Sheaboys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2005
Hello and welcome to my first trip report! A little about me, I am a Mom to 5 amazing boys. I grew up loving disney. I have been to the world at the age of 9 months in 1972, a few times during the 70's, 80's and 90's. I introduced my husband to DisneyWorld on our honeymoon in 1995. We took our first born at the age of 6 months, in 1998. We went again in 1999, I took my 2 boys at the age of 2yr and age 5 months with my Mom in November of 2000. Again we went in May 2001, and I took them again in September 2001. After that, we had 3 kids we took to DisneyLand in December 2003 and hit the World in October 2005. Sadly a big hiatus, and did not go back until August 2012 with all 5 kiddos and then this trip. We are Massachusetts and my grandparents lived in Florida since 1971, so my Mom would get my brother and I on a bus and off we went, but then as times got better, we drove, then eventually flew. My parents moved down there in 1994, so I would take my kids often when Southwest had great $49-$69 one way flights, and we would go only for a night or two, when you could get an All Star Resort for $59 a night, who remembers those great days!!!
They lived on West Coast (just north of Tampa) so the commute was easy. We flew down alot, either as a family or just me and kids. Then we also have driven down and I have driven down with the kids myself. I have no problem just getting up and going if our schedules are clear. Sadly my mom passed away in 2007, I then moved my dad up here to be here near us, and he passed away in 2013. They were young, Mom at age 57 of cancer, and Dad age 64, well of missing mom and basically drinking himself to death, sad but true.
Anyhow..... I figured people would want to know how we managed to go so often, while it seemed often the trips with the little boys were short 1 or 2 nighters.
OK so now onto this trip report.
The who:
Me, 43, Mom to 5 boys
Dh, 43, Dad to 5 boys, person who keeps me in check.
Ds1, 16, a beginner driver and drives me everywhere.
Ds2, 14, Little one, and you will see why
Ds3,12, the loud one, the really, really, really, loud one
Ds4, 7, the birthday boy, turns 8 on our vacation, not a lover of rides
Ds5- 5, will ride anything he is tall enough for, has many faces
Grandpa- 65 ish
Grandma- 65 ish
How it became, I just decided in February we were going to DisneyWorld. Simple, I did lots of research, because I knew things changed from our 2012 trip. I checked prices, which shocked me, but did not deter me. I contacted the TA I used before, got a price, and booked it. WE were staying at Port Orleans Riverside (we stayed at Caribbean Beach in 2012). Two rooms obviously. At first it was August 17th-26th. Tickets were 9 day hopper passes. I booked all our own dining. But then when I went to book airfare through Southwest, it was cheaper to fly out on Saturday then Sunday and with an afternoon flight, so we were not up at 4am. So while yes, the room was more, the flight was less. I had points for all 7 of us, as we flew Southwest in 2012 and 2013 (we went to see my husbands sister in San Diego). I also use the Southwest Credit Card, so the points add up. I booked us, spent about $620 on 7 roundtrip tickets. Not bad at all.
Fast forward, a month, I was away at Show Choir competitions with Ds1, I get home to "Hey I talked to my parents and they want to go". Oh, ok. I was hesitant to be honest. They, much like my husband do not enjoy the heat, and they went a few years back with my husbands sister and her family for 3 days, and according to her, all they did was complain it was hot. This was in October, we were going end of August. So I asked again and again are you sure??? Yep, it was a go. So I contacted our TA, she changed the reservation to reflect adding them (this caused a mess up at check in, not huge just took forever). No big deal, on our end as we already had 2 rooms booked, everything showed up in MDE without me having to add them. However, I then had to rebook our dining, I did manage to get 9 instead of 7 in most places but had to cancel other places. No big deal though, because it worked out fine for us. I added their tickets. I went online and booked their flights, they had southwest points too, so I spent $280 on 2 round trip tickets. Not bad again!
So months pass, pretty fast as the 5 kids had school, show choir, baseball, tball, soccer, 6th grade graduation etc. I was the class treasurer for the 6th grade class and PTO Secretary and Treasurer for our Recreation Committee, so I had lots to wrap up. I also started at Planning Board Clerk for our town, so I have a small paying job. Then summer began. Our 2 oldest hit the road with our friends family for a trip to Arkansas to see their family, they were gone 3 weeks. During that time ds3 spent a week at the Cape with another family then a week in Maine with another family. The 2 youngest had 2 weeks of swim lessons. Upon getting home ds1 spent a week at Boy Scout camp as a leader. The 2 older boys also had 4 practices for show choir over the summer. Next we know it is the week we are leaving. The week before my inlaws decided they wanted to pay for the pre checkin thing Southwest has. Being a SW flier, I was not worried about not getting B and sitting together. They wanted to pay for 2 of the kids to do it with them, I am not in favor of "saving" seats, I was against this, but at this point I am like whatever. So they paid for themselves and 2 older boys. They all got A30 something, I checked in 24 hours and we all got B4, B5 then B20's. So I still think to pay $12.50 each way is a waste. But hey, that is just me.
All bags are packed, The older 2 had their own bags. I managed to get dh, myself, and 2 younger stuff in 1 big suitcase. But then to add shoes, and for some reason dh wanted to bring a life vest for Ds5, he insisted, even after I said he won't need it. I know this because I drove to Florida last year with the 5 kids, I did not take a life vest, he did great, but stayed with someone. And I knew there were probably life vests there and in 2012 at Caribbean he did not use it, but had to stay with someone. Dh is goes with caution more so than I do. So again, not a battle I will fight, so in goes the vest. Ds3, had room so I shifted some stuff added to his bag and we are ready. 7 people 5 bags.
Our flight is at 2:30pm on Saturday, August 16. I get the note and cash for our dog sitter, he will stay the night in the house with our great dane. All bags get tossed in the minivan and off we go. DH has ds1 call grandma and grandpa to see where they are. They live in the City, were as we live in the country. We were meeting at the Valet parking we pre-paid for ($62.50 for 10 days/nights). We managed to catch up with them on I91 South in CT. We at the Valet by noon, 30 minutes earlier than I put on the checkin. Dh hates to be late, and well...with 5 kids I am always late. Checked in the Valet no problem. We had a free cleaning from our 2012 visit when they got grease on the rug after an oil change. So handed that in as well.
WE were at the airport, checking our luggage in at 12:30pm. Dh and I were a bit worried about the big bag being over weight, but they never batted an eye or weighed any of our luggage.
The lines at Bradley for security were short, made it through no issues, I was chosen as the one to do the body scan for the family. Kids all had their own carry-ons with kindles and computers and homework. The grandparents have TSA approved security so they go right through faster than us. We are like herding cats through security, it is ridiculous, but for those with kids that out number parents you get it.
By now is 1ish and we are hungry, so McDonalds and some sandwich place near it is lunch. Grandma whips out these "gifts" from Auntie, it is their birthday gifts for this year (which for ds1, ds2, ds3 and ds5 had passed), so they all got some money and candy. Love Aunts... candy before a plane ride not so much.
Here is our first photo of the day:
The Bar near the gate, DH and his Dad aka Grandpa.
Then the seating arrangements:
Grandma, Ds3 and Ds4.
Grandpa, Ds4 and Ds5. Note the fake teeth that came in the Auntie gift pack on Ds4.
Dh, Me, and Ds1 (who had to do AP homework)
Grandma and Grandpa sat across from each other, and We were in front of Grandpa. I say Grandpa, got the short straw...the 2 youngest can be very high maintenance with the bathroom, changing things to do, etc. And Ds5, did stop talking the entire flight. When the flight started to decend, it was play by play about how the plane was going down. In fact, he would say something and people 3 rows in front of me, would repeat it because he sounded so cute. Anyway, Grandpa and kids did great.
We had Magical Express. Our flight left a little late, and arrived maybe 5 minutes late, I handed out our magic bands, which worked flawlessly. We had never used Magical Express (in 2012 we flew into tampa, rented a van and visited my Grandmother, then drove to Disney). It was a hike for sure. We decided to have them get out luggage, more on that later.
Magic Band happiness.
We were on the bus, and waited, and waited, probably about 20 minutes. Finally off, then we saw this:
Drop off Rotation was: SS, OKW (or maybe the other way around I can't remember) then POR (no stop at French Quarter). We arrived in the lobby about 7pm. An hour and half after landing.
Check in took a bit longer than I anticipated. I was able to get the kids in the grandparents room on our credit card for charging privileges. It took her longer to do this because when I added the inlaws to our reservation it changed the reservation in the system, this creating some type of problem. But after quite sometime all was well in Magic Band World. We were assigned connecting rooms 1714 and 1713, Alligator Bayou Section, which was a great location, an easy walk to the South Depot and Food Court, and right next to the quite pool and laundry. We loved our location.
This worked well for us. Ds4 slept in drop down, ds5 and ds1 shared a bed, in our room. In grandparents room, was ds3 who slept in drop down, and ds2 who slept in bed. At some point during the week, the kids moved around.
We stopped at the room, and I called bell services about our Garden Grocer Order. I swear this is the greatest thing ever. We like to relax by the pool with a few beers, so I bought, 2 packages of donuts, 6 cereals that you can add milk to for grandpa (who eats it every morning), 1/2 gallon of milk, 2 bottles of wine (for grandma and I), and 3 cases of beer (24 packs), 1 case of water, I think some other little stuff too, but can't remember. I had crackers, and some stuff in my bag from the plane ride. They arrived with our stuff, about 5 minutes after calling. In that time, the grandparents took the kids to get food. We met them there. By my memory we were all sitting and eating around 8:15 or so. We bought 7 mugs for our family and inlaws bought their own mugs. For my family of 7 with mugs and supper the total was $220ish I believe. Not sure on inlaws. We did length of stay mugs.
We were back in our rooms by 9:30, hoping to see our luggage....
Sadly not there. So we called bell services, and they said they were so busy, asked us for our information, told us one bag had been left at the airport. Our bags arrived at 10:30pm, then the lost bag at 11pm, when we were all tucked in.
What I would do differently.. if I had an earlier flight, definitely have luggage delivered, but after 4 or 5pm, then NO.. I thought 5.5 hours was bit much for luggage to arrive after your flight. While we did not get up at 4am for a flight we were still up by 7am. I was exhausted, as the night before our flight, Ds1 and his girlfriend were at Six Flags, dh and I went to pick them up and stopped for a coffee at 8pm. Big mistake, I had been up since 2am and never went back to sleep. I was done, done, done...
Next UP, First DAY!
They lived on West Coast (just north of Tampa) so the commute was easy. We flew down alot, either as a family or just me and kids. Then we also have driven down and I have driven down with the kids myself. I have no problem just getting up and going if our schedules are clear. Sadly my mom passed away in 2007, I then moved my dad up here to be here near us, and he passed away in 2013. They were young, Mom at age 57 of cancer, and Dad age 64, well of missing mom and basically drinking himself to death, sad but true.
Anyhow..... I figured people would want to know how we managed to go so often, while it seemed often the trips with the little boys were short 1 or 2 nighters.
OK so now onto this trip report.
The who:
Me, 43, Mom to 5 boys
Dh, 43, Dad to 5 boys, person who keeps me in check.
Ds1, 16, a beginner driver and drives me everywhere.
Ds2, 14, Little one, and you will see why
Ds3,12, the loud one, the really, really, really, loud one
Ds4, 7, the birthday boy, turns 8 on our vacation, not a lover of rides
Ds5- 5, will ride anything he is tall enough for, has many faces
Grandpa- 65 ish
Grandma- 65 ish
How it became, I just decided in February we were going to DisneyWorld. Simple, I did lots of research, because I knew things changed from our 2012 trip. I checked prices, which shocked me, but did not deter me. I contacted the TA I used before, got a price, and booked it. WE were staying at Port Orleans Riverside (we stayed at Caribbean Beach in 2012). Two rooms obviously. At first it was August 17th-26th. Tickets were 9 day hopper passes. I booked all our own dining. But then when I went to book airfare through Southwest, it was cheaper to fly out on Saturday then Sunday and with an afternoon flight, so we were not up at 4am. So while yes, the room was more, the flight was less. I had points for all 7 of us, as we flew Southwest in 2012 and 2013 (we went to see my husbands sister in San Diego). I also use the Southwest Credit Card, so the points add up. I booked us, spent about $620 on 7 roundtrip tickets. Not bad at all.
Fast forward, a month, I was away at Show Choir competitions with Ds1, I get home to "Hey I talked to my parents and they want to go". Oh, ok. I was hesitant to be honest. They, much like my husband do not enjoy the heat, and they went a few years back with my husbands sister and her family for 3 days, and according to her, all they did was complain it was hot. This was in October, we were going end of August. So I asked again and again are you sure??? Yep, it was a go. So I contacted our TA, she changed the reservation to reflect adding them (this caused a mess up at check in, not huge just took forever). No big deal, on our end as we already had 2 rooms booked, everything showed up in MDE without me having to add them. However, I then had to rebook our dining, I did manage to get 9 instead of 7 in most places but had to cancel other places. No big deal though, because it worked out fine for us. I added their tickets. I went online and booked their flights, they had southwest points too, so I spent $280 on 2 round trip tickets. Not bad again!
So months pass, pretty fast as the 5 kids had school, show choir, baseball, tball, soccer, 6th grade graduation etc. I was the class treasurer for the 6th grade class and PTO Secretary and Treasurer for our Recreation Committee, so I had lots to wrap up. I also started at Planning Board Clerk for our town, so I have a small paying job. Then summer began. Our 2 oldest hit the road with our friends family for a trip to Arkansas to see their family, they were gone 3 weeks. During that time ds3 spent a week at the Cape with another family then a week in Maine with another family. The 2 youngest had 2 weeks of swim lessons. Upon getting home ds1 spent a week at Boy Scout camp as a leader. The 2 older boys also had 4 practices for show choir over the summer. Next we know it is the week we are leaving. The week before my inlaws decided they wanted to pay for the pre checkin thing Southwest has. Being a SW flier, I was not worried about not getting B and sitting together. They wanted to pay for 2 of the kids to do it with them, I am not in favor of "saving" seats, I was against this, but at this point I am like whatever. So they paid for themselves and 2 older boys. They all got A30 something, I checked in 24 hours and we all got B4, B5 then B20's. So I still think to pay $12.50 each way is a waste. But hey, that is just me.
All bags are packed, The older 2 had their own bags. I managed to get dh, myself, and 2 younger stuff in 1 big suitcase. But then to add shoes, and for some reason dh wanted to bring a life vest for Ds5, he insisted, even after I said he won't need it. I know this because I drove to Florida last year with the 5 kids, I did not take a life vest, he did great, but stayed with someone. And I knew there were probably life vests there and in 2012 at Caribbean he did not use it, but had to stay with someone. Dh is goes with caution more so than I do. So again, not a battle I will fight, so in goes the vest. Ds3, had room so I shifted some stuff added to his bag and we are ready. 7 people 5 bags.
Our flight is at 2:30pm on Saturday, August 16. I get the note and cash for our dog sitter, he will stay the night in the house with our great dane. All bags get tossed in the minivan and off we go. DH has ds1 call grandma and grandpa to see where they are. They live in the City, were as we live in the country. We were meeting at the Valet parking we pre-paid for ($62.50 for 10 days/nights). We managed to catch up with them on I91 South in CT. We at the Valet by noon, 30 minutes earlier than I put on the checkin. Dh hates to be late, and well...with 5 kids I am always late. Checked in the Valet no problem. We had a free cleaning from our 2012 visit when they got grease on the rug after an oil change. So handed that in as well.
WE were at the airport, checking our luggage in at 12:30pm. Dh and I were a bit worried about the big bag being over weight, but they never batted an eye or weighed any of our luggage.
The lines at Bradley for security were short, made it through no issues, I was chosen as the one to do the body scan for the family. Kids all had their own carry-ons with kindles and computers and homework. The grandparents have TSA approved security so they go right through faster than us. We are like herding cats through security, it is ridiculous, but for those with kids that out number parents you get it.
By now is 1ish and we are hungry, so McDonalds and some sandwich place near it is lunch. Grandma whips out these "gifts" from Auntie, it is their birthday gifts for this year (which for ds1, ds2, ds3 and ds5 had passed), so they all got some money and candy. Love Aunts... candy before a plane ride not so much.
Here is our first photo of the day:
The Bar near the gate, DH and his Dad aka Grandpa.
Then the seating arrangements:
Grandma, Ds3 and Ds4.
Grandpa, Ds4 and Ds5. Note the fake teeth that came in the Auntie gift pack on Ds4.
Dh, Me, and Ds1 (who had to do AP homework)
Grandma and Grandpa sat across from each other, and We were in front of Grandpa. I say Grandpa, got the short straw...the 2 youngest can be very high maintenance with the bathroom, changing things to do, etc. And Ds5, did stop talking the entire flight. When the flight started to decend, it was play by play about how the plane was going down. In fact, he would say something and people 3 rows in front of me, would repeat it because he sounded so cute. Anyway, Grandpa and kids did great.
We had Magical Express. Our flight left a little late, and arrived maybe 5 minutes late, I handed out our magic bands, which worked flawlessly. We had never used Magical Express (in 2012 we flew into tampa, rented a van and visited my Grandmother, then drove to Disney). It was a hike for sure. We decided to have them get out luggage, more on that later.
Magic Band happiness.
We were on the bus, and waited, and waited, probably about 20 minutes. Finally off, then we saw this:
Drop off Rotation was: SS, OKW (or maybe the other way around I can't remember) then POR (no stop at French Quarter). We arrived in the lobby about 7pm. An hour and half after landing.
Check in took a bit longer than I anticipated. I was able to get the kids in the grandparents room on our credit card for charging privileges. It took her longer to do this because when I added the inlaws to our reservation it changed the reservation in the system, this creating some type of problem. But after quite sometime all was well in Magic Band World. We were assigned connecting rooms 1714 and 1713, Alligator Bayou Section, which was a great location, an easy walk to the South Depot and Food Court, and right next to the quite pool and laundry. We loved our location.
This worked well for us. Ds4 slept in drop down, ds5 and ds1 shared a bed, in our room. In grandparents room, was ds3 who slept in drop down, and ds2 who slept in bed. At some point during the week, the kids moved around.
We stopped at the room, and I called bell services about our Garden Grocer Order. I swear this is the greatest thing ever. We like to relax by the pool with a few beers, so I bought, 2 packages of donuts, 6 cereals that you can add milk to for grandpa (who eats it every morning), 1/2 gallon of milk, 2 bottles of wine (for grandma and I), and 3 cases of beer (24 packs), 1 case of water, I think some other little stuff too, but can't remember. I had crackers, and some stuff in my bag from the plane ride. They arrived with our stuff, about 5 minutes after calling. In that time, the grandparents took the kids to get food. We met them there. By my memory we were all sitting and eating around 8:15 or so. We bought 7 mugs for our family and inlaws bought their own mugs. For my family of 7 with mugs and supper the total was $220ish I believe. Not sure on inlaws. We did length of stay mugs.
We were back in our rooms by 9:30, hoping to see our luggage....
Sadly not there. So we called bell services, and they said they were so busy, asked us for our information, told us one bag had been left at the airport. Our bags arrived at 10:30pm, then the lost bag at 11pm, when we were all tucked in. What I would do differently.. if I had an earlier flight, definitely have luggage delivered, but after 4 or 5pm, then NO.. I thought 5.5 hours was bit much for luggage to arrive after your flight. While we did not get up at 4am for a flight we were still up by 7am. I was exhausted, as the night before our flight, Ds1 and his girlfriend were at Six Flags, dh and I went to pick them up and stopped for a coffee at 8pm. Big mistake, I had been up since 2am and never went back to sleep. I was done, done, done...
Next UP, First DAY!
We then waited in the line to place our order. I ordered everyone's meals together and Grandpa was quick to jump in to scan his band to pay. This was an ongoing thing with him. He would often jump in to pay first. Now, we know they are on a fixed income as they are retired, and we paid for their park tickets and plane, as it was something we wanted to do, so we also really did not want them picking up the tab for all meals either. In the end, our total bills at check out came out to be almost the same, so they were happy with that. 
Welcome!
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