The Last Hurrah - Dec. 2018

JinxedSydney

Lurker Extraordinare
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
In April, the DH and I planned to surprise the DD's with a trip to DL the second weekend in December (Dec 8-11). I got my fingers busy and searched high and low for the best prices and hotels, food and whatnot. We are an eleven hour drive from the Mouse. We bought a 2016 ornament and planned on having them decorate the tree today and give the reveal.

Imagine my own surprise when the deeper I researched, the more I found that DL tickets were nearly the same prices as WDW ones (yes, yes, I know there are differences, but that is ANOTHER thread...don't hijack me). *A little backstory, the DH and I are celebrating our 25th at WDW in 2018 and we've always told the girls they weren't going.*

Armed with the pricing info and the lack of Dining Plan options, the wheels started turning. What IF we took them in 2018? The oldest will be a senior in high school, the youngest, a freshman. The timing was perfect. Our biggest cost is the airfare and this time buffer will allow us to save up! And use our Disney card to earn free Disney cash! Bonus!

Enter in brother, stage right, a DVC BLT guy. "Use my points," he said. But it makes me sad to just use the points, so we invite him to go. Now we are +3.

Of course, we have to ask my parents! They've been on the last two WDW trips with us. We LOVE going with them. Sometimes we hang out, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we eat together, sometimes they skip the ADR's. It's all good.:jumping1:

And why not ask my DH's parents? Sure! They've never gone with us before because Big Papa was a small business owner. But he's retired now. Guess what?! They said yes!

Add in my best friend, her hubby and their two boys and now we are clocking in at 15...with 726 days to go. So far, the plan is to split between two BLT rooms. The convenience of the Monorail for all of the grandparents is the most important, even though we never had issues with the buses on either of our previous trips. More people may join us, too. Lucky for us, we have plenty of time to get that ironed out.

As the DD's unwrapped the 2016 ornament this weekend, I had to explain we weren't going, they were both so sad...until they both burst into tears to hear that they would be going 2 years from now.

A two year pre-trip report? We'll see how I do. :duck: I already have been given a list of restaurants for ADR's. pixiedust:
 
So here I am, seven months later. Right now, our numbers are ranging between 11 and 17. I have a couple of spreadsheets to help me sort out the ADR dates, when to make FP+ reservations, MVMCP dates, etc. I figure if I can get those sorted early, it'll help.

DD's are in charge of their own spending and they are already, quite literally, pinching pennies. They sometimes fight over who can do the laundry and find the change. Do you hear me complaining about kids volunteering to do laundry? Nope.

We are under 500 days now...it's still a bit too much for a countdown chain.
:crazy2:
 
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Now for the good parts! Here's what we have planned:

Day 1: Travel day. We learned the first trip that leaving a full day for travel from the west coast to MCO is a very good plan. Just the thought of the last trip makes me cringe. So.Many.Problems. We were supposed to land at 4 pm Eastern and walked into the WL lobby at midnight. I'd rather be able to chill in the room and swim if we actually arrive on time this trip. :rotfl2:

Day 2: Epcot. Now that the girls are older, we are shifting our single park day to AK. Before, it's always been a single day at Epcot. We are going to try and hit the Coral Reef and the Candlelight Procession this night. Fingers crossed.

Day 3: Hollywood Studios. Really, the only thing we have planned this day, other than to walk around and be happy, is the Sci-Fi Diner. We've been there every trip and it is one of our favorites.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom. I admit, it's going to be strange not starting off the trip at MK. I mean, it's the park we love the most! This'll be our first time on the Dwarf roller coaster, and our second lunch at BOG. We LOVE the Master's bedroom, where the thunder scares the little kids and it's dark. Going to try Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party this night! It is our splurge for the trip.

Day 5: Epcot. I've stacked our Epcot days relatively close because of the crowd calendars. We are hoping for the same stroke of luck we had on the last trip, where we had a 7 pm dinner at the Rose and Crown and got to watch the fireworks sitting down. Never mind that our food and drinks were absolutely filled with debris!

Day 6: Hollywood Studios. This is the day we are looking forward to. If we leave HS early to swim or nap, no big deal. We are going to the early Hoop Dee Doo! And then, more swimming.

Day 7: Magic Kingdom. Starting the morning off with a breakfast at the Crystal Palace, with an early-in. And we'll be so close to the hotel, that we walk back for naps. See the trend? I know that we will be more tired. :cat:

Day 8: Animal Kingdom. Don't mind me...I'll be on the Safari ride All.Day.Long. I love it. The DH and I will celebrate our 25th at Ohana...maybe. Unless someone else has a better suggestion.

Day 9: Travel day. Sadness. :guilty:
 
Following! I love large groups in Disney, all of my favorite memories are from when we had 18 family members just enjoying our time together. Your plans so far seem great and I can't wait to see what else you have planned as the time goes on. MVMCP was an absolute blast last year and it'll be even better with all those lovely people to share it with!
 


I like spreadsheets. I've revisited mine several times due to changes in our party. But this is the rough calendar I have going:

10/1/17: Have Mom & Dad check with travel agent for packages


2/2/18: Brother will reserve both rooms. Put reservation number in Disney itinerary.


4/1/18: Reserve scooters for Mom & Dad


5/10/18: Check for MVMCP reservations


6/5/18: 180 day advanced Dining reservations


10/3/18: FP+ reservations


11/27/18: Make Amazon Prime grocery order for delivery on 12/2/18

Ohana has been axed in favor of the Grand Floridian Cafe. We've already wanted to go to the GF, but aren't the formal dinner types. This seems better suited to our needs.
 
Following along. Looking forward to reading more, your trip plan sounds wonderful!:flower1:
 
It strange when you make all of these plans and then life...happens.

FIL and MIL dropped out due to finances. Friend and her family dropped due to hubby's new promotion, leaving him with no vacation time in December for the next million years (not really, but almost).

But the hardest is when my dad was diagnosed with stage 4, inoperable cancer last month, the day after a heart attack. He's on the second round of chemo already and says that his goal is WDW next year. He's looking forward to it and it brings such joy to his face when we talk about it. Lord willing, he makes it there. :love:

So here we are, 1 year, 1 month, 2 weeks and 1 day from the airport. There are 9 of us going still, so I'm steamrolling ahead with the plans. Mom and Dad will be sharing a 2-bedroom with my family. My brother and company will be in the other room. Told Dad I was only getting him a scooter because I didn't want to hear him complain that Mom had one. :goodvibes Dad keeps a small list of things he wants to do, restaurants he wants to go to, so I'll make sure that happens. These are the only changes so far:

10/1/17: No longer necessary, since they'll be bunking with us.

1/15/18: Brother wants to try earlier to reserve both rooms, will check daily until it goes through. Put reservation number in Disney itinerary.
 



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