It's Family-moon time!

[momto3gr8boys]

Aside from a few tidbits here and there, I have never actually composed a trip report (pre or post) before. But this time I thought it might be fun to plan and have it all in one place. And feedback is always great too! Here goes!

What: A Familymoon! What's a familymoon you ask? Good question. My happy family of five came about in a bit of an untraditional way. I have three great boys from a previous relationship, and a fantastic wife who is every bit of a mother to them. Last year when same-sex marriage was legalized in NY, we finally had an opportunity to marry and complete our family. Clara, (DW) and I were lucky enough to have a real honeymoon (we went to Africa, and yes, the Lion King CD was looping through my brain the whole time ), but we also wanted to do something as a family, and that is when we decided on a Family-moon. And being a hopelessly addicted Disney family, there was only one logical choice!

When: The timing was the big problem. The boys are teens (ages 16,14 and 12) so long gone are the days of pulling them out of school for a Disney trip. They are also involved in certain activities (travel ice hockey, drama and the music programs at school), which not only run all year long, but interfere with school vacations. We thought maybe we could go over an extended break in May, but with the school days lost from Sandy, we may no longer have those days off. We ultimately decided on our usual end of August for a few reasons and will be in the World from 8/18/13-8/27/13

Where: We currently have ressies at Poly (two rooms) 8/18-8/22 and a 2 BR villa at BCV 8/22-8/27. Unfortunately there are no current promotions and no PINs coming my way, I currently have a MYW with 10 day park hoppers for the Poly and a room only for BCV. I'm hoping this will change and a promotion will come along!

Our resort history and how we chose these two: At least one of us has stayed in values (all of the All Stars and POP), moderates (POFQ, CBR) and deluxe (WL, BC, CR, Poly, BW, OKW). My favorite is the BC, mainly because of its location. I love the resort and SAB, but even more I love the proximity to Epcot and HS. We are an Epcot family...even since the boys were very young, and to be able to walk over at any time is great. One year the boys were in the pool at 8:45 when I asked if they wanted to hop out and catch Illuminations, and we did! It's those opportunities that keep me coming back to the BC. But since this was a more special trip than usual, I thought we should try something the boys had been asking for. My oldest has been asking for Poly since he was three. I took him over there one night to watch the EWP on the beach when he was three, and since then he has always asked. The other two wanted the AKL, which I had considered since it would extend our African honeymoon theme, but I am always put off a bit as to how far it is from everything. We will get there someday, but for this trip it's the Poly and BC. Unless I change my mind

Who: And now for the cast of characters:

Me (Christine): I am a Disney nut. I love Disney, everything about Disney, and could be very happy visiting the World several times a year! As much as I love the trip itself, I get obsessed with the planning! I love to read these boards, check out websites, plan dinners, pore over menus, find new and exciting things to do each time we go, etc. etc. I know most of you here can understand even if my family thinks I'm nuts!

Clara (DW): She enjoys Disney and appreciates all I do to make these trips magical, but she doesn't quite understand how I can spend hours and hours and hours reading about other people's trips and debates over refillable mugs and strollers Oh well, she goes along with it all.

Connor (DS 16): He inherited my Disney genes and although he's 16 1/2, he still gets excited and gets into the planning. He has already given me a list of about 15 TS places he'd like to eat at this trip

Aidan (DS 14): would like to be an Imagineer when he grows up! Loves Disney and goes with the flow...he's happy doing whatever we do.

Evan (DS 12): Let him wave a napkin at Chef Mickey's and he's good to go!

The great thing about the boys is that they've encountered the magic on different age appropriate levels their whole lives, and they still find new and exciting aspects to each trip.

Ok, on to the planning. Next up, possible Dining choices and special events.

[DMGeurts]

I am here to follow along... Looking forward to hearing all about your plans!

D~

[OregonMomToWDW]

I am here for the ride too. Can't wait to see your dining information. I have changed mine several times.

[momto3gr8boys]

Originally Posted by OregonMomToWDW

I am here for the ride too. Can't wait to see your dining information. I have changed mine several times.

Great! I am going to list my dining preferences right now, but realistically the list will need to be cut down! I'm just putting it all out there though and will work off that list!

[momto3gr8boys]

Ok, it's time for me to start to work out our dining. Even though I have 229 days to go, and no park hours yet, I at least want to have it narrowed down to where way before that time. So here goes...this is the list, in no particular order. This is compiled from family requests, old favorites and new places we haven't tried. I will denote those with an * and would love feedback!

AK options:

Yak and Yeti
Flame Tree BBQ
Tusker House

DHS options:

Sci-Fi
Brown Derby (possibly Dinner with an Imagineer)
50's Prime Time

Epcot options:

Coral Reef
Sunshine Seasons
Le Cellier
Rose and Crown
Via Napoli*
Mexico (usually San Angel, but there's that new place we haven't tried...need to check into that).
And we like to "dine around the world" at the CS places

MK

BOG* (prob. for lunch)
Crystal Palace (kids love it...I'm hoping to drop it this trip lol)
Tony's*
LTT

DTD

Raglan Road*

Resorts:

AKL - Boma*

BC - Cape May
Beaches and Cream

BW - Flying Fish
ESPN Zone

CR - Chef Mickey

Poly - Ohana
Kona Cafe
Captain Cook's

WL - Artist's Point*
Whispering Canyon Cafe

Dinner Shows:
HDD
SoA*

These are mostly TS, and obviously we can't visit them all! But I think this is my starting list.

[Coconuts]

Count me in for the ride! DH also doesn't understand how I can spend hours on the Disboards reading endless threads debating the best/worst restaurants, touring strategies, etc. Although in the last few years he has become quite the WDW addict and now the whole family looks forward to the next trip.

I posted before I realized that you had possible restaurants listed so I'll take a look.

[matkensgirl2000]

Originally Posted by momto3gr8boys

Ok, it's time for me to start to work out our dining. Even though I have 229 days to go, and no park hours yet, I at least want to have it narrowed down to where way before that time. So here goes...this is the list, in no particular order. This is compiled from family requests, old favorites and new places we haven't tried. I will denote those with an * and would love feedback!

AK options:

Yak and Yeti
Flame Tree BBQ
Tusker House

DHS options:

Sci-Fi
Brown Derby (possibly Dinner with an Imagineer)
50's Prime Time

Epcot options:

Coral Reef
Sunshine Seasons
Le Cellier
Rose and Crown
Via Napoli*
Mexico (usually San Angel, but there's that new place we haven't tried...need to check into that).
And we like to "dine around the world" at the CS places

MK

BOG* (prob. for lunch)
Crystal Palace (kids love it...I'm hoping to drop it this trip lol)
Tony's*
LTT

DTD

Raglan Road*

Resorts:

AKL - Boma*

BC - Cape May
Beaches and Cream

BW - Flying Fish
ESPN Zone

CR - Chef Mickey

Poly - Ohana
Kona Cafe
Captain Cook's

WL - Artist's Point*
Whispering Canyon Cafe

Dinner Shows:
HDD
SoA*

These are mostly TS, and obviously we can't visit them all! But I think this is my starting list.

I am late on this but....
You have GOT to do Boma. I love it, love it, love it and it is very in keeping with your African honeymoon theme! It is so good and a must-do for me. I hope I don't melt away because we're not doing it so far this time.

We've done Via Napoli...don't go for the pasta, go for the PIZZA! The other entrees were a big "meh" at best but the pizza was deeeeeeevine.

[momto3gr8boys]

Originally Posted by DMGeurts

I am here to follow along... Looking forward to hearing all about your plans!

D~

Thanks for following along!

[Coconuts]

We usually do one or two days less of park tickets than length of stay. We use the non park days to hang at the resort, do DTD and shop, rent a boat at our resort. There's so much to do at WDW, and if you have tickets to a water park, that's a whole day right there. If I would be saving $1000 and the only downside is losing 2 park days, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[StitchIsOurHero]

Ooh, that sounds like a fun change! And great savings! We usually always have at least one non-park day! We swim, sleep in, and usually go to another resort or DtD for dinner! I love those days!

[momto3gr8boys]

Originally Posted by Coconuts

We usually do one or two days less of park tickets than length of stay. We use the non park days to hang at the resort, do DTD and shop, rent a boat at our resort. There's so much to do at WDW, and if you have tickets to a water park, that's a whole day right there. If I would be saving $1000 and the only downside is losing 2 park days, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Originally Posted by StitchIsOurHero

Ooh, that sounds like a fun change! And great savings! We usually always have at least one non-park day! We swim, sleep in, and usually go to another resort or DtD for dinner! I love those days!

Ok, you've both convinced me having a non-park day is a good thing! And now I need to wrap my head around another change ugh!

With the current set up I have the Poly booked first and BC second with my 10 day PHs on the Poly ressie. If I switch over to Magical Vacations, the "package" is for the BC and therefore the tickets (8 day PH with bonus) are attached to that ressie. Which means I can not begin to use those tickets until I check into the BC (five days into my trip). So that is not feasible. So Angela, the TA, who has been very patient with me, asked if I would consider doing the BC first and the Poly second. Can you believe I am stuck on this? What is wrong with me?? We are talking about $2800 and all I need to do is get it out of my head that Poly comes before BC...I think I've lost my mind

So I casually mention this to my 16 year old DS, (the reason for the Poly leg of this trip) and he looked at me like this: and said um, that's a no brainer. Why did I think a teenage boy would care what order we did resorts in?

So now I am officially waiting on three quotes from Angela which I think will cover all configurations of hotel rooms and tix and discounts and I'm going with the cheapes

But in other exciting Disney news, my photopass+ voucher came today!! Woo Hoo!!! Ok, I am aware I have 220+ days to actually use it, but in the meantime I can look at all the awesome stock photos that came on a CD with the voucher Off to check them out and stalk my email for deals from Angela!

[momto3gr8boys]

Well, here I am a week later and still no concrete trip booked. I'm glad I have my current reservation because I would be stressing with how long it seems to be taking Magical Vacations to figure out all the aspects of what I want!

But my dates are firm because I BOOKED MY AIR THIS MORNING!!!!!

To me, nothing seals a vacation like airline tickets Air from JFK seems relatively low for August right now. It's been a while since I've been able to get an early departure going (shhh....we won't tell Clara just how early yet...it'll be more like a surprise the night before ) and a late departure coming home (because I'm all about maximizing the Disney time!) for under $300 a ticket, but I was today and my Chase points covered most of it

So that's out of the way . Now I'm off to study DMGeurts adorable little trip planners - I think I'm going to make one for each family member and that is how I will present them with their itineraries!

[momto3gr8boys]

Hurry up and wait! Or at least that is how I feel right now . We just got back from a long weekend in Puerto Rico and I am still waiting on confirmation from MVT for my booking. I have the confirmation numbers for the Poly, but not the BC yet as the TA said Disney has been very behind since the first of the year. Um, new website problems, maybe? Frustrating, but I am so happy to have the park hours for August!!!

Here is a link to them in case you haven't seen them yet:

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/St...lendar_aug.pdf

So, it's cold and rainy out - perfect day to start really planning this trip! I need to start to figure out our park days and ADRs.

In the meantime, here's a little memory from a previous trip. This was during a Pirate and Princess party back in August 2007, so they were 11, 9 and 6 at the time:

[Floridagram]

Originally Posted by momto3gr8boys

Ok, you've both convinced me having a non-park day is a good thing! And now I need to wrap my head around another change ugh!

With the current set up I have the Poly booked first and BC second with my 10 day PHs on the Poly ressie. If I switch over to Magical Vacations, the "package" is for the BC and therefore the tickets (8 day PH with bonus) are attached to that ressie. Which means I can not begin to use those tickets until I check into the BC (five days into my trip). So that is not feasible. So Angela, the TA, who has been very patient with me, asked if I would consider doing the BC first and the Poly second. Can you believe I am stuck on this? What is wrong with me?? We are talking about $2800 and all I need to do is get it out of my head that Poly comes before BC...I think I've lost my mind

So I casually mention this to my 16 year old DS, (the reason for the Poly leg of this trip) and he looked at me like this: and said um, that's a no brainer. Why did I think a teenage boy would care what order we did resorts in?

So now I am officially waiting on three quotes from Angela which I think will cover all configurations of hotel rooms and tix and discounts and I'm going with the cheapes

But in other exciting Disney news, my photopass+ voucher came today!! Woo Hoo!!! Ok, I am aware I have 220+ days to actually use it, but in the meantime I can look at all the awesome stock photos that came on a CD with the voucher Off to check them out and stalk my email for deals from Angela!

I think it would be easier to do Poly second. By then you will be a little more tired and the monorail right there will be great. It will be the icing on the cake for a great familymoon! Staying there may be the highlight of your trip.

I also agree that a down time day or two would be nice. I don't know how people do the parks for that many days in a row! It will be HOT!

[momto3gr8boys]

Originally Posted by Floridagram

I think it would be easier to do Poly second. By then you will be a little more tired and the monorail right there will be great. It will be the icing on the cake for a great familymoon! Staying there may be the highlight of your trip.

I also agree that a down time day or two would be nice. I don't know how people do the parks for that many days in a row! It will be HOT!

You know, I think I agree with you. We always stay at the BC, so to me that's my home away from home, my place to get R&R, and when I just think about relaxing by the pool, it makes me so happy. So, initially I was thinking I wanted to end my vacation that way. But now that I was forced to switch, I am actually happier about it, because we will have a full resort day at Poly and we've already done all that at BC. And since we will have gotten the go go go out of our system, it will give us more time to explore and enjoy a new resort