1/6 *Today's the Day and Dreamin tomorrow!* Buy 1 get 2 free isn't bad! Jan 2013 PTR

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Hello and welcome to my PTR! We will be doing our first cruise ever on the Disney Dream followed by 4 nights in Disney... unfortunately we will have to pay for our vacation... my girlfriend and I went to WDW this past May and before that last October free. I felt guilty going without my kids the past 2 times so I figured I guess I'll actually have to shell out some cash. Okay, I'm kinda getting ahead of myself and probably confusing a few of you so let me start with introductions. My name is Dan, I have two wonderful children, Hannah age 8 and Noah age 3 and will be 4 by January.

This is Hannah the last time she was in Disney when she was 5


Here they both are last summer, this will be Noah's first trip!


And last introduction for now is my gorgeous girlfriend Cathleen, here she is on our first free trip last October with the Big Cheese himself


Oh, and I almost forgot! Here is you PTR author and guide! (I'm the one on the left)


My parents may also join us for the Disney World half of our trip but I will introduce them later.

Thats all I have time for now but hop aboard the PTR I'd love for you to join in on my planning and stay tuned for more! See ya real soon!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

So if I have to pay for this trip how did I get to go for free the two times before? Some of you who have read previous PTR and TRs know about it but if not I will get to that soon...

Well let me start by explaining that Cathleen and i previously worked together prior to our "romance" for lack of a better term We worked in a group home for people with developmental disabilities for about four years as just coworkers and then I was promoted to the site manager (in turn becoming her boss!) We had been best friends for so long and I guess it was only eventual that we started dating but we had to kinda keep it secret because of my supervisory role but that's a whole other story! We have both moved onto other agencies this year but about a year ago I was helping one of the women who lived at the home arrange to go on a Disney Cruise with a group called People and Places that takes people with disabilities on vacations. Deedra was very excited to go on her cruise but unfortunately the trip had filled up and she wasn't able to go on the cruise but another co-worker of ours Sam (aka EnglishRose47 here on the DIS, in the real world she goes by "Sam" on here I usually refer to her as Rosie-Sam) she was a volunteer for P&P told us that there was a WDW vacation that P&P was doing in October that Deedra may be able to go on. Well thanks to Sam since she put in a good word for Cathleen and I since we did a P&P trip before to Lake George and there was a need for escorts for this trip they offered us to do the trip! Volunteer escorts get to go for FREE since they are volunteering their time to take groups of 8 disabled people on trips, although it is a free "vacation" everything is included but it is still a bit of "work" for the escorts. BUT it was a FREE trip to DISNEY!!!! Rosie-Sam was also going to be in Disney with a separate P&P group at the same time so it was cool for both our groups to be there at the same time. Well the trip went great and we got to go again this past May!!! Although it was FANTASTC going to Disney for free twice in less then a year I did feel kinda guilty going twice with out my kids, it was kinda hard telling them the first time, "We're going to Disney World... but you're staying home with your grandparents." Then the second time was even worse, "why can't we go daddy?" So I "had" to plan another trip Who really wants to go back again in less than a year after two trips within the past year... (note the sarcasm)

[Minnie&Nana]

Hey, Dan! I am actually first for a PTR - that's a first too! I always seem to show up on the 3rd. or worse, 7th page.

Your munchkins are adorable and Cathleen is lovely!

The Dream and 4 ngts at WDW - what fun!! Looking forward to lots of planning!

[englishrose47]

And when were you gonna tel me this PTR had started !!!!Dan it is strange to be paying for a trip, People and Places has spoiled us !!!!
I am anxious to hear about the Cruise as CarolE and I are hoping for a Disney Cruise next May !!!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Originally Posted by englishrose47

And when were you gonna tel me this PTR had started !!!!Dan it is strange to be paying for a trip, People and Places has spoiled us !!!!
I am anxious to hear about the Cruise as CarolE and I are hoping for a Disney Cruise next May !!!

It just started yesterday

[englishrose47]

Originally Posted by DannyDisneyFreak

It just started yesterday

So when is the next update or are you to busy fiding purple spoons

[tangled up]

Fantastic start, you have a lovely family. Looking forward to more xx

[englishrose47]

Originally Posted by tangled up

Fantastic start, you have a lovely family. Looking forward to more xx

Oh A fellow Brit!!!!!Bury St Edmunds for me !!!!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Hope to update tomorrow! Happy Friday!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Hey all! I just updated the second post in this thread!

[englishrose47]

Caught the update to post 2 !!!I (Rosie-Sam( have known Cathleen since she first started in the field and worked with her at another house , Dan and I got to be friends thru the Dis , while I knew him vaguely it was our shared LOVE of Disney that got it all started , then I left the agency that Dan & Cathleen worked at 5 years ago ( well stayed as RELIEF) but about 3 years ago I started to regularly work at the house they did , so they were perfect candidates for being escorts and I was happy to vouch for them !! Dan now is working as a Supervisor for the same agency as me , which is awesome as I have volunteered him to go to Albany in October for work !!!!So we will get another trip together , not as good as P&P but stoill hotell and 3 meals a day!!!
Dan's kids are every bit as cute in person as their pix !!!

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Originally Posted by englishrose47

Caught the update to post 2 !!!I (Rosie-Sam( have known Cathleen since she first started in the field and worked with her at another house , Dan and I got to be friends thru the Dis , while I knew him vaguely it was our shared LOVE of Disney that got it all started , then I left the agency that Dan & Cathleen worked at 5 years ago ( well stayed as RELIEF) but about 3 years ago I started to regularly work at the house they did , so they were perfect candidates for being escorts and I was happy to vouch for them !! Dan now is working as a Supervisor for the same agency as me , which is awesome as I have volunteered him to go to Albany in October for work !!!!So we will get another trip together , not as good as P&P but stoill hotell and 3 meals a day!!!
Dan's kids are every bit as cute in person as their pix !!!

Would you say I am every but as cute in person too? :D

[englishrose47]

Originally Posted by DannyDisneyFreak

Would you say I am every but as cute in person too? :D

[Minnie&Nana]

Dan, nice photo of you and Cathleen. Definitely time to take the kiddos back to Disney!

When mine were about 10 & 11, I went on 2 Disney trips without them because non-English speaking friends asked me to go with them so they could take their Dev Dis 20 yr old. We stayed at the Polynesian on my recommendation, which was fine by my kids because that was where we usually stayed. Second trip was a similar situation with friends of the friends - after that it was time to take my kids back, but we went twice a year anyway...nevertheless, it was not easy leaving them behind twice.

Two years later they both told me they were "Mickey'd out" and "could we go someplace else on vacation"? Sure!! We went to Disneyland instead!! I made sure they saw a lot of Southern CA as well...but we stayed at DL that trip.

Soooo, Rosie....does everyone outside of the DIS call you Sam? And why? .... all these wooden spoons, pole dancing....where the heck did Sam come from?

[DannyDisneyFreak]

Originally Posted by Minnie&Nana

Dan, nice photo of you and Cathleen. Definitely time to take the kiddos back to Disney!

When mine were about 10 & 11, I went on 2 Disney trips without them because non-English speaking friends asked me to go with them so they could take their Dev Dis 20 yr old. We stayed at the Polynesian on my recommendation, which was fine by my kids because that was where we usually stayed. Second trip was a similar situation with friends of the friends - after that it was time to take my kids back, but we went twice a year anyway...nevertheless, it was not easy leaving them behind twice.

Two years later they both told me they were "Mickey'd out" and "could we go someplace else on vacation"? Sure!! We went to Disneyland instead!! I made sure they saw a lot of Southern CA as well...but we stayed at DL that trip.

Soooo, Rosie....does everyone outside of the DIS call you Sam? And why? .... all these wooden spoons, pole dancing....where the heck did Sam come from?

Thanks! I am very excited to bring the kids but I do have to admit I think going to Disney kid-free (and group of 8 free) is more fun. I am hoping my parents do make it because the one thing I would like to do is take our time going around World Showcase in Epcot and they could occupy the kids and let us go drink around the world! Even without the drinking wandering World Showcase is one of my favorite things in WDW and our last two P&P trips we didn't even get a chance to walk all the way around!!!

Cathleen says she is a bit "Mickey'd out" too that's why I opted for the cruise to change it up a bit. Our next P&P trip will probably be in 2013 for MNSSHP we were already given the approval Our next family Disney trip after this one will probably be to Disneyland and in a few years Cathleen wants to do an Alaskan Disney cruise just the two of us and my friend Sam and his boyfriend (a different Sam, I don't know if Rosie has a boyfriend???lol) They have done a few cruises and want to do Alaska. Also Cathleen's mom just moved to Utah so we have lots a reasons to hit the west coast!