We leave for Disneyland next Sunday! Just me and DH with no kids!
If you drink (or if you need a nice break), hit up the lounge at Carthay Circle in DCA. Get a Poison Apple Martini, the Vietnamese beef tacos, the duck empanadas and the cheese plate and have a nice, relaxing afternoon lunch in an area that isn't swarming with screaming children.
We are doing 6 nights in mid-March, staying at the Polynesian. Now to decide whether I want to buy the tickets now from a site that still has the old pricing, or eat the $100 increase and buy them closer to the 60-day mark.......
Post by breezy8407 on Oct 16, 2018 15:47:09 GMT -5
Thanksgiving to WDW. Everything is booked and we paid the balance last week. We are planning on telling the kids (6 y/o twins) this weekend via a scavenger hunt.
Dec. 16 - Dec. 21. This is a redo of a trip that was supposed to happen this past February. Made our FP yesterday. My oldest knows (DD 11) because I wanted her in on the planning. We are going to wait and tell 2 DSs (both 5) about a month out....maybe around Thanksgiving. We were at Home Depot last weekend and DSs were enamored with a Mickey and Minnie snow globe. I thought about wrapping that up and putting it under our Christmas tree right after we put it up for them to open.
DH and MIL are also going. We are staying in a Cars suite at AoA. I think I will get DD an air mattress to sleep on. I don't think the full sized pull out couch is big enough for her and MIL. I also want MIL to have somewhat restful sleep since she's splitting the cost of the trip with us.
Doing another trip next April! This time for about half the price of before (this year we went all out and called it out 10-years-later honeymoon), staying offsite in a condo except for two nights at RPR. Also considering moving to the area so we set aside a couple days to check out neighborhoods.
We are going to DL the last week of February. Trying to decide if we are going to do T/W or W/Th. We are staying with family so timing is flexible. The 2 yo is staying with my aunt so it’s just the bigs going. I’m super excited because my DS wants to do all the bigger rides. My mom will take DD’s on the other rides.
We’re going with the three of us (DS is 10), my brother, SIL, nephew (5) and niece (3), and my bro/SIL and DH and I are paying for my parents to go to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
It’s going to be...an EXPERIENCE. lol. My parents haven’t been on a real vacation since their honeymoon, and my brother can be a hot head with crowds. HOLD ME.
Our family is headed down in late May, the second school lets out for the year. My parents are tentatively planning to join us, which should be interesting because they haven't been to any Disney park or resort since the mid-90's. My BFF and I are also planning an adults-only trip for next October so we can catch the Food and Wine Festival.
Last week of January into February. With my parents and brother for the first half and BIL's family for the second. I can't believe it's only 3 months away! DD is going to love it!
Post by Mrs. ChanandlerBong on Oct 26, 2018 6:47:49 GMT -5
Just made our fast passes for Christmas week! Shockingly, we got everything we wanted, mostly at the times we wanted. I’ve updated our minetrain already and shaved a few hours off the time.
Post by mainelyfoolish on Oct 26, 2018 13:53:12 GMT -5
December 7 - 12. I just planned this within the last week when I found out DH is eligible to get the 5 day military salute tickets that are valid through December 19th. We're flying down on Friday evening after the kids get out of school and returning the following Wednesday evening, so my kids will miss 3 days of school. I really wanted to see Disney with Christmas decorations but not during Christmas week and my DD is getting old enough where this is the last year I feel comfortable taking her out of school for a vacation (this is allowed by my school district with prior notice).
We're staying at Pop Century, but I missed the start of the 60 day fast pass window so I didn't get fast passes for FoP or SDD. I plan to arrive very early and rope drop those two.
I just had to chuckle a little bit, because I think my experience with bringing my parents on the trip we went on to WDW when my kids were 5.5 and 7 was not typical. It seemed like extra work with them there, and they really didn't do anything extra for the kids to make it special. But my parents don't really like to travel and don't really like WDW (the only time I went as a kid was when I was 14 and I feel like they reluctantly took us to WDW because it was so close to where we were staying while visiting my grandparents at their winter condo).
Ha. After I hit post I was wondering if my experience was atypical. My in-laws are amazing. And young. They had DH in their teens. So they still have a ton of energy and aren't your typical grandparents. My mil is only 15 years older than me. We don't see them as often as we'd like so spending fun time together has been great. We've gone twice with them and my mom. My mom is a different story. But she and my mil get along fabulously so all grandparents go with us.
I can relate. My mom is young and my step father is even younger. We typically go with them and they are a great help.
Going with DH’s parents would be a different trip for sure.
May 1st here. I'm (im) patiently waiting for the park hours to come out so I can finalize my plans. ADRs are a week from Friday!
I am going around the same time. Touringplans has been sending out updated park hours but I have not seen anything too different from what I expected. If you want to know which parks have EMH look at the weeks before.
EP should have EMH Thursday morning, MK Friday morning. I think MK has EMH Wed night.
Dec. 16 - Dec. 21. This is a redo of a trip that was supposed to happen this past February. Made our FP yesterday. My oldest knows (DD 11) because I wanted her in on the planning. We are going to wait and tell 2 DSs (both 5) about a month out....maybe around Thanksgiving. We were at Home Depot last weekend and DSs were enamored with a Mickey and Minnie snow globe. I thought about wrapping that up and putting it under our Christmas tree right after we put it up for them to open.
DH and MIL are also going. We are staying in a Cars suite at AoA. I think I will get DD an air mattress to sleep on. I don't think the full sized pull out couch is big enough for her and MIL. I also want MIL to have somewhat restful sleep since she's splitting the cost of the trip with us.
We might need to postpone, again. MILs cat was just diagnosed with diabetes and she (MIL) doesn't think December is enough time for the cat to get used to injections she'll need, or enough time for MIL to find someone she feels comfortable giving cat the shots. She said if we still want to go in December, she'll give us the money she had planned on if she was going on the trip (plan was to pretty much split the cost between her and us).
We were able to get free dining with our December reservation and a really good price on air fare on Spirit ($1450 for all 6 of us, including 3 checked bags and 1 carry-on for the kids to share). I just checked airfare for the weeks of winter break (Feb) and spring break (first week in April) and they are $1,000 more, plus the cost to change the flight. The airfare alone would probably be $1400 more than what we are paying. Right now, we could get a play, stay and dine package in Feb. that would only be a few hundred $'s more than what our current free dining plan is, but that's without park hoppers. Postponing until MIL feels comfortable going is the right thing to do, especially since she's paying a chunk of the trip. It's just so frustrating because we had ADRs (just a couple though) and FPs booked. We waited until 3 weeks ago to book airfare just in case something came up. I wish she had taken the cat to the vet a few weeks sooner.
Does anyone have opinions on a better time to go - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26 OR March 31-April 6? The prices for room/tickets/meal plan are similar. So, it's really just a matter of weather and crowds.
Has your MIL talked to her vet? Do they offer boarding? Do they have staff for hire for such a task or can they recommend someone?
The cat was in the "pet hospital" this week. I don't know if that was just at MILs regular vet or something more elaborate. I will ask her if boarding the cat there is an option. She may have thought it was cost prohibitive, but if she's willing to take a loss on the airfare, maybe it's not. Good suggestion.
Has your MIL talked to her vet? Do they offer boarding? Do they have staff for hire for such a task or can they recommend someone?
The cat was in the "pet hospital" this week. I don't know if that was just at MILs regular vet or something more elaborate. I will ask her if boarding the cat there is an option. She may have thought it was cost prohibitive, but if she's willing to take a loss on the airfare, maybe it's not. Good suggestion.
curbsideprophet MIL found out she can board both of her cats for $40 a day (healthy cat is only $10 a day). I think her concern was leaving her healthy cat all alone. Now that she knows vet boarding is less expensive than changing, our December trip is back on. I'm so relieved I didn't make any changes to it. Phew.
The cat was in the "pet hospital" this week. I don't know if that was just at MILs regular vet or something more elaborate. I will ask her if boarding the cat there is an option. She may have thought it was cost prohibitive, but if she's willing to take a loss on the airfare, maybe it's not. Good suggestion.
curbsideprophet MIL found out she can board both of her cats for $40 a day (healthy cat is only $10 a day). I think her concern was leaving her healthy cat all alone. Now that she knows vet boarding is less expensive than changing, our December trip is back on. I'm so relieved I didn't make any changes to it. Phew.
Yes! My only issue was I wanted an 8AM Tusker House but they only had 8:20. I'm going to keep looking though.
Good luck. You can always sign up for a touring plans alert. I am in a similar situation with one of my reservations. I want an earlier time as well. I am also waiting for the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party to open up. I feel like that one could be awhile since January is not even released yet. Other than those two small things I got everything I wanted.