PrncessA
Dis_Mom_
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2009
Quick Disclaimer: The forum's conversion over to the new software drastically caused a lot of formatting issues. All of my quotation marks and other punctuation are missing, sorry if it messes up the reading experience. If I ever can find time, I will try to go back and fix it.
We officially arrived back in the real world only two days ago, can you believe it?
What is a girl to do, when the last 6 months of her life have revolved around planning a trip that is now over? Well, this girl is going to sort through the 1500+ pictures that we took, along with the 300+ photos from Memory Maker and piece together a magical trip for you! 
This was our first trip back to WDW since 2009 and boy had a lot changed! This trip was full of lots of learned lessons, switching resorts not once but twice, a very magical upgrade
, tears (the good kind and the bad), lots of laughter, LOTS of food, a couple of impromptu Dis meets, and of course tales of FP+ triumphs and failures. We learned A LOT this trip about how much we can do each day and still feel like a person by the end of the day, if you know what I mean. 
To put it plainly, one can only survive commando touring for so long before they need a nap, and a foot massage! 
If you would like an in depth look at exactly how this trip came to be there is a link to my PTR in my signature but in case you dont know us and dont want to read the PTR, here is the lowdown on our gang
Me, aka PrncessA aka Sara, Disney Freak Extraordinaire
Favorite Character: Mickey
Favorite Rides: Small World, Carousel of Progress, Star Tours
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
I am a self proclaimed Disneyaholic! I love everything about Disney from the history to the parks to the movies to the channel. I drive myself crazy sometimes with my obsession, but that doesn't change a thing. I am the obsessive planner in our family, and although my family definitely appreciated that when they were bypassing the stand-by lines, it was not appreciated when I had to force them to move along to the next attraction to make a FP+ time. I uttered the words Fine, if you want to stand in a 1.5 hour line to ride__________ that is fine, by all means finish playing a video game. multiple times, LOL. I also spent a lot of time digging DH and DSs prescription sunglasses out of my bag every time we walked in a building and out of a building! I am thinking they both need transition lenses after this trip!
Next up is my wonderful husband, who puts up with my obsession and has become a huge Disney fan as well!
DH aka Grumpy! aka Erik
Favorite Character: Jack Skellington
Favorite Rides: Peter Pan, Kali River Rapids
DH is a Disney convert, and tries to understand the planning of the trip, just enough to be annoying. LOL All kidding aside, for a person who had no interest in Disney World before marrying me, he has become a huge fan and loves to visit. He hates the heat (we would move from Chicago to Alaska if I would agree to it!), so the June heat was his enemy! We will definitely be traveling in a cooler time of year next time!! Despite the heat he spent a crazy amount of time looking for the perfect hoodie did he find it?
DS aka Donald aka E (9)
Favorite Character: Donald Duck
Favorite Rides: Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Splash Mountain
This was Es second trip to WDW and before the trip I thought he was losing interest in childish Disney characters and movies, boy was I wrong. He was so happy when he found out we were leaving for Disney World that he started crying. He LOVED everything about Disney World, although at some points you would not have known it for his complaining. E has extreme ADHD, very low impulse control, and becomes over stimulated easily. This made for a difficult trip at times with him as we tried to figure out how to space his medicine to best help him deal with the stimulation. DH and I had not realized how much stress and pressure he felt until we saw it all lift off of him at Disney World! It was really a magical experience for him!
DD aka Princess aka Lorelai (7)
Favorite Character: Any princess or Daisy Duck
Favorite Rides: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours
This was Lorelais first trip to WDW that she would remember, since she was only 2 years old on our last trip. She is a movie buff and will watch any movie or TV show; she doesnt care what it is. She is in love with the princesses, and tries to keep a list of her favorites, which changes constantly. Her #1 for the last while has been Ariel, that didnt change during this trip. She is a spitfire and is very opinionated and headstrong! This made for a very interesting trip a few times! She was heard to say many many times, This is the best day ever!, followed with crying because something didnt go her way. Oh the joys of raising a girl!
After 10 days at the most magical place on earth, it was hard to leave! We have talked seriously about DVC and if we hadnt thought about it only an hour before our bus picked us up, we would have probably upgraded to annual passes since we are now planning a trip back to the World in February, 2015. Since we got back and recuperation has begun, more slowly for some than others, I have been seriously thinking about a cruise instead of WDW in February (over our anniversary and DDs B-day), to give us a little relaxation instead of go go go all the time, or even a land and sea vacation (ending with the sea part). We will see how that works out. DH isnt crazy about the thought of a cruise, but then again he wasnt crazy about Disney before we went either Personally I would LOVE to cruise over Christmas, since both of us will be off work without taking vacation time.
Next up we begin our trip with a surprise that had a surprise reaction from one of the kiddos!
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And he doesnt get into planning at all, unless it is to request a restaurant a month before the trip. 
When I booked our 2014 trip I was sure that it would be cancelled, but I started a PTR and booked our trip for August 2014, and we tried to keep it a secret from the kids. That is hard to do, when all you want to do is scream with joy!! 
It made booking the flights feel final and our trip would really happen
until the next day that was! Long story short after much number crunching we had moved our trip from August to May 30-June 8, which was better for school. To keep under budget I ended up splitting our stay 3 ways with 2 nights POR, 6 nights YC w/ tickets and DxDDP and 1 night WL CL! How did a split stay work for us? 
, and finally up at last at 5:30am to make sure all of our last minute items were packed. Erik went off to work and I woke the kids up like normal. E went off to his last ½ day of school, while Lorelai tagged along to work with me. This happens all the time on school breaks, but she has a hard time when E isnt with her. I am not looking forward to E being at camp for a week at the end of the month, last year she didn't eat the entire week!
What can I say? We are a little weird.... 
