texasroni75
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 26, 2011
As I write this pre-trip report, only DH and I know that we have actually booked and paid for the trip already! If we tell the kids too early,
we'll be nagged to near-insanity by the time the trip gets here. So, right now it's a surprise, although we don't plan a huge reveal.
We will be telling them at their (our two middle-kids) shared birthday party in August. Their birthdays are a week apart so we pick a Saturday near their birthdays and have ONE party. In the meantime, I am dropping hints about putting off our summer vacation until September because of DH's work schedule
Who: Me (38), DH (42), DD(12), DS(9), DS(23 months) - ages we will be at the time of the trip! (Oldest DD is 18 but she's not coming along this time)
When: September 15 21 2013
Where: All-Star Movies Resort
What: Roadtrip from TX to WDW - 2nd birthday and 1st visit for DS and 7th family trip to WDW. Also, DH and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.
We took our first Disney trip when we were a tiny family of 3 in 1999. It was our first official family vacation. Since then I've been hooked and have been trying to go back as often as our schedules and finances would allow. Jump forward to the present and we are now a family of 6! We were supposed to go last December but made a trip back to see family instead - since we hadn't seen them in 3 years, and it was our last opportunity to force our oldest DD to take a roadtrip with us LOL. ! So after much scrimping and saving and filling the mickey jar with our spare change
we have just booked and paid for our next trip, and I'm now focusing on the other details (of which there are quite a few!).
As I mentioned, this is our 7th WDW trip. Our first trip we stayed at All-Star Movies (Dalmations), and they had JUST opened a week before our visit so our impressions of the resort on that trip were just awesome. I know it's now 14 years older and probably has some issues that come along with that but I know they did a refurb in the not-too-distant past so I'm hopeful it's not TOO different from then. We primarily use our hotels for sleeping, showering and changing, and rarely use the resort amenities so I think we'll be just fine.
The biggest difference for this trip is that we will be taking advantage of the Free QS Dining. I know lots of people say it's not a big savings and might be complicated and inconvenient, but I've done my research and based on our own eating habits (we usually eat ONE table service meal on each trip and like to wing-it and share counter service meals and snacks), I really think it's a great value for us. Just glossing over our typical meals it's likely going to give us even more food than we'd buy if we were paying totally OOP.
Each trip I try to make a little theme/project for myself. Our last trip I dubbed my CHOCOLATE trip. I picked up something chocolate in nearly every store in the parks, and all the countries in Epcot. I brought it all home and enjoyed remembering where I had purchased it, and made me happy for many weeks.
This time I'm planning on using my free dining snack credits to do a CUPCAKE A DAY. At this point is where the TR title comes into play. When I mentioned my cupcake plans, and suggested I might even convince the kids to share snack credits with me too, DH looked at me and my "finally lost the baby weight even though the baby is now nearly 2" body - and suggested bringing along what I call my fat pants - stretchy waist pants I wear when the scales tip too far in the upward direction after too many holiday or vacation treats. Thankfully I was in a good mood at the time, thinking of all the lovely delicious Disney cupcakes and decided what he really meant was that I am so VERY thin right now and that he was just thinking of my comfort on our vacation!
How Driving! Having completed a 13 day roadtrip from TX to NJ to TX last summer, and from TX to WDW in 2009, we know it CAN be done! Would I prefer to fly? I'm not sure. It's definitely not as easy or fun to fly as it was 10-15 years ago. The thought of getting 3 kids and all our stuff through security alone sends chills down my spine. DH also gets airsick, so he has to take dramamine and sleeps the whole flight, so I'd be watching over 3 kids on the plane by myself. Bleh!
Plus, I've done the math and it saves us about $1000 over flying. So, DH will be the primary driver, and I am probably going to drive only about
10%, if that. DH doesn't like being a passenger.
More Detailed Introductions
As mentioned above, we are a family of 6 and live in Central Texas (just outside Austin). A little more about us and our personalities!
Me (38) Roni (short for macaroni it's a family nickname, don't ask!). I was born and raised in New Jersey (no NOT the shore although we did go to the shore every summer so no Jersey criticism please I lived in the suburbs about a 20 minute drive from Manhattan on the Jersey side.
After years of shoveling snow, I always dreamed of the day I could move somewhere WARM and my wish came true in 2009 when we put the house on the market and made the big move to Central Texas. It's hard being so far from all of my extended family but it's been a great experience living here and have no plans to move anywhere else! The only bad thing is that it's still much farther away from DISNEY than I would like to be. 17 driving hours away.
I'm mom to 4 awesome kids, ages 18, 11, 8 and 21 months. In moving here to Texas I finally became a SAHM after 15 years of
being a full-time working mom. I definitely have less road rage, and love being able to walk my son home from school each day.
I am the planner of the family, doing our budget and itinerary, as well as major food lover. So, I will be the one mapping out our days and taking pics of all our meals.
This is my first Trip Report, so bear with me while I work out the kinks in its design and flow. This will also be my first time creating a real
Trip Journal and Food Blog. I've been reading the ones here for months, so I have an idea of what I need to do, but I might miss a few details due to inexperience and/or kid-care duties while in WDW.
One of my pre-vacation purchases is an awesome new camera to help capture the magic!
DH (41) Grumpy. Grumpy and I have been together for 20 years. You won't see many (if any!) pictures of hubby on these trip reports. He avoids pictures and rarely smiles in them
when I do catch him. I call it his glare - but he will gladly take a zillion photos of me and the kids. He indulges my Disney addiction
as much as possible and works hard so we have everything we need. He works with estate sales and antiques and collectibles,
and he regularly picks up Disney collectors stuff for me when he comes across it. Gotta love him for that!
DD (18) Sleeping Beauty. She loves Disney as much as I do and is my fellow rollercoaster enthusiast. This will be our first trip to
Disney without her. (Actually our first vacation ANYWHERE without her). I'm sad, but she's starting college in August and just cannot get away to come along with us. Plus she's
NOT keen on the idea of another roadtrip with all of us after driving 3 days each way to visit the family this past summer. She said
if we flew her down and got her a room for herself she'd find a way to go without affecting her classes. Ummmm. no. LOL. Nice try though.
DD (11) Princess Jess. She loves Disney too and is in the tween stage where she is giving up barbies and experimenting with
makeup and finding her way through Middle School. She turns 12 a few weeks before our trip. She is a sweetheart who loves puppies and helps me around the house more
than anyone else. Our last trip she wore her Belle dress and tiara but (sniffle!) she's too big for that stuff now. She will be tall enough for rollercoasters this time, but she's not sure if she wants to try
them all just yet. She is not too cool, however, for pics with characters so I can still get her to the Meet and Greets!
DS(8) Prince James. He is a real character, who loves Disney channel shows, as well as guy stuff like Star Wars, Indiana Jones,
Marvel characters and Club Penguin. He is at the perfect age now to start some of the non-baby rides too. He will be turning 9 a month before this trip. He's a bit nervous about
going upside down so he'll probably stick to the tamer rides this time around.
DS(21 months) JackJack. He's a loving little man, small for his age but very opinionated even though he still isn't talking.
He has some developmental delays and some sensory issues, but is doing great in therapy and is the light of my life!
This will be his first trip to Disney and I'm hoping that he's as into it as I am. After all, he's been home with me since birth watching
Disney movies, Disney channel, and eating his meals off of my collection of Disney placemats. He does dance along to the theme song for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he's great in a stroller
so I think he'll do okay. He will be turning 2 on the day we return home from this trip.
Why We Chose to Visit in September
We've been to WDW in December, January, February and March. We've seen the Osbourne lights and ended up one year at the same resort
as cheering groups (which weren't nearly as bad as some say, but still tied us up at the food courts and made some extra noise in the courtyard).
I've been to WDW while pregnant, with a toddler, and with a teen with a stomach virus. We've taken my mother on all our other trips except the last one.
We've been there when it's too cold to swim, when it's so hot a Mickey bar melts before you are 2 bites in, and when it rained all day.
We've had trips where everything was a 90 minute wait, and trips where we could walk on rides 5 times in a row.
I'm pretty sure we can handle whatever comes our way! (knock on wood)
This time, it seems like a relatively easy crew. We can divide and conquer if we choose to (DH and the boys, Me and DD).
So, after much research and getting the best bang for our buck, we chose September mainly due to the low crowd predictions, and the free dining.
We live in a very hot climate. The last 2 summers we had 3 months of 100+ degree weather. So, we aren't afraid of the heat and know how to plan for it.
We've taking many camping vacations in the spring and summer in the Northeast, so rain showers aren't an issue either! We actually remember the rainy days on our past trips as some of the best!
Although due to high humidity in the parks in September, I will likely have terrible hair days throughout this trip, so I am already resigning myself to wearing it in a bun or braid or risk looking like the Beast with a giant frizzy mane. Just a side-note that I normally take great pains with my hair and appearance but it's pointless to even try to fight the weather.
The only real issue with September was school for our middle children. I decided this trip was worth taking them out for 5 days.
I did this once before in 2009, and they can get their assignments ahead of time so they don't fall behind.
Some may disagree, but I don't think I'm a bad parent for doing this once every 4 years.
Why We Chose To Stay at All-Star Movies
We use our hotel room as a place to shower, change and sleep. Someday when the kids are all grown and it's just me and DH,
we will probably head over the the Deluxe resorts and hang out in the bar, lounge at the pool, use the spa amenities and
fall in love all over again at the fanciest TS restaurants (ha ha!). But for now, I know we will be too exhausted after spending the days in the parks to really
get our money's-worth out of a bigger and fancier room. Our mindset is: we are here to enjoy the parks, we do NOT want to drive to the parks each day,
we do NOT want to leave the Disney bubble, and for sure I am NOT going to COOK (toasting a bagel in the food court is the most I plan to do!), so I do not need a kitchen..
We've stayed at Value resorts and Moderates, and they have all been beautiful and clean.
The Basic Plan
We are staying 6 nights/7days with a 7 day hopper pass. No water parks we have one in our own town that is 5 dollars anytime we feel like going, so the pools at the resort are fine for us if we feel the need to take a dip! We will likely spend the 7th day in the park, drive a little bit off-site
and spend the night at an off-property location. Then Day 8(till early afternoon) will be spent at Downtown Disney Marketplace
to shop a little, eat at WPE, and then start the drive home.
We don't have set-in-stone days for each park, but plan to pick whatever park we feel like that day based on recommendations,
and avoiding whatever park is busiest that day. We like to park-hop on Animal Kingdom days, spending the morning in AK,
and heading to another park after (since AK closes earliest). We've also been known to skip out of DHS or MK to stop in Epcot
just to get some dessert before heading back to our room. I'm a sucker for the French pastries.
Because we aren't deciding ahead of time which parks to visit on each day, and we typically eat 90% of our meals at
Counter-service, ADRs really don't work well for us. Yes, I realize we may be missing out on visiting some really beautiful
restaurants, and a wider menu variety, but with small kids, a tight budget and not wanting to plan our days around a meal, we aren't even making one single
ADR this trip. In fact, we only made 2 ADRs in all of our trips combined (Chef Mickeys on our very first trip in 1999 that my sister
actually reserved so our kids could experience it together. And then 50s Prime Time on our last trip, which we ended up cancelling because it ended up being inconvenient.
And DH (aka Grumpy) gets low blood sugar crankiness if he doesn't get to eat within 20-30 minutes of when he feels really hungry.
So, we will be doing the counter-service meals at whatever place is closest when I start to see the signs he's about to crash and burn.
His only request for this trip is that he gets to have steak somewhere at least once. I think we can make that happen.
We've got just under 12 weeks left until we leave for our trip so I'll be adding things as we get closer. I hope some of you will follow along on our adventure!
we'll be nagged to near-insanity by the time the trip gets here. So, right now it's a surprise, although we don't plan a huge reveal.
We will be telling them at their (our two middle-kids) shared birthday party in August. Their birthdays are a week apart so we pick a Saturday near their birthdays and have ONE party. In the meantime, I am dropping hints about putting off our summer vacation until September because of DH's work schedule
Who: Me (38), DH (42), DD(12), DS(9), DS(23 months) - ages we will be at the time of the trip! (Oldest DD is 18 but she's not coming along this time)
When: September 15 21 2013
Where: All-Star Movies Resort
What: Roadtrip from TX to WDW - 2nd birthday and 1st visit for DS and 7th family trip to WDW. Also, DH and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.
We took our first Disney trip when we were a tiny family of 3 in 1999. It was our first official family vacation. Since then I've been hooked and have been trying to go back as often as our schedules and finances would allow. Jump forward to the present and we are now a family of 6! We were supposed to go last December but made a trip back to see family instead - since we hadn't seen them in 3 years, and it was our last opportunity to force our oldest DD to take a roadtrip with us LOL. ! So after much scrimping and saving and filling the mickey jar with our spare change
we have just booked and paid for our next trip, and I'm now focusing on the other details (of which there are quite a few!).
As I mentioned, this is our 7th WDW trip. Our first trip we stayed at All-Star Movies (Dalmations), and they had JUST opened a week before our visit so our impressions of the resort on that trip were just awesome. I know it's now 14 years older and probably has some issues that come along with that but I know they did a refurb in the not-too-distant past so I'm hopeful it's not TOO different from then. We primarily use our hotels for sleeping, showering and changing, and rarely use the resort amenities so I think we'll be just fine.
The biggest difference for this trip is that we will be taking advantage of the Free QS Dining. I know lots of people say it's not a big savings and might be complicated and inconvenient, but I've done my research and based on our own eating habits (we usually eat ONE table service meal on each trip and like to wing-it and share counter service meals and snacks), I really think it's a great value for us. Just glossing over our typical meals it's likely going to give us even more food than we'd buy if we were paying totally OOP.
Each trip I try to make a little theme/project for myself. Our last trip I dubbed my CHOCOLATE trip. I picked up something chocolate in nearly every store in the parks, and all the countries in Epcot. I brought it all home and enjoyed remembering where I had purchased it, and made me happy for many weeks.
This time I'm planning on using my free dining snack credits to do a CUPCAKE A DAY. At this point is where the TR title comes into play. When I mentioned my cupcake plans, and suggested I might even convince the kids to share snack credits with me too, DH looked at me and my "finally lost the baby weight even though the baby is now nearly 2" body - and suggested bringing along what I call my fat pants - stretchy waist pants I wear when the scales tip too far in the upward direction after too many holiday or vacation treats. Thankfully I was in a good mood at the time, thinking of all the lovely delicious Disney cupcakes and decided what he really meant was that I am so VERY thin right now and that he was just thinking of my comfort on our vacation!
How Driving! Having completed a 13 day roadtrip from TX to NJ to TX last summer, and from TX to WDW in 2009, we know it CAN be done! Would I prefer to fly? I'm not sure. It's definitely not as easy or fun to fly as it was 10-15 years ago. The thought of getting 3 kids and all our stuff through security alone sends chills down my spine. DH also gets airsick, so he has to take dramamine and sleeps the whole flight, so I'd be watching over 3 kids on the plane by myself. Bleh!
Plus, I've done the math and it saves us about $1000 over flying. So, DH will be the primary driver, and I am probably going to drive only about
10%, if that. DH doesn't like being a passenger.
More Detailed Introductions
As mentioned above, we are a family of 6 and live in Central Texas (just outside Austin). A little more about us and our personalities!
Me (38) Roni (short for macaroni it's a family nickname, don't ask!). I was born and raised in New Jersey (no NOT the shore although we did go to the shore every summer so no Jersey criticism please
I lived in the suburbs about a 20 minute drive from Manhattan on the Jersey side. After years of shoveling snow, I always dreamed of the day I could move somewhere WARM and my wish came true in 2009 when we put the house on the market and made the big move to Central Texas. It's hard being so far from all of my extended family but it's been a great experience living here and have no plans to move anywhere else! The only bad thing is that it's still much farther away from DISNEY than I would like to be. 17 driving hours away.
I'm mom to 4 awesome kids, ages 18, 11, 8 and 21 months. In moving here to Texas I finally became a SAHM after 15 years of
being a full-time working mom. I definitely have less road rage, and love being able to walk my son home from school each day.
I am the planner of the family, doing our budget and itinerary, as well as major food lover. So, I will be the one mapping out our days and taking pics of all our meals.
This is my first Trip Report, so bear with me while I work out the kinks in its design and flow. This will also be my first time creating a real
Trip Journal and Food Blog. I've been reading the ones here for months, so I have an idea of what I need to do, but I might miss a few details due to inexperience and/or kid-care duties while in WDW.
One of my pre-vacation purchases is an awesome new camera to help capture the magic!
DH (41) Grumpy. Grumpy and I have been together for 20 years. You won't see many (if any!) pictures of hubby on these trip reports. He avoids pictures and rarely smiles in them
when I do catch him. I call it his glare - but he will gladly take a zillion photos of me and the kids. He indulges my Disney addiction
as much as possible and works hard so we have everything we need. He works with estate sales and antiques and collectibles,
and he regularly picks up Disney collectors stuff for me when he comes across it. Gotta love him for that!
DD (18) Sleeping Beauty. She loves Disney as much as I do and is my fellow rollercoaster enthusiast. This will be our first trip to
Disney without her. (Actually our first vacation ANYWHERE without her). I'm sad, but she's starting college in August and just cannot get away to come along with us. Plus she's
NOT keen on the idea of another roadtrip with all of us after driving 3 days each way to visit the family this past summer. She said
if we flew her down and got her a room for herself she'd find a way to go without affecting her classes. Ummmm. no. LOL. Nice try though.
DD (11) Princess Jess. She loves Disney too and is in the tween stage where she is giving up barbies and experimenting with
makeup and finding her way through Middle School. She turns 12 a few weeks before our trip. She is a sweetheart who loves puppies and helps me around the house more
than anyone else. Our last trip she wore her Belle dress and tiara but (sniffle!) she's too big for that stuff now. She will be tall enough for rollercoasters this time, but she's not sure if she wants to try
them all just yet. She is not too cool, however, for pics with characters so I can still get her to the Meet and Greets!
DS(8) Prince James. He is a real character, who loves Disney channel shows, as well as guy stuff like Star Wars, Indiana Jones,
Marvel characters and Club Penguin. He is at the perfect age now to start some of the non-baby rides too. He will be turning 9 a month before this trip. He's a bit nervous about
going upside down so he'll probably stick to the tamer rides this time around.
DS(21 months) JackJack. He's a loving little man, small for his age but very opinionated even though he still isn't talking.
He has some developmental delays and some sensory issues, but is doing great in therapy and is the light of my life!
This will be his first trip to Disney and I'm hoping that he's as into it as I am. After all, he's been home with me since birth watching
Disney movies, Disney channel, and eating his meals off of my collection of Disney placemats. He does dance along to the theme song for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he's great in a stroller
so I think he'll do okay. He will be turning 2 on the day we return home from this trip.
Why We Chose to Visit in September
We've been to WDW in December, January, February and March. We've seen the Osbourne lights and ended up one year at the same resort
as cheering groups (which weren't nearly as bad as some say, but still tied us up at the food courts and made some extra noise in the courtyard).
I've been to WDW while pregnant, with a toddler, and with a teen with a stomach virus. We've taken my mother on all our other trips except the last one.
We've been there when it's too cold to swim, when it's so hot a Mickey bar melts before you are 2 bites in, and when it rained all day.
We've had trips where everything was a 90 minute wait, and trips where we could walk on rides 5 times in a row.
I'm pretty sure we can handle whatever comes our way! (knock on wood)
This time, it seems like a relatively easy crew. We can divide and conquer if we choose to (DH and the boys, Me and DD).
So, after much research and getting the best bang for our buck, we chose September mainly due to the low crowd predictions, and the free dining.
We live in a very hot climate. The last 2 summers we had 3 months of 100+ degree weather. So, we aren't afraid of the heat and know how to plan for it.
We've taking many camping vacations in the spring and summer in the Northeast, so rain showers aren't an issue either!
We actually remember the rainy days on our past trips as some of the best! Although due to high humidity in the parks in September, I will likely have terrible hair days throughout this trip, so I am already resigning myself to wearing it in a bun or braid or risk looking like the Beast with a giant frizzy mane. Just a side-note that I normally take great pains with my hair and appearance but it's pointless to even try to fight the weather.
The only real issue with September was school for our middle children. I decided this trip was worth taking them out for 5 days.
I did this once before in 2009, and they can get their assignments ahead of time so they don't fall behind.
Some may disagree, but I don't think I'm a bad parent for doing this once every 4 years.
Why We Chose To Stay at All-Star Movies
We use our hotel room as a place to shower, change and sleep. Someday when the kids are all grown and it's just me and DH,
we will probably head over the the Deluxe resorts and hang out in the bar, lounge at the pool, use the spa amenities and
fall in love all over again at the fanciest TS restaurants (ha ha!). But for now, I know we will be too exhausted after spending the days in the parks to really
get our money's-worth out of a bigger and fancier room. Our mindset is: we are here to enjoy the parks, we do NOT want to drive to the parks each day,
we do NOT want to leave the Disney bubble, and for sure I am NOT going to COOK (toasting a bagel in the food court is the most I plan to do!), so I do not need a kitchen..
We've stayed at Value resorts and Moderates, and they have all been beautiful and clean.
The Basic Plan
We are staying 6 nights/7days with a 7 day hopper pass. No water parks we have one in our own town that is 5 dollars anytime we feel like going, so the pools at the resort are fine for us if we feel the need to take a dip! We will likely spend the 7th day in the park, drive a little bit off-site
and spend the night at an off-property location. Then Day 8(till early afternoon) will be spent at Downtown Disney Marketplace
to shop a little, eat at WPE, and then start the drive home.
We don't have set-in-stone days for each park, but plan to pick whatever park we feel like that day based on recommendations,
and avoiding whatever park is busiest that day. We like to park-hop on Animal Kingdom days, spending the morning in AK,
and heading to another park after (since AK closes earliest). We've also been known to skip out of DHS or MK to stop in Epcot
just to get some dessert before heading back to our room. I'm a sucker for the French pastries.
Because we aren't deciding ahead of time which parks to visit on each day, and we typically eat 90% of our meals at
Counter-service, ADRs really don't work well for us. Yes, I realize we may be missing out on visiting some really beautiful
restaurants, and a wider menu variety, but with small kids, a tight budget and not wanting to plan our days around a meal, we aren't even making one single
ADR this trip. In fact, we only made 2 ADRs in all of our trips combined (Chef Mickeys on our very first trip in 1999 that my sister
actually reserved so our kids could experience it together. And then 50s Prime Time on our last trip, which we ended up cancelling because it ended up being inconvenient.
And DH (aka Grumpy) gets low blood sugar crankiness if he doesn't get to eat within 20-30 minutes of when he feels really hungry.
So, we will be doing the counter-service meals at whatever place is closest when I start to see the signs he's about to crash and burn.
His only request for this trip is that he gets to have steak somewhere at least once. I think we can make that happen.
We've got just under 12 weeks left until we leave for our trip so I'll be adding things as we get closer. I hope some of you will follow along on our adventure!
please include some food pictures along with reviews.
