologize for the Frozen reference.

The preliminary planning of this trip has been ongoing for almost 6 months already (standby for the origin story of this trip in a future post!), and we’ve barely scraped the surface of it all. So grab your favorite drink from the Snuggly Duckling, and come along for the ride with us!

In the Chapter 1, you’ll be introduced to the whole cast of this great adventure!

Details of Our Adventure to Disney World
Who's Going
Jeff, Joseph, Randy, Abbey, Kathy, Daniel
Kelly, Ivan, Kris, Cheyenne

When We're Going
August 2018 (Specific Dates TBD)

Where We're Staying
Yet to be revealed... STAY TUNED!


In Case You Get Lost, Here's Our...
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Meet the Cast of the Snuggly Duckling!
Chapter 2 - The Origin Story (The Spark that Started it All)
Chapter 3- How Our Story is Being Written (Being Organized and Open Communication)

The arts and crafts table is a little bare for now,
but we'll get all our supplies ready to craft up some stories to put here.​

 

[KJeff90]

Hello Again, Friends!

In this chapter of the PTR, we’re going to be focusing on the cast of this trip; and boy, is it a big one. The first thing to take note is that it’s a relatively diverse group of people. I know I’ve emphasized that we’re all cousins, but we’ve got a few “cousins” in the mix as well. The magic of adding quotes allows us to take people who are practically family and consider them one of us.

Some general info about all of us; we’re all currently living in California(all parts of it). Since the whole growing up thing, and forcing ourselves to adult, it’s been harder and harder to get together like back when we were younger. So what better way to get the whole gang together than with a big ol’ Disney World Trip?!

Since we’re all Californians, we’re all familiar with the Disneyland Resort. For most, it’s the only Disney Resort we’ve ever visited or known. Taking a trip to Walt Disney World is going to be definitely a big adventure in more ways than you could think of!

There’s so many of us, so for now, I’ll just be putting descriptions of everyone. I’m sure I’ll find some flattering photos of them over the internet. Also another heads up, I’m going to be a little loose on specifics of where I/others work just because I have a slight suspicion that people might be able to figure out where some of these said locations are (you’ll see why). So here’s the lineup:

THE COUSINS
Jeff | 27
How We’re Related: That’s Me!
I’ve been bestowed with the responsibility of finding resources, gathering input from all the others, and ultimately booking this whole trip(don’t worry, I’m not crazy enough to pay for this whole thing on my own,, nor do I have the funds to do so). I’m currently a Technical Theatre and Design major, in college. I’ll be graduating just before this big old trip in June of 2018. I’m also a Disneyland Cast Member, so that may or may not be a big contributing factor to this trip being a possibility. It’ll be my third time heading out to Walt Disney World, the other two times I’ve been I stayed at Pop Century, who know where I’ll be staying this time (stay tuned!).

Joseph | 26
How We’re Related: That’s my brother!
Ah, my brother. He’s an even bigger Disney fan than I am at times. It’ll be his first trip heading out so the excitement is stronger within him than the force is for a Jedi. My bro currently works in concessions for one of the larger sporting venues in the Los Angeles Area. We still live together with our parents, but the closeness is something that’s always been there. I’m pretty sure his favorite character is Stitch. So you know breakfast at ‘Ohana is going to be a priority on the list of ADRs.

Randy | 28
How We’re Related: He’s my cousin! (His mom and my mom are sisters)
Randy! He’s the oldest official cousin going on this trip. Randy lives in the Santa Clarita Valley, which is closer to those people with the six flags.Right now he’s pursuing a career in Nursing. So if we get any scrapes on this bumpy adventure, I’m sure he’ll be there to help. He’s also getting married this year(I’m his best man!), so what better way to introduce his soon-to-be-wife than with a trip immersing her in the family at Walt Disney World! It’ll be his first trip, so like marriage, it’ll be definitely be full of stories!

Kathy | 27
How We’re Related: She’s my cousin! (Her mom is my my mom’s cousin)
Kathy! Most of the time, we just call her Katherine. It might not be the most efficient way of saying her name, but sometimes you just get used to saying things a certain way and it sticks. She used to be based up in Northern California, but has recently moved in with her boyfriend in closer to where I live in the the LA Area. It’ll be her first trip as well to WDW, she seems just as excited. And don’t worry, her boyfriend is tagging along for the trip.

Kelly | 24
How We’re Related: She’s my cousin! ...and Kathy’s sister
Kelly is one of my younger cousins, but she definitely acts more mature than I do. She’s Kathy’s sister and like her sister, she may be bringing her boyfriend along as well. Like all the other official cousins, it’ll be her first time travelling to the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

THE “COUSINS”
Abbey | 26
How We’re Related: She’s a “Cousin” ...and Randy’s Fiancee
Abbey is engaged to my cousin Randy; their wedding is this November! Aside from being engaged to my cousin, she’s actually been more relevant than more of other cousins who aren’t tagging along with us on this trip. From what I do know about her, she’s another avid Disney fan and would be a great resource for the trip planning. That’s right, she’s been there before and having someone with knowledge of Walt Disney World is definitely going to be great.

Ivan | 23
How We’re Related: He’s a “Cousin” ...and Kelly’s Boyfriend
In all honesty, I don’t really know much about Ivan. I haven’t personally met him, but have heard great things from all the other cousins. The word of my cousins is good enough to bring this guy along.

Daniel | 29
How We’re Related: He’s a “Cousin” ...and Kathy’s Boyfriend
I’ve only Daniel once, and it was during a trip to Disneyland with a few of the cousins(again, stay tuned for that origin story!). Consider it a dry-run, but he’ll fit in right with the family. He’s probably been to more family functions than I have, with my busy work/school schedule, so I guess he can tend to be more of a cousin than I can.

Kris | 23
How We’re Related: She’s a “Cousin” ...I work with her
That’s right, I’m bringing a cast member friend along with me on this family trip. She’s one of the people at work that I can rely and trust on so much so, that she’s practically family! Her great personality and positive energy will be a great addition to this trip. She’s been at least one time before, so her experience will be greatly welcomed.

Cheyenne | 20
How We’re Related: She’s a “Cousin” ...and I work with her too!
Just when you thought bringing one friend from work was enough, we step it up with another. She’s just as great of a confidant and awesome person that there was no way we were going to throw her into the mix.

Well that’s the whole family that’s going on this trip, for now! Who knows, there may be a few more characters added to the cast. Stay tuned for updates, and hopefully in the next post, the origin story as to how this whole trip came to light.

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[KJeff90]

Great, now it's time for the story from where this grand old trip to Disney World we're planning from originated from. So let me set the mood...

-LIGHTNING STRIKES-

Ah, this place!

"Hollywood, 1939. Amid the glitz and the glitter of a bustling, young movie town at the height of its golden age, The Hollywood Tower Hotel was a star in its own right; a beacon for the show business elite. Now, something is about to happen that will change all that. The time is now on an evening very much like the one we have just witnessed."

From left to right: Me, Abbey, Randy, Kathy, and Daniel

Actually, it was more like 6 months ago, January to be exact where all of this happened. It was a casual meet up with me, Randy, Abbey, Kathy and Daniel at Disneyland. (All before it became Tivan's Fortress. Which is really great, by the way.) I was the 5th wheel tagging along with the two couples and we had a great day. Somewhere in the mix of it, we brought up the random idea of going to Walt Disney World. The conversation was passive at most, then things got rolling shortly that night. We started talking about what there was to do there, what was coming, and if it would be possible. Another significant thing we realized too was the value we could get out of this trip splitting it up with so many people, and a few cast member discounts here and there.

By the end of the next day, it was Facebook official, and we had already starting considering all of the cousins who could and should go. When you're Filipino, like we are, everyone is family. We branched out to the idea of "cousins" because even though they're not blood related, they've been there the whole time; practically being a member of the family.

The funny thing is that I was considering leaving Disney a little before this point. I actually had quite a few interviews lined up for other jobs. I guess this little moment in time was a good enough reason to stay with Disney, not only for the discounts, but for some time to realize that I could stick with working for the Mouse. Once this planning process started, I dropped everything and literally cancelled every interview I had coming up. It's funny how everything happens for a reason.

Well that's the end of this post. We know the characters and the origin story. For some it might seem chaotic and maybe irresponsible to have this many people go on a trip and me dropping new opportunities. Ah, but don't worry, there's a system we've established, and an overall plan to writing this great adventure ahead of us. You'll hear about it in the next post.

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[KJeff90]

Hello Again Friends!

So in the first two posts, we’ve introduced you to cast of poor unfortunate souls that will [willfully] suffer through a week with me at Walt Disney World. I’ve also gone through our whimsically, not-that-specific origin story of the trip. And, like with every great story, we’re currently in the plannings stages. Now that I think about it, from that original moment where we said “Hey, let’s go to Disney World”, to when we arrive at MCO; 20 months will have passed. We’ve got plenty of time to make mistakes!

But since most people don’t like mistakes and wasting time, we’ve got a few creative ways to keep everyone interested, involved, and on track! My techniques may not work for everyone, but with our large group, going smoother than a cream cheese filled pretzel through my belly.

The first thing we did was establish a Facebook group.

Us being the “hip millenials”(not really) that we are, social media is our best friend. We all have that mentality that nothing really exists until it’s “Facebook Official”. With everyone having varying work/school schedules, living all over the great state of California, and different levels of experience with Disney; having everything written on an online format is great. We could have simply done Google Drive stuff (spreadsheets, docs, slides), but the ability to do all of that and actually have a dialogue is great. An additional bonus is that it all happens basically in real time.


The next thing I did was do research. This can be read as “made spreadsheets”.

This may sound more intimidating that it is, but it wasn’t too bad. For some reason, it was kind of therapeutic to gather information and somehow compile it into a spreadsheet. Through the magic of the internet, a few calls to Disney World, and some wishful thinking, I compiled all the info I could into an Excel spreadsheet. Below is an actual screenshot of what the initial document looked like with the prices 2017 rates I proposed to the cousins(prices have been deleted to hide discounts).

With the 2017 prices we gathered, we added a roughly 7% contingency and rounded up numbers to come up what the overall cost of the trip would cost per person. This brings up the next great piece of technology that we used to gather all the funds for this trip.

We’re Collecting Funds for this Trip using Venmo
With so many people, being all over the place, sending cash over would be a mess. Don’t even get me started on checks (what are those?). So the easiest way to manage funds coming over from the cousins was through Venmo.

Venmo can be accessed either through their app or their website. It’s run by PayPal and makes it easy for people to pay each other, or back, for things as small as the cost of a snack to as large as paying your monthly rent. So why not use it for Disney World?

My cousins simply just put their credit/debit card info, or a bank account, then verify their info. Then on a monthly basis, they’re all contributing to our “fund”. The money then comes to my account, and it’s all kept in one safe place until I need to forward the money to my card and then pay for part of the trip. Having the smaller monthly payments spread out over a year (we have that much time) makes it easier for us to pay as we go, and keep people on track. It’s a lot easier than having people waiting to save up to the last minute, then not being able to make it.

There’s a lot of trust involved for this to work.. but we’re family. I wouldn’t recommend this for friends you barely know.

Surveys, Surveys, and More Surveys…
Again, with cousins all over California, we need to get everyone involved in the planning process. With the help of Facebook, Survey Monkey, and Google Docs; we’re getting everyone involved as much as possible with putting in their input. One example is choosing the hotel.

I made a survey with vague descriptions quoted from the Walt Disney World Website. It was an attempt to keep names out of the picture but give people the essence of what each resort had to offer. I had everyone rate them either a “1”, “3”, “5”, “7”, or “9” and then averaged out each score. Got the top three results, and then lined them up in order. We now have one that we’re aiming to book, but based on the rates and availability, we have two back up resorts. What resorts you may ask? Well you’ll have to stick around for a future post!

It may be clunky for now, but here are our tentative deadlines we have lined up until August 2018:
July 2017 - Book Hotel/Dining/Pay Deposits

January 2018 - Purchase Airfare

February 2018 - Make Advance Dining Reservations (ADR)

April 2018 - Finalize Admission Tickets/Purchase Additional Ones Needed

June 2018 - Book Fastpasses

July 2018 - Pay Off Trip


That’s it for now, friends. Hope you stay tuned for more details that will be revealed in the next post!

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