Chapter 7.1: We're still back, just with breathing room!
So originally, we'd been tossing around the idea of going during the February vacation. That has been scrapped, partially because ye gods, that left us NO planning time, and also because flights would have been prohibitively expensive.
So updated plan: Go in August!
(Yes, it'll be hot, humid, and instead of mosquitoes, I'll have my sanity and life-force drained by the inevitable tantrums from children who are also hot, tired, and cranky.) But crowds are likely to be a little lighter, and this also fits in best to some of our childcare Tetris, wherein our youngest will be in daycare through the end of August, but we still have to pay for her spot when we travel. If we go in mid/late August, then we could just cancel her coverage early, and either she can hang out at home or we could pop her into a summer camp for that last little stretch of time, which is still cheaper than daycare tuition.
Nothing is booked yet, as my better half is looking into flight options to see which ones are less painfully expensive. And I was able to get a virtual meeting with a former colleague of his, to pick her brain: Because she's a big Disney fan, and she's done something we have never done before; Disney with small children!
She was an absolute wealth of information and I'll be implementing so many of her suggestions. One of the biggest things that she did was convince DH that yes, even though the kids will be 9 and 5, we will want a stroller. Originally he'd dismissed that idea outright, but I think she's convinced him. So now it's a debate of whether we bring our BOB jogging stroller (that we haven't used in
ages) or rent one. I lean towards renting: he leans towards bringing ours. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to convince him.
Because so much is still up in the air, as pixie dust shimmering while it drifts down, it'll be a little bit before I can start planning out much else. For now, I'm putting together a spreadsheet for each park with the rides that the kids will likely be interested in, which QS locations will have food they'll likely eat, plus which ones DH and I will want, but also which ones accept mobile orders. I'm a little conflicted on how much I'm likely to be on my phone this time around compared to last time, to manage mobile ordering, and ride queues, etc, but at least this gives me a chance to better understand the whole
Genie+ and
lightning lane systems.