Travel dates: June 19-28, 2013
Travel method: Southwest Airlines, DME
Resort: SSR or WLV or BCV (set for SSR and waitlisted for the other two)
Accommodations: Deluxe Studio Villa
Ages Represented in Group: Me (40), DH (42), DD (16), DS (14)
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: Veterans, DVC owners- SSR.
Comments: We have gone to the World once a year for the last 10 years or so.
Cast of characters: Me- Katrina, DH Jimmy, DD- Sarah, DS- Jamie or more often- the boy
Pre Report:
We have decided that going in June is the best time for us now that our kids are getting older. We went this same week last year and it worked out pretty well. The weather was a bit rough since there was a Tropical Storm passing though while we were there. It was pretty rainy and hot, hopefully we will not have a storm this year!
We will be leaving the day after the last official day of school. Usually the last day changes but the way it is this year I was not sure if it will so we are waiting until Wednesday to leave instead of the weekend like last year. Sarah is getting a job shortly so hopefully they are on board with her vacation. This is going to be a summer of learning for her about the way the real world works. She wants to go with us to Disney, Girl Scout Camp as a CIT for a month and then to Wildwood for a week with my mom, Jamie and I. I told her that it may not all work out and she may have to give up camp and Wildwood. We will see!
I have all my spread sheets and lists ready. Most of the plans are done; just a few little things to do that will wait until closer to the trip to be done. We will be placing a Garden Grocer Order for drinks, snacks and breakfast type stuff. We will mostly eat in the room for breakfast except for the morning we are going to Kona Caf and the morning we usually go to the Main Street Bakery for Ham, Egg and Cheese Croissants. The Bakery may not be reopened by then so we will see what we end up doing that morning. We will be doing a sit down dinner just about every night; the only possible exceptions are the three nights that we do not have ADRs already. Those nights we will see what we are feeling and whats available and go from there.
We have given up on the DDP since we really do not eat the way it is set up so we have a Tables in Wonderland Card that we got on our last trip. The card really worked out for us, I was going to do a spread sheet of the cost of the meals pre and post discount but lost some of the receipts. I did keep a general run of the math on the trip and we did come out ahead. I will be putting cash on Gift Cards for the dinning so it will be like its prepaid. It took DH a few meals last year to understand the concept. I finally had to explain to him that I had made a chart of the restaurants we were eating at then picked what I assumed everyone would eat including drinks, added the tip and took out the discount and put that amount on the cards.
The gift cards really worked out last year; I had some for Food and others for SouvenEars and such. I used very little cash (really only for tips and that one day I forgot the GC for food :|) and only used my credit card for our rental car that I used to take DD to the airport so she could get home for camp. We even came home with some money on the GCs that we can use on this trip. I also will have our Rewards Card from the Disney Visa that I will use to pay for the Gift Cards. I figure I could use cash and get nothing extra or use the Card and send the cash to them and get points! Win-win!
Day One Wednesday June 19th:
Travel/Magic Kingdom Day
ADR: None
Game Plan~
Up and at em pretty early. Our flight on Southwest is at 6:00am which means we need to be out of the house around 3:00ish am. I plan on having the car packed the night before and then just throw in our last minute items and go. We will probably have breakfast at the airport, still deciding if we will bring it or buy there. Once we arrive in Orlando we will head for DME and off to our resort. After we check in we will either go to our room and get settled in and then off to the MK or if the room is not ready we will store our carry ons and then head to a park. Last year we needed a nap around 3:00pm so if the room is ready we may head back for a bit around then. Depending on which resort we end up in we may eat at the resort and then hang around at the pool that night.
Travel method: Southwest Airlines, DME
Resort: SSR or WLV or BCV (set for SSR and waitlisted for the other two)
Accommodations: Deluxe Studio Villa
Ages Represented in Group: Me (40), DH (42), DD (16), DS (14)
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: Veterans, DVC owners- SSR.
Comments: We have gone to the World once a year for the last 10 years or so.
Cast of characters: Me- Katrina, DH Jimmy, DD- Sarah, DS- Jamie or more often- the boy
Pre Report:
We have decided that going in June is the best time for us now that our kids are getting older. We went this same week last year and it worked out pretty well. The weather was a bit rough since there was a Tropical Storm passing though while we were there. It was pretty rainy and hot, hopefully we will not have a storm this year!
We will be leaving the day after the last official day of school. Usually the last day changes but the way it is this year I was not sure if it will so we are waiting until Wednesday to leave instead of the weekend like last year. Sarah is getting a job shortly so hopefully they are on board with her vacation. This is going to be a summer of learning for her about the way the real world works. She wants to go with us to Disney, Girl Scout Camp as a CIT for a month and then to Wildwood for a week with my mom, Jamie and I. I told her that it may not all work out and she may have to give up camp and Wildwood. We will see!
I have all my spread sheets and lists ready. Most of the plans are done; just a few little things to do that will wait until closer to the trip to be done. We will be placing a Garden Grocer Order for drinks, snacks and breakfast type stuff. We will mostly eat in the room for breakfast except for the morning we are going to Kona Caf and the morning we usually go to the Main Street Bakery for Ham, Egg and Cheese Croissants. The Bakery may not be reopened by then so we will see what we end up doing that morning. We will be doing a sit down dinner just about every night; the only possible exceptions are the three nights that we do not have ADRs already. Those nights we will see what we are feeling and whats available and go from there.
We have given up on the DDP since we really do not eat the way it is set up so we have a Tables in Wonderland Card that we got on our last trip. The card really worked out for us, I was going to do a spread sheet of the cost of the meals pre and post discount but lost some of the receipts. I did keep a general run of the math on the trip and we did come out ahead. I will be putting cash on Gift Cards for the dinning so it will be like its prepaid. It took DH a few meals last year to understand the concept. I finally had to explain to him that I had made a chart of the restaurants we were eating at then picked what I assumed everyone would eat including drinks, added the tip and took out the discount and put that amount on the cards.
The gift cards really worked out last year; I had some for Food and others for SouvenEars and such. I used very little cash (really only for tips and that one day I forgot the GC for food :|) and only used my credit card for our rental car that I used to take DD to the airport so she could get home for camp. We even came home with some money on the GCs that we can use on this trip. I also will have our Rewards Card from the Disney Visa that I will use to pay for the Gift Cards. I figure I could use cash and get nothing extra or use the Card and send the cash to them and get points! Win-win!
Countdown
138 DAYS 17 HOURS 50 MINUTES
138 DAYS 17 HOURS 50 MINUTES
Day One Wednesday June 19th:
Travel/Magic Kingdom Day
ADR: None
Game Plan~
Up and at em pretty early. Our flight on Southwest is at 6:00am which means we need to be out of the house around 3:00ish am. I plan on having the car packed the night before and then just throw in our last minute items and go. We will probably have breakfast at the airport, still deciding if we will bring it or buy there. Once we arrive in Orlando we will head for DME and off to our resort. After we check in we will either go to our room and get settled in and then off to the MK or if the room is not ready we will store our carry ons and then head to a park. Last year we needed a nap around 3:00pm so if the room is ready we may head back for a bit around then. Depending on which resort we end up in we may eat at the resort and then hang around at the pool that night.